THE MICHAEL JACKSON CARNIVAL

The jury remains out in the Michael Jackson trial. Meanwhile, the press are out in force with helicopters to monitor the journey to the court for the verdict of the defendant and his relatives. Much of the US press comment is full of excitement as though it were the Super Bowl final. Prison cells where Jackson may soon be held are made available for the press. Should he be convicted, every prurient deatil of his future life is for our consumption and 'entertainment.'

Think me a prude if you will but surely I am not alone in finding all of this obscene. There is nothing entertaining about the charges. Child abuse is not a game. I don't have a clue as to Jackson's guilt or innocence (Strangely the truth may be somewhere between what the prosecution allege and what the defence counter claims) but what is at stake is more important than suggested by the carnival atmosphere. The fact is that at stake is the future of the Arviso child and Jackson himself. This is in reality a Greek tragedy in which lives can be crushed.

The sort of voyeurism which has surrounded this trial from start to finish is in short subhuman. It is the sign of a sick society which has no concern for the individuals whose lives will never be the same again but cares only for a false world of hype. If Jackson is convicted, we will see once again the falseness of the culture of celebrity which makes people into Gods and then delightes in destroying them. It is a culture which sacrifices reality for false illusions.

Britain is not yet so indoctrinated with this sickness as the United States but it is going the same way. Together we are on the same road as Rome before its fall. At times like this, I think we deserve no better ending that that once great Empire.