# Michael Jackson the Pederast? What Do We Actually know? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108 "2009-07-06T18:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108/261 "2009-07-17T17:51:42Z")
> [@ashman165](#): > > Yes, that’s why pedophiles are always so obvious: they go about parading their victims and announcing it and such like. For a pattern, it’s kind of odd that you dismiss away the inconvenient parts and keep only those which you think support your view. > > A pattern is something which, well, is regular and recurring; a theme if you will. Not every pedophile does the exact same thing. Are you honestly saying that because he said nothing happened, that makes it okay? That if you knew someone who was around kids all day, say, a teacher or coach or boy scout leader, who told you he had sleepovers with young boys but nothing happened and he just did it because he was so-child like himself and you saw him at a party/local event snuggling on the couch with some boy, that well, “Of course, a real pedophile wouldn’t do it in public!”? ---
**Author:** ![ashman165](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108/262 "2009-07-17T17:56:12Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Not every pedophile does the exact same thing. Are you honestly saying that because he said nothing happened, that makes it okay? That if you knew someone who was around kids all day, say, a teacher or coach or boy scout leader, who told you he had sleepovers with young boys but nothing happened and he just did it because he was so-child like himself and you saw him at a party/local event snuggling on the couch with some boy, that well, “Of course, a real pedophile wouldn’t do it in public!”? No, apparently you didn’t bother to read what I actually wrote. Clearly, you didn’t as you took away from it something I didn’t actually say. I said that your idea of a pattern sucks out loud. Take the pattern: 0, 2, 3, 9, 26, 27, 28, 79, 81, 83 It predicts nothing though it has in it some weak pattern, which if removed from all the other shit in it would be an actual pattern. As such, you can’t say with any reasonable confidence what the next number would be. It be 3^5, or not. So, as a pattern, it blows. Similarly, your alleged pattern isn’t a pattern of anything. You read into what you want to see instead of evaluating it on its own merits. And it’s worth noting that all of the people who have seen the evidence you claim is steadfast have rejected it. Well, minus the prosecution. But otherwise, 100% of the people who’ve seen it all have rejected it. That is telling. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108/263 "2009-07-18T00:43:29Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Not every pedophile does the exact same thing. Are you honestly saying that because he said nothing happened, that makes it okay? That if you knew someone who was around kids all day, say, a teacher or coach or boy scout leader, who told you he had sleepovers with young boys but nothing happened and he just did it because he was so-child like himself and you saw him at a party/local event snuggling on the couch with some boy, that well, “Of course, a real pedophile wouldn’t do it in public!”? I’m not sure where you’re going with analogy, but for my part, I would definitely be disinclined to take him at his word for that. If only there was some sort of formalized process by which we could hear the best arguments in support of two conflicting accounts, and then apply logic and reason to determine what is actually true… ---
**Author:** ![ashman165](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108/264 "2009-07-18T00:52:39Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > I’m not sure where you’re going with analogy, but for my part, I would definitely be disinclined to take him at his word for that. If only there was some sort of formalized process by which we could hear the best arguments in support of two conflicting accounts, and then apply logic and reason to determine what is actually true… I see, you want the Easter Bunny to be real. I think we should start a nation which has an adversarial process whereby we could do this. I think, for the sake of novelty, we should call it a “court”. I’ll give more thought to its construct later, but I’m tentatively leaning towards some kind of authority figure who deals with issues of a “law” and then some other people, a panel like thing, which deals with facts. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108/265 "2009-07-18T06:45:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes, I have no doubt he was batshit crazy, and lacked either the capacity to constrain himself in a reasonably normal manner, or the emotional ability to do so. That, however, doesn’t imply he’s a pedophile. That’s actually what I wanted to say! I think he was batshit and so emotionally stunted that he didn’t realize that people would see his acts with boys as bizarro… Frudian Slit… yes, it was really weird…but you have to understand that you’re talking about someone who IS really weird. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108/266 "2009-07-18T17:40:56Z")
I just don’t see why him being weird means he can’t also be a pedophile. It also seemed like he was really playing up the “I’m just a strange, odd little boy type” persona in the documentary. Apparently it worked. ---
**Author:** ![ashman165](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108/267 "2009-07-18T17:51:31Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I just don’t see why him being weird means he can’t also be a pedophile. It also seemed like he was really playing up the “I’m just a strange, odd little boy type” persona in the documentary. Apparently it worked. I don’t understand how you take one to imply the other. The two might happily occur in the same person, but there’s no good reason to think they must and several good reasons to think that neither implies the other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-jackson-the-pederast-what-do-we-actually-know/502108.md?page=13)