May 7, 2005

The extreme dazzle of extreme celebrity?

The defense witnesses in the Michael Jackson case are putting on an amazing display of the effect of celebrity on the human mind:
During the South American tour, [said the mother of Brett Barnes, who, at age 12, slept with Jackson during two 6-month-long concert tours,] she and her husband had discussed whether their son should be sleeping with Mr. Jackson, but only in terms of whether it was an "imposition" on Mr. Jackson....

Joy Robson, the mother of Wade Robson, now 22, said it was "not a problem" that Mr. Jackson was spending nights with her son beginning 15 years ago. "Nothing ever crossed my mind...."

Or should we say these witnesses must be lying? Even if you decide that Jackson is innocent and trustworthy, how can the opposite never cross your mind?

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I think you have to believe them. If the opposite did cross their mind, no sane person would ever let their kids sleep with him. So I think the only explanation is that these parents are just plain stupid.

I'm dumbfounded that any parent would ever let their kids sleep with another adult. It's mind-boggling.

Ann Althouse said...

There's also the money explanation. The parents got a lot of benefits. Actually, the kids got benefits too. They might have -- immorally and woefully -- thought it was worth it.

Robyn said...

As the guy said in Parenthood: "You have to get a license to buy a dog, but they'll let any jackass have kids".

Money, money, money, MONEY!

Unknown said...

You have a point Ann. In which case, we should be prosecuting the parents as well. For negligence!

Ann Althouse said...

Downtownlad: And isn't that another reason not to believe these people. They have an interest in protecting themselves from blame. They have to say I had no idea, because it cleans up their own behavior.

purple_kangaroo said...

Exactly. Would you really expect them to say, "I had my doubts about my little boy sharing a bed with an adult man who is no relation, but I let him do it anyway even though I knew I was taking a chance."

Did you notice there were parents who let their little girls share a bed with MJ also? What kind of parent would let their 8-12 year old girl sleep in the same bed with a single adult man?

I wonder if they let their teenagers have sleepovers with members of the opposite sex and share a bed, and of course it "never crosses their minds" to worry about anything happening between them.

MT said...

I have no trouble believing it's the celebrity effect. We may be Americans first, but we're Homo sapiens foremost, and I think it's just human to revere. I'd say the kind of trust this family showed would score low on the Jim Jones Cool-Aid test.