.

Not trying to go too far afield or begin a dispute, but what "pretty bad things" did he do that he didn't have to be accountable for because of his fame? Wasn't he either acquitted of the child molestation charges or settled them out of court (which isn't an admission of guilt)? I'm not taking a position on whether he did them or not; just thinking it might be right to not talk about these things conclusively. I like the idea of "innocent until proven guilty," and think that people should be more careful of traducement, especially when someone has died and can't defend themselves.

I think you misunderstood what I was inquiring about. I am not asking readers out there to talk about Michael Jackson's misdeeds. Rather, I am asking one person to clarify or talk more about what they meant, because I think it raises an important issue. I don't say this because I'd like Michael Jackson's name chaste and unsullied, as you postulate; in fact, I don't even like him. For anyone in my generation, it's ironic and wryly humorous to own a record of his, at best. My question pertains to whether or not the poster was alluding to the child molestation accusations for which Michael Jackson was most famous. It seems like the poster might've been, and it's important to me that we each take personal responsibility for disseminating information on the internet, by having adequate evidence for what we talk about, or at least an explanation of our views. I think this is a really healthy and important thing for a community to do, and most important when the person being discussed can't speak for themselves any more. For the record, (and this is not what I wanted to talk about), I'm not saying Michael Jackson wasn't weird--of course he freaks me out! While I personally don't take exception to anyone, MJ or otherwise, dangling their children off balconies, gussying them up with veils, or naming more than one child after themselves, it doesn't mean that the behavior isn't aberrant.

...throw down on the MJ post! Wanna be startin something?

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World