CNN Breaking - Michael Jackson charged with 7 counts child molestation

[TacticalPeek]

and giving an intoxicating agent.

edit, add link: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/entertainment/US/michael_jackson_indicted_040421.html

[TroglodyteScholar]

1. Yep..

Michael Jackson is a giant alien force more violent & sick than anything you can imagine

Not to say he didn't have help getting that way...

[hatrack]

16. Possible Jacko-Clenis link? What do you think?

I mean, Clenis is in itself a Vortex Of Evil - but combined with the child-molesting-ish-looking tragic child star entertainer that is Jacko, it's hard to even imagine the evil that might be unleashed!

[chenGOD]

26. Wow...

someone else on DU likes VSnares.

:evilgrin: :bounce: :wow:

[Newsjock]

2. ... and 12 counts of nation distraction

Look! Over there!

[jburton]

11. exactly

looks like Iraq will be out of the news for awhile now.

[hang a left]

23. Maybe the Plame Indictments are coming tomorrow.

I was thinking that they would make it out before Wilson's book.

[Skip Intro]

13. exactly again

This will play out over the summer, with "revelations" well timed to unfolding bush disasters.

Why am I suddenly thinking Gary Condit?

[Junkdrawer]

3. And in other news, a suitcase nuclear weapon exploded in Washington...

D.C. today, but first, we'll hear an exclusive interview with Jacko's maid....

[Terry_M]

6. Hehe yeah, the news channels will be more useless than usually

:bounce:

[yardwork]

14. They'll be useless for Chimpy too.

That is one small consolation.

[Generator]

4. He's bad, he's bad, he's really really bad

You write the lyrics, they come back to bite you!

[skooooo]

12. Wow, he really is bad!!!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

5. Oh how convienient, now we can ignore Bush's failures in Iraq.

:eyes:

[mobuto]

7. Somehow I doubt

that the Grand Jury's activities are being coordinated by the White House. But the medias obsession with this kind of tabloid-y crap is disgusting. But I guess it reflects the public's taste.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

9. The White House does not control this but the Media will now....

cover it 24/7 instead of covering * failures.

[markses]

25. I agree, and then only somewhat

First, the conspiracy theories about the timing are, as you imply, ridiculous. I'm more interested here in the question of "reflecting public taste." I think that's partly right, on its face, and I have seen pretty good research to support it. The counterargument is, of course, that the media constructs or produces the public taste to some extent, and therefore never merely reflects it, and I think that's somewhat correct as well (or else advertising wouldn't be a billion dollar industry, despite the fact that nobody was ever persuaded by a commercial - wink wink).

I personally don't buy the "distraction" argument, although I think that spectacles such as this do, in fact, distract people from Politics with a capital P. I don't buy it because I think all these minor stories do some work in cementing the social bond, or providing an outlet for interest, and sociality: all the little sex stories and office gossip, all the neighborhood scandals; these all have a social function that people write off too easily by saying that they are "merely" distractions from the "real work" of politics. This is not to say that one should or could ignore politics.

But I think even here on DU we ignore politics by and large. Much of the posting that goes on here is little more than the kind of rumor telling, scnadalizing, and righteousness that these celebrity scandals and private murders provide an outlet for. I'd even go so far as to say that most of the posts on this board are at about the same level as that, if you'd accept the proviso (I think implicit) that that level is not necessarily bad. It has a social function. And while we may pretend from time to time to having a higher purpose than those rumoring about Michael Jackson, Laci Peterson, or Kobi Bryant, I'd suggest the possibility that what we do here is just as salacious, and remarkably similar. We may have simply arranged our community around a different set of rumors.

[onehandle]

8. Who cares. nt

[bluestateguy]

10. I care

NOT.

The 90's are over. The era of celebrity show trials needs to come to an end.

[hatrack]

15. Kiss coverage of Iraq goodbye

All Jacko, only Jacko - we'll all be watching The Jacko Channel(s).

[InflateableLove]

17. 5.4.3.2....1 Karl Rove?

Or Black choppers?

[leesa]

18. Ah yes...rolling out Michael Jackson again to distract silly Americans

from Bush's treason.

[Bluebear]

22. There goes America's attention for the next year

Sorry, we can't pay attention to the election while Jacko and Scott Peterson are on the air.

[RichV]

19. Bah

Between this and Kobe, at least they'll be some newsworthy events going on the next six months or so. Whew!

:eyes:

[Dover]

20. Wasn't there a video circulating on the internet that showed Larry King

and others in D.C. also molested kids from some boys school or orphanage? A LOT of sick people...and some are even making the laws and preaching morality to the rest of us.

[Minstrel Boy]

21. Yes, but not THAT Larry King.

There's a prominent Nebraskan Republican of the same name (he sang the national anthem at the 84 and 88 national conventions), who ran a ring of juvenile prostitutes, many drawn from Boy's Town, out of his credit union for the sick pleasure of state and national figures.

The documentary's called "Conspiracy of Silence," and a book covering the scandal is called "The Franklin Cover-Up."

[fortyfeetunder]

24. Seven Counts, at least one per month until November

That will tide Murkans insatiable desire for sleaze and forget about voting against Dubya....