The American Spectator

danny| 6.25.09 @ 8:19PM

yeah, like so many other pop phenoms (think elvis,hendricks, joplin etc. etc.) not destined to grow old.

notmypresident09| 6.25.09 @ 8:36PM

Headline: Famous Pedophile dies. End of subject. Im watching sheppard smith make a fool out of himself celebrating this pedophile

Aaron| 6.25.09 @ 9:13PM

Whats tragic is now I have a mental image of Antle doing the thriller dance in his Smurf PJs whilst covered in the pox. Thanks.

Merv the Perv| 6.25.09 @ 9:43PM

Me and a neighbor boy will be toasting Jacko with a bottle of Jesus Juice in a bunk bed in the play room

Jumpin' Jellybeans| 6.25.09 @ 9:52PM

Yawn (scratches belly)

Hank| 6.25.09 @ 10:12PM

I came here thinking that American Spectator, if any site, wouldn't be foolish enough to mourn a dead child molester who just happened to have a good singing voice. Sadly, I was mistaken.

notimpressed| 6.25.09 @ 10:12PM

The National Man Boy Love Association must be in seventh heaven: the media finally found a pederast to celebrate. Seems it's okay if you're an adult who diddles young boys, just as long as you're "a natural showman." Yuck.

W. James Antle III| 6.25.09 @ 11:55PM

The facts are the facts. He was a significant cultural figure who became a degenerate. Acknowledging his cultural impact, especially among the people who were around when he peaked, isn't celebrating his personal behavior anymore than remembering Elvis is a celebration of drug addiction and diddling teenage girls.

And notimpressed actually lent me his Smurf PJs. I didn't own any.

Hank| 6.26.09 @ 1:23AM

Gotta Love Triumph

MattSwartz| 6.26.09 @ 1:53AM

I guess I missed the Conservatism 101 lecture about how we always have to bring up never-proven pedophilia accusations about the newly dead.

Good thing the American Spectator's commentors are here to set me straight.

Of course Jackson was a child molester. Yes, all the evidence of it comes second or third-hand and from people who were trying to get rich by settling out of court, but who cares? Guilty until proven innocent, right guys?

Michael Dooley| 6.26.09 @ 7:18AM

MattSwartz: "Guilty until proven innocent, right guys?"

"Innocent until proven guilty" is a standard in the legal process. It relates to how the accused is regarded and treated as he faces charges from the state. Being proven guilty is something the state must establish before it can render any kind of punishment. It has nothing to do with how one as a private citizen thinks about the matter and whether the charges are in fact true regardless of what happens as a result of a trail. We are free to do so. We are not allowed to abuse him or deny him his rights; but we can think of him as we see fit.

Al Capone faced a number of charges for which he was never "proven" guilty although there is little doubt he committed a great number. It was only the matter of paying his taxes that sent him to prison. Are we only allowed to say Al Capone was just a tax-cheat?

No one should take any joy that Michael Jackson is dead. "Early death" is nothing to celebrate among fellow human beings and sympathy is due to his family and friends. But these mass displays of misery? Do we have watch the passing of another death of a celebrity sink to the level of "pornographic" grief?

Andrew B| 6.26.09 @ 8:05AM

Bravo, Mr. Dooley! I will never understand the standard that we can only hold a negative opinion of someone if that person was convicted in a court of law. Where does that come from?

Michael Jackson, convicted or not, was immensely creepy and sad. He was obviously self-loathing, as his neverending mutilation and self-destructive behavior proved. His musical talent was undeniable, but so was his deep-seated sickness.

Alas, I fear that fact will only make the grieving for him more out of control. A friend of mine commented "He'll only be a hero until the toxicology report comes out", but I think the opposite is true. People loved Princess Diana MORE when the details of her pathetic life became known. Micheal Jackson's ascent to the Pop Pantheon of deceased heroes will be assured if it comes back that he was a walking pharmacy.

Didn't hurt Elvis' popularity, did it?

Crusader| 6.26.09 @ 8:23AM

Grown men who have nekkid slumber parties with pre-pubescent boys are guilty regardless of what a court of law says. Remember, OJ was found "not guilty" too. All this proves is if you are rich and black you can get a jury of blacks to render a little "payback verdict" as it were.

Anyway why mourn the guy? He was a frigging perv. That sound you hear is 1,000,000,000 12 year-old boys breathing a sigh of relief that this freak is dead.

elixelx| 6.26.09 @ 8:36AM

I just heard that Bernie Madoff is making restitution--2ç on the $--to the people he helped "invest" wisely, and that the judge has commuted his sentence to time served.
To sum up Madoff was guilty, but now he's made restitution, he's innocent! The swindle was just a rumour, now inadmissable, and I'll sue your arse Mr. Schwartz, if you dare mention it again!
As that old terrorist-in-arms B. Ayers likes to gloat "Guilty as Hell; Free as a bird!"
Still, let's not be too uncharitable about "The Thriller", people.
Let's just say he gave us some pleasure, caused us some pain, and "may his death be an atonement for his sins!"

Pete| 6.26.09 @ 10:11AM

a couple of posts up used the phrase "immensely creepy." Good stuff.

MattSwartz| 6.26.09 @ 11:51AM

A lot of people are creepy and sad. Jackson was a weird man with weird habits, but I just think we diminish the suffering of children who were actually molested when we guess aloud about who else might be a child molester, especially if we do it before the dude's body is all the way cold.

MattSwartz| 6.26.09 @ 3:38PM

Actually, I don't have any skin in the game, so I don't mind what any of you say, really. I just think it's a good idea to hear both sides of this.

http://www.slate.com/id/2120889/