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June 28, 2005

I Believe the Word is Exoneration

Doing research among the blog entries for my manuscript, I found this old post on Michael Jackson and I am reminded that:

Jackson is a good guy who has donated many millions to black charities over the years, quietly and consistently. So there are a number of good reasons for him to have black political support. But even if he didn't do any of that, I have learned something about Jackson today that makes me respect him a great deal - for which if he did nothing else in his entire life this would be good enough. We are mostly aware that Jackson owns most of the Beatles' songs. What I didn't know was that he owns most of Elvis' recordings too. Most symbolic of all, he purchased the rights to Little Richard's music. He gave that all back to Little Richard, so now he won't die broke. Whether that is materially too little too late or not, it is a trenchant symbol of respect for black culture we probably didn't know Jacko had. That may count for a great deal from where I stand, but it doesn't mean squat in a court of law.

What I've been hearing is basically another species of "you're not guilty, but you're guilty". Having stayed away from the back and forth that generally surrounds these kinds of trials, I'm pretty safe in saying that I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. He may be a weirdo, but as far as the law is concerned, he's cleaner than Martha Stewart.

I suspect that a lot of people see a scattering of rat turd evidence in the trial and testimony, but if Sneddon was incapable of finding the actual rat, I don't see why we should. Were Sneddon's charges too trumped up to get a conviction?

A Cobbian Retrospective:

  • Michael Jackson, Secular Sex & The War on Terror
  • Weapons of Ass Destruction
  • The Man in the Mirror
  • Michael Jackson: Going Down

    • Posted by mbowen at June 28, 2005 07:28 PM

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    Comments

    I don't know if Jackson is guilty or not, but as a general rule I think it's risky to equate a criminal acquittal with an exoneration. It's one thing to decide someone didn't do it, and another to find reasonable doubt as to whether he did.

    Posted by: Xrlq at June 29, 2005 06:52 AM