Michael Jackson Remains Dead

As the media feeding frenzy around the death of Michael Jackson continues, I have only one wish... I wish that they would use it as an opportunity to open SUBSTANTIVE discourse on something instead of simply “did ya love him, did ya hate him, what's your favorite song, what's your favorite video”? (My answers, by the way, are that I thought that he was an excellent musical artist, but a severely flawed personality and my favorite video and song both are “Smooth Criminal”.)

For instance, in 2005, as most of us remember, Jackson was accused (again) of molesting little boys at his Neverland Ranch. At the time, the big question that everyone was asking was “Do you think that he did it or not?” To me, even at the time, the bigger question was “How on Earth is this man expected to get a fair trial?” You would have to move the trial to darkest New Guinea to get a jury of twelve who not only hadn't heard the case, but didn't already have their minds made up about it. Americans have a very screwed up idea of what “fair” means in this context, though. I was watching an episode of the TV show “The Practice” recently and they were doing voir dire for a trial for a man who was accused of murdering his wife with an axe. One potential juror, when asked if she had heard of the case said “Yes, but I think that every American deserves a fair trial – even men who kill their wives with an axe.” She didn't seem to realize that if she already believed that he did it, she could AUTOMATICALLY not give him a fair trial. But the 24/7 news coverage of this stuff makes a fair trial, especially for a celebrity, in this country impossible. (My personal opinion, if you're interested, by the way, is that he did it. After all, one of the little boys fairly exactly described the discolored patches on Jackson's penis. Kind of hard to do if you haven't been up close and personal with it. Which leads me to my next point.)

The other thing that we could do here, is use this as an opportunity to open a discourse about the way that we treat child molesters in this country. I think that one of the reasons that MJ HAD to be acquitted is because we're taught to treat ALL child molesters in this country equally – as irredeemably scummy bastards. And love him or hate him, it's really hard to think of MJ as an irredeemably scummy bastard. Therefore, by that logic, he cannot be a child molester.

So let me open this dialogue.

I'd like to start with the idea that all child molesters and pedophiles are NOT created equal and should not be treated the same under the law. There are three types of people out there who harm children sexually. The first is a pedophile. A pedophile is a person who has a sexual attraction to children. And contrary to what the religious right says, the VAST majority of pedophiles are not homosexual. There are homosexual male pedophiles who are attracted to little boys, homosexual female pedophiles who are attracted to little girls, but the majority are heterosexual pedophiles attracted to the opposite sex.

A pedophile, by definition, has not acted on this attraction. They have never touched a child. These people CAN be helped, and I think that, as a society, it is our responsibility to help them. Although many people find this distasteful, I think that one way to do that is to provide them with fantasy materials. Illustrations and stories, in other words. Things that do NOT harm a real child in their production. Also, we need to end the law that requires therapists to report ANYONE who comes to them admitting a sexual attraction to children to the police. This doesn't reduce predation on children, it simply prevents these people from coming forward while they still CAN be helped.

Once a pedophile has acted on this attraction, he or she becomes a child molester. This is where MJ fits in, and, I think, the majority of Catholic priests who have been busted for touching a child. I think that, because of his own screwed-up childhood, he had an attraction to children that his adult mind translated as sexual. Jail time IS appropriate for a child molester. However, I do think that the sentence has to be dependent upon the action, rather than mandatory sentencing. For instance, a guy who touches a little girl's breast should get less of a jail sentence than a woman who performs oral sex on a little boy, who should get less of a sentence than a man who penetrates a little girl or boy with his penis. See? Degrees of severity. And no, people, I am not speaking from a depth of ignorance here – I was molested by an older relative when I was a kid, so I have some basis for what I'm saying here. (And no, please do not append notes of condolence – most of my memories of this are lost to time (I was about eight at the time, thirty-five years ago) but that few that I retain are not unpleasant. Ask a woman who was penetrated as a little girl if that's an accurate description of how badly SHE was traumatized.)

The third category, the irredeemable bastard category, is the predator. The predator is not necessarily a pedophile, even if he or she harms a child sexually. The predator is simply drawn to weakness or perceived weakness. Vulnerability or perceived vulnerability. Serial killers fit into this category, as do rapists. Their actions are rarely if ever prompted by sexual desire as we know it. They are turned on not by the other person, but by the vulnerability of the other person. Although these people are frequently damaged personalities, they are beyond help or redemption. The damage has simply gone too far. As opposed as I am personally to the death penalty, I cannot help but think that all that we can do with a person like this is jail them for life or execute them. We cannot allow them back into society, period. Some people believe that the answer to this is physical or chemical castration. The problem with physical castration is that as long as the predator retains hands or a mouth, they retain the ability to prey sexually on another person. The problem with chemical castration is that there has to be some way to make sure that the person remains on their regimen of castrative drugs. This may well work with many child molesters, as many of them are racked with guilt by their desires, and will continue taking the drugs simply to be free of that guilt. Most predators will not.

I base my statement on child molesters on a friend of mine. He went to jail for sexually interfering with a twelve year old girl. When he got out of prison, he was determined not to do it again, so he would introduce himself by explaining that he was a pedophile and could not be alone with children. EVER. A female acquaintance of his, believing, I guess, that this determination made him safe, asked him to babysit her kids. My friend, in a moment of weakness or stupidity accepted. He molested all three kids. He never went to jail for this because, before he could be arrested, he hanged himself in grief.

Folks, if we truly wish to stop this evil, we have to start addressing the issue as responsible adults, not as scared kids.

Peace.

Randal