Who is Sicko? Him or Us? by Jack Engelhard Nov 25, '03 / 30 Cheshvan 5764
In case you haven't noticed, the world has stopped. Besides Michael Jackson – nothing. His arrest, for alleged child molestation, has prevented anything else from happening. He's been charged, handcuffed, booked, and released on $3 million bail. Someone just told me that Michael Jackson is the most famous person in the world. I didn't know. Did he discover the cure for cancer while I was absent, or is he just a pop-singer?
From the first whisper of Michael Jackson and his troubles - the rest of the world? Poof! Gone! Wall-to-wall coverage on CNN, MSNBC and Fox. Even the establishment networks and our major newspapers carry it over and above all the riots, wars, suicide bombings – the entire carnage that has overtaken our civilization, pushed aside to make room for Jacko.
Chaos in Turkey, in Israel, in England, throughout the Middle East, all across Europe - finished. It's over. Are we winning? Losing? Who cares? On TV right now are two dear friends, or former dear friends, of this icon who is as famous as the pope, but has a larger army. Israeli magician Uri Geller says he warned Michael Jackson about sleeping with children; ditto Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Kosher Sex fame and otherwise a strong voice for his faith.
Boteach, spiritual mentor to this star, gets emotional when he talks about the moon-walker's choice of celebrity over dignity, which led to their split. Geller also gets emotional. Two grown men, one a very respected rabbi, another a Jewish psychic, get themselves all wrapped up in the life of an entertainer who can sing fast and dance backwards – and Michael Jackson is strange?
A minute ago, the Michael Jackson-fest was interrupted by news that two Americans just had their throats slit in Iraq, and that a Palestinian mother "honor"-killed her daughter for being raped by her brother. Now back to our regular program. The brother, the rapist, is safe from harm. These are the people who are killing Christians and Jews all over the planet and meanwhile, Geller and Boteach speak of the tragedy that has befallen... Michael Jackson.
Around here, he's known as Sicko Jacko. So what's to be said for his professional roadies, toadies and flatterers? What's their excuse?
Already, candlelight vigils are taking place from Los Angeles to China. Signs read: "Michael Is Innocent." Where are these (mostly European) bleeding-hearts when it comes to innocents with no fame... who get blown up on buses? Where are the rallies for the orphans of terror? How quickly down went those signs "Hate America/Kill The Jews" and up went those placards, "Save Michael." (They come out of the woodwork like umbrella street-merchants in New York at the first sign of rain.)
But if Michael Jackson really is as big as all that, you do have to wonder about the choices we've made over the past 40 years. Never mind the crotch-grabbing before audiences of 100 million, most of them children, but how about these lyrics from his song “They Don't Care About Us”: "Jew me, sue me... kick me, kike me." Remember, this is the most famous person in the world. (Is it time to re-think our heroes and priorities?)
Oddly and perversely, now that Michael Jackson is all the rage, if for all the wrong reasons – this is good, no? News addicts (aren't we all?) can use a breather. Enough with the terrorism already!
We need something, anything, to break the monotony of fanatics blowing us up. So, like clockwork, we pick out someone, by lottery, to serve as a goat for Azazel, not to atone for us, but to distract. Just last week, Rush Limbaugh, our most famous conservative, was our Big Story for his abuse of prescribed medication. (Isn't it fun to watch someone else squirm?)
Before that, we had the Kobe Bryant caper. This multi-million dollar basketball star was accused of rape, and suddenly, that was practically all the news fit to print or broadcast. People swore that this, finally, was the trial of the century. Has there been a peep about this case? Nope. Or how about the scandals of Martha Stewart? Like everything else, incidental and parenthetical to Jacko.
Please, let's not talk about the multitudes who fall ever more in love with people accused of child molestation, rape, and even murder. (O.J. Simpson anyone?)
Let's not talk about these accused, how they become even more famous, more glamorous, more in demand for autographs, books and movies.
Let's not talk about how self-righteous and judgmental we get when a neighbor slips – as "Hymietown" Jesse Jackson smugly piled it on Limbaugh.
Let's talk about France. Have you heard? Courageous author Robert Spencer was ready to get his book translated over there when, just like that, the publisher pulled out. Here's what happened. The French translator, Guy Milliere, started getting death threats; things like – "I hope someone slits your throat, you dirty, Jew pig." The publisher, Yves Michalon, also started getting death threats, and caved, cancelled the book's publication for fear of his life.
Spencer's book is called Islam Revealed: Disturbing Questions About The World's Fastest Growing Faith. France, like most of Europe, is 20 percent Islam, and growing, and as journalist Stephen Brown quotes author Spencer, "It's ironic. If you don't say Islam is a religion of peace, they will kill you." This action against Spencer should be a trial; should, in fact, be the trial of the century.
For Spencer's situation is today's world in microcosm. This is where we are, and worse, this is where we are going.
To borrow a phrase from my own novel that people may be afraid to publish: "The Koran has arrived, and it has come to devour the Bible."
If you disagree, go ahead, kick me, kike me. ( That's a good line....why didn't I think of that?.....Snooker)
