| Star power wins again |
|
|
|
| Opinion - Columnists | |
| Written by Michael Reagan, Special to RussellRegister.com | |
| Thursday, 16 June 2005 | |
 When I was a youngster growing up in Beverly Hills, stardom gave you
certain privileges. Among them, being allowed to get away with things
that would have gotten everybody else in deep trouble. If you were a
star, your friends and neighbors and co-stars and your studio would
stand behind you because they did not want you to be knocked off your
pedestal.In plain words, if that could happen to you, it could happen to them. So, we always convinced ourselves that any star who got in trouble was a victim instead of a wrongdoer. The general public seemed to think so too; we just did not want to know the truth about our stars. Michael Jackson is a throwback to that time, and he has benefited from the fact that a lot of Americans don't like it when anybody knocks their stars -- whether they are pop stars such as Michael Jackson, sports stars such as O.J. Simpson or movie stars such as Robert Blake. We want them to stay up there on their pedestals where we put them.  It is outrageous, of course, but that's the way it seems to work, just
as it seems to have worked for Michael Jackson. He is being
treated as a victim. He isn't guilty, it's the alleged real
victim's mother who is guilty. After all, she snapped her finger
at the jury and that offended them, so it stands to reason that Michael
Jackson must be innocent. After all, he's a star. She's
just a mother. Stardom trumps motherhood every time.Here's a jury whose members decided that he is innocent on all 10 counts, yet then hold a press conference and, for all intents and purposes, admit they really think he is guilty. Huh? Am I missing something here? Shouldn't somebody ask them, "If you really thought he was guilty, why didn't you find him guilty?" Take juror number one; he says that he believes Jackson is guilty of child molestation, but it wasn't proven in this case. The prosecution, he said, did not provide the evidence the jury wanted. Just what kind of solid evidence did he want? Did he really think that the defendant slept with little boys night after night and all they did was eat popcorn and watch movies on TV? If he slept with a woman every night for a year, would anybody believe they never had sex? Here's a case where even the defendant admits he sleeps with children night after night -- in one instance, sleeping with one kid every single night for a solid year. Thanks to a jury that couldn't convict him on those grounds alone, he walks off free to carry on his weird sleepover habits whenever the spirit moves him. His lawyer says that his client has learned his lesson and will mend his ways. Keep in mind, however, that it is a psychologically-proven fact that pedophiles cannot be cured of pedophilia. Once a pedophile, always a pedophile. So if a jury thinks Jackson is guilty of pedophilia yet sets him free, are they not in effect setting him free to sin again, and again, and again? After all, if he is what they believe him to be, he simply can't help himself. And he has the means to continue sleeping with children and getting away with it because he has the means to remain far out of the public eye, protected by a host of retainers and servants who know that their paychecks depend on keeping their mouths shut about their boss's private life, no matter how sordid it might be. For Michael Jackson, star power carried the day. © 2005 Michael Reagan, all rights reserved. Mike Reagan, the eldest son of the late President Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network. Look for Mike's new book "Twice Adopted" and order autographed books on-line at http://www.reagan.com. Comments to Mike may be sent to mereagan@russellregister.com. |
|
| Next > |
|---|
