He's Bad, You Know It
2003-11-24 - 4:04 p.m.
AND POP GOES THE CULTURE�
Honestly, does it really even matter if Michael Jackson is guilty?
It matters, sure, and in huge ways, but even if he�s innocent, hasn�t be been asking�begging, in fact� for such disturbing allegations?
I used to feel sorry for him, and in a way I still do, because of the way the media is treating him�no matter what, the guy is a human being, and obviously one with some major problems.
But when I watched that ABC �documentary� last February, I sat stunned as Michael said he frequently slept with little boys. How could any adult male�not to mention one with a very public child molestation accusation on his record�say on national television that he likes to bring little boys into his bed? (�When you hear me say �bed,� you�re thinking sexual. But it�s sweet� it�s innocent.�)
Of course, any intelligent person should be able to tell that celebrities like to come out with product-promoting Big Shocking Statements, especially during sweeps week, (Hello, Britney I-Like-to-Jerk-Off Spears.)
But what kind of sales tactic was that? If he thought his talk of tucking little boys innocently into bed, (and seeing absolutely nothing wrong with it), was somehow going to help his image, than by God, the man IS a maniac�and crazier than all of us could even imagine.
As I watched that special, my feelings went from sympathy and a certain sense of defensiveness�I was a child who played Thriller on a hand-held �ghetto blaster,� after all�to thinking the man was horrendously manipulative, absolutely taunting the viewers and interviewer as he sat holding a little boy�s hand and letting the boy lean against him.
Other times I thought he seemed almost mildly retarded, the way he cooed and purred about the sweetness of it all, as if sincerely oblivious to the extremely disturbing nature of what he was saying.
It was truly shocking� almost to the point that it seemed case workers or police should be called in�to see someone who�d previously been accused of child molestation be so brazen about sleeping with little boys, almost like it would be if John Hinkley, Jr., (who is now asking for unsupervised home visits) sat in front of a TV camera and said, �I look at pictures of Jodi Foster and think of shooting President Bush�. but when you hear me say �shoot,� you�re thinking violence. It�s not like that. It�s innocent�.. it�s sweet.��
Before I watched that special, I was still worried in a small way that the media was making him in to a monster. Now I just think that even if that�s the case, he�s getting what he basically asked for by making those statements on TV, so he�s at least guilty of utter stupidity. (Plus, any adult who builds his home into an amusement park for children has to be suspect. Imagine if, say, Liza Minnelli had been accused of molesting little girls, and then Wow! Cool! built her home into a gigantic Barbie Castle. It just reeks of something scary.)
And there�s more to question here than Michael�s sanity and level of shadiness. This King Kauffman column says parents who let their children go to Neverland Ranch�even if Jackson is truly innocent�are at least partially to blame.
�How can any parent� bring a young boy to the remote property of a known whack-job and suspected molester of young boys? Is it just mindless celebrity worship? Are there really people who value proximity to a celebrity that much that they'd put their children at risk to get it? Is it...bragging rights? �My kid got to go to Neverland and hang out like a big shot -- how about yours?� Gee, mine was stuck at home, not being molested by a freak who thinks he's Peter Pan. �If my kid's going to spend years talking to a shrink, I'd rather he talk about how his daddy never let him have any fun [like by letting him go to the Neverland Ranch] than about the time he was molested by a pop star who'd divorced himself from reality.�
By the way, the youngster mentioned in the above 20/20 link (from February, when the show aired) is a 12-year-old who had cancer. Hmmmmmmm.
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APPARENTLY, THEY CAN GO FOR THAT
And speaking of singers associated with the 1980�s�. what�s up with people sampling Hall and Oates?
The other night in the art class that I�m taking at the community college, a song came on the Clearchannel �lite rock� station that the students always turn the radio to�the station I like to call The Wedding Song Channel�that grabbed my attention for two reasons: 1) it wasn�t sung by Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, or Shania Twain and 2) it sounded like �I Can�t Go For That (No Can Do)� by Hall and Oates, only something wasn�t quite right with it. That�s because, I learned from the Lite Rock pre-recorded �DJ,� it�s a UB40 song that samples the H&O hit.
I guess after more than a decade of hearing hip hop and rap groups sample 60�s-era R and B, soul, and Motown classics, it�s just weird to hear a group of white lite-rockers sample a 1980�s song by�two white guys. And a song that�s still constantly played on all the 80�s-obsessed stations across the country.
Then on Friday I learned (from Mtv.com) that some people I�ve never heard of are doing it, too. �Young Gunz�debut LP, Tough Luv, due January 27, will include �a Juelz Santana collaboration built around the Hall & Oates track "Rich Girl."
Dude!
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