Michael Jackson: Not Guilty
Ugh, I can’t believe I’m doing this, but I’m entering the ridiculous topic of the Michael Jackson trial. The remarkable thing is the fact that I could give a rat’s ass about Michael Jackson and this stupid trial. I didn’t follow it, amd sick of hearing about it, and am glad its over.
So why on earth am I writing about it?
To make a point about our legal system and our society. I find it incredible how after each of these big celebrity trials, everyone and their mailman pretends to be some legal expert and claim some inside knowledge on the case. The jury handed down a not guilty verdict, but Americans (and people all over the world no doubt) still ask each other “do you think he did it or not?”
I see many, many people who presume to know more about this case than the 12 people on that jury. What qualifies you to make that assumption? You heard some Michael Jackson music? You watched CNN for 15 minutes the other day as they had coverage from the trial? You read newspapers occasionally? You asked your friend at work who really thinks he did it? Gimmie a break.
None of us have even a fraction as much evidense and knowledge about this case as the 12 people who sat in a courtroom for the last 6 months and listened to both sides present their case. It is absurd to claim you or I know more about the case than them, or presume to be better able to decide Michael Jackson’s guilt or innocence.
I don’t have blind trust in our legal system, I know it has its fair share of problems, but I’d far rather trust the opinions of 12 people who have eat, slept, and breathed a trial than Joe Public who comes to his decision from Fox News, the Daily Show, and CNN.
So do I know whether Michael Jackson is guilty or not? No. But I am more than willing to trust the opinion of the 12 individuals charged with making that decision.
June 14th, 2005 at 11:12 am
I agree, laypeople’s ‘armchair lawyer’ philosophies annoy me as well. Unless you are intimately familiar with the case and know more than what diluted television programmes tell you, then you really aren’t that knowledgeable about the case. *sighs*
June 14th, 2005 at 7:05 pm
That was beautiful, Alex.:)
June 14th, 2005 at 7:15 pm
heh, I dunno if it was quite beautiful, but thanks nonetheless.
June 16th, 2005 at 12:27 am
I am agreeing with you more and more as I age.
October 7th, 2005 at 1:12 pm
I was thinking of this post the other day. I saw a Frontline episode on the OJ Simpson trial. My sentiments cover that trial too. All the people in this country (white people) who seem so absolutely sure that OJ was guilty and that the jury didn’t know a damn thing is just amazing.
Spend months in the court room every day, and then maybe I’ll trust your opinion.
Frankly, I thought he was guilty too. But was I there in the courtroom? No. I knew about it from newspapers and CNN like everyone else. So if those jurors think there was a reasonable doubt, then damn it, there was a reasonable doubt.