The Poet's Eye
     commentary by Lightning Rod

The Poet's Eye is skeptical without being cynical,
innocent without being naive and critical without
being judgemental.

Beat It
for release 02-17-05
Washington D.C.

Michael Jackson was a child star. That could be classified as a form of abuse. Abuse is perpetuated from generation to generation we are told by quack psychologists. So now Jacko goes on trial because he likes little children. We don't know if he puts his hands where they don't belong or not. Only he knows that.

We first saw MJ as the cherubic little black boy with his line of brothers behind him. He had a great mahaghony color and his nose was spread all over his face as is native to his race. And yeah, now he looks like the Phantom of the Opera because of an excess of cosmetic surgery, but that doesn't make him a pedophile.

We Americans revel in the excesses of our celebrities. Michael Jackson is nothing if not a social icon. American culture loves its wierdos. They love to hear that Howard Hughes, probably the richest man in the world, died as a hermit recluse drug addict with inch long fingernails. If Liberace wants to be flamingly gay and cover his piano with rhindstones and ride onto the stage in a pink convertible, we applaud it. If Elvis takes more drugs than Satan and puts shoe polish on his hair and wears jump-suits with forty pound belt buckles and gives away Cadillacs, we call him The King. You can't check out at the grocery store without being flashed with magazine covers documenting the excesses of our celebs. This one is too fat, or these two are breaking up, or that one has entered rehab for drugs, gambling or sex addiction.

We love it when our icons crack up and display the same human foibles that we share. We delight in the spectacle of a public life that is cursed by riches or beauty or fame.

I could imagine fucking Paris Hilton, but I couldn't imagine BEING Paris Hilton. She is a total creature of the media. She reminds me subtly of John-John Kennedy or Prince William. They all have the same talent--being born into fortune and beauty.

If you thought that the OJ trial was fun, just wait for the Michael Jackson trial. It will be a star-studded show, a six month mini-series. They ought to sell tickets. Liz Taylor will be there and Maury Povich and a slew of celebs that will surely give a new dimension to the term 'character witnesses.' When the defense trots out Deepak Chopra, what is the prosecution going to do but hire Dr. Phil?

So, Michael Jackson is pre-occupied with young boys. The orthodoxy is that since he missed his childhood, he is trying to regain it by developing relationships with juveniles. You've heard all the jokes. "If Michael Jackson touches one more little boy, they will have to give him his own parish"...etc. It's going to be an uphill battle for Jackson.

I think Michael should get Quincy Jones (Where is Johnny Cochran?) as his lawyer. If you want to do a show, you need a producer.

There is a different standard of justice for the famous. It shows how flawed and tawdry our criminal justice system is. There is one standard if the cameras are in the room and quite another if you are just a pedestrian caught up in the process.

OJ plays golf today and DeLorean is clipping his coupons, because they could hire the best defense lawyers. DeLorean spent four million dollars on his. When I was on trial for getting too creative with my chemistry set, there was only one snoozing reporter in the courtroom, one drunken lawyer, and I was railroaded for thirty-five years. But then, I wasn't a celebrity.

We have two justice systems in this country. One is for high profile cases like Martha Stewart's or OJ's or Michael Jackson's, and there is quite another one for the rest of us. While celebrities and the wealthy have dream teams of attorneys and trials that go on for months, most of us are subject to a system where we are underrepresented and shuffled through as quickly as possible.

The Poet's Eye wouldn't miss the Michael Jackson trial. It will be a kitch show of fab, glam and legal pornography. It will show us yet again what a farce our legal system is. America is the land of opportunity, where you get all the justice you can afford.

 

Just Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It
No One Wants To Be Defeated
Showin' How Funky Strong Is Your Fighter
It Doesn't Matter Who's Wrong Or Right
Just Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It--Michael Jackson

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