Sunday, May 26, 2024

Why did the media and other figures say Michael Jackson was guilty of what he did even though he was acquitted twice?

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There are a lot of conflicting opinions on the guilt or innocense of Michael Jackson. A lot of the “evidence” against the man is, at best circumstantial. At worst, straight-up invented. The “Leaving Neverland” documentary was full of holes, dates not adding up, locations abuse was alleged to have taken place in that didn’t even exist at the time the allegations supposedly took place… the media, of course, shamelessly peddled and continues to peddle known falsehoods. Because they profit most from generating controversy.

There’s too much to go into — the whole case against the man has been debunked already by sharper minds than me, and quite thoroughly so. But I like to look into another theory, a theory by a young child actor Jackson was close with, Corey Feldman. Feldman was a young child actor, most famous for his roles in The Goonies and Stand By Me. He said Jackson was, himself, a victim of child abuse and had been exploited as a child. Feldman was, too, and has been exposing Hollywood in recent years. For his efforts, he has been ridiculed, silenced and relentlessly mocked, once even by Barbara Walters in an infamous interview.

Feldman suggested Michael Jackson, precisely because he was himself a victim, wanted his house to be a “safe haven” for child actors who had, likewise, been exploited by the industry just as he had been. Rather than being the danger himself, Jackson was what stood in between these children and the dangers of Hollywood. It should be noted that, for each young accuser (almost certainly coached by greedy relatives!) there are ten or more who continue to fiercely support Michael Jackson to this day. All this, I feel, is incredibly telling.

I’ve never been a fan of “where there is smoke, there is fire”. It’s a little too easy. Too… convenient. “Oh, he paid the families money to prevent a trial? Guilty!” It isn’t hard to see how a man accused of such heinous things may want to nip things in the bud. Winning trials doesn’t change public opinion. He could have won ten cases against him and still the public would crucify him because “socially stunted middle aged man hanging out with kids” is simply too juicy a story for the media not to run with it. After a while, all the people remember is the accusations.

One of the biggest “smoking gun” pieces of supposed evidence? A boy who claimed to have seen Jackson naked, and described his genitalia — turns out the kid made it all up. The autopsy report debunked the description entirely. For instance the boy claiming Jackson was circumsized, when the autopsy revealed he wasn’t. Vitiligo spots “down there”? A lucky guess… having gone swimming, the kids and their parents (who were in attendance) had seen the singer without a shirt, covered in vitiligo spots. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together…

Nah, the Michael Jackson witch hunt was as fine an example of “trial by media” as there ever was. The guy was a weirdo, he had a ton of kids over to his house. Would I have allowed my kids to go over there? Hell, no! But finding a man’s behavior intensely weird and uncomfortable doesn’t make him a pedophile. And having gone over the evidence… I’m just not buying any of it. Because it’s weak, circumstantial at best, and much of it is straight-up false. 

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