Book Review: Aphrodite Jones’ Michael Jackson Conspiracy: Chapter 1 ~ “ABC It’s Easy”
Aphrodite starts her first chapter by describing her view of the morning of 13th June 2005 outside the courthouse in some detail.
Comments
- I thought it was an unusual title for vindication/judgment day, but each to their own. In fact throughout the book the chapters have name references to Michael’s songs. A bit cheesy or tabloid?
- Why state
“For Jackson fans who stood outsider everyday, the trial provided rare opportunity to put aside differences.”
- She states how the media viewed the Michael Jackson fans, as a group easily dismissed.
- She states that there were 2200 credentialed media people, but only 3 dozen had seats in the court room.
- That the bulk of the media was outside the court house. You have to wonder how they were able to report on anything material and factual regarding the evidence.
- She uses emotive phasing stating Michael was hiding behind his “mirrored sunglasses and his trademark umbrella”. I think Michael wore sunglasses throughout his career and I believe he used the umbrella to shield himself from the harmful sun rays given his skin condition.
- She mentioned that Michael waved at his fans happy to see them.
- Then she said this:
“Everyone in his presence could feel the music. They could feel the dance.”
- I thought Michael was fighting for his liberty, his reputation, his good name, i thought Michael was fighting against the injustice of false allegations. This was a serious matter. If he had been unsuccessful he would have been imprisoned and he probably would not have survived that. Why trivialize the actual agony of the man and his family?
- She said that Michael looked nervous and strained for the first time. I don’t think that was the case, Michael from the video footage over the period of 5 months i have seen looked as if the proceedings were taking its toll on him over the period in question. In addition he had health problems.
- She said:
“He no longer looked invincible.”
- She mentions that the jury had listened to what seemed to be a “smear campaign launched by the” Bashir programme.
- She states that the responsibility for this was Sneddon.
- She said that the Jackson family were only allocated 6 seats behind Michael.
- I like that she said that he media seemed “dumbfounded” after the verdict was read.
- She said:
“The court of public opinion shared the attitude of many journalists. People were certain that Jackson violated children.”
- Is this true? My view is that the media failed to objectively report the case. I don’t feel that the majority of people believed that Michael Jackson was guilty, what i feel is that the majority were fed a biased and inaccurate portrayal of the evidence.
- Aphrodite mentions that the media were pondering about Michael’s recovery and did not apologise, that is true, but i never heard her say to Michael – SORRY either.
- She says that the media could not see what the jury saw, but i recall that some stations did have defence lawyers commenting ~ BUT I SUPPOSE THE QUESTION IS WERE THE MEDIA LISTENING.
- People relied on the rumour mill because the case was not televised, and there was a gagging order. This was a case relating to a child.
- As the media had focussed mostly on the prosecution when the not guilty verdict came in, people still did not know what the defence arguments were and how they debunked the prosecution case. So Michael could not control what was happening to him, he didn’t seek financial restitution for the false allegations made against him.
- The prosecution did not pursue the Arviso family or any others for their testimony, or wasting police time (why?)
- No one in the media was asking those questions
- No one looked into the police investigation or the tactics used nor the millions spent on this case.
- Why wasn’t this case tested at a preliminary stage, the evidence against Michael would have fallen then, surely?
- Michael was in no state after the hearings to commence civil proceedings against anyone.
- No one was going to report on the defence arguments after the fact.
- There was no accountability.
- No one cared how Michael was going to pay for his legal advice and the effect of the allegations and the smear campaign on his ability to earn and his health
- Even if there was to be accountability who would have had the insurance or resources to cover the financial losses and effect to his health this trial caused?
- So the prosecution moved on, still leaving the door open, the Arviso family moved on, and the prosecution witnesses moved on. The media more on.
- Life just moved on. But WHAT ABOUT MICHAEL JACKSON!
- Aphrodite states that Michael’s appearance was nothing like that the media wanted to portray. She stated how he was dressed. I appreciated reading her comment.
- But was it only because of the verdict that the veil in front of her eyes lifted. Wasn’t it the case that she believed the media claims at that time?
- Aphrodite made a point in her book that she did not want to mention the culprits or her media buds and only mentioned Martin Bashir, because to mention the others was in bad taste.
- But if you are writing a book on the media conspiracy against Michael Jackson surely you need to discuss exactly what was said and by whom and that it was not justified?
- In her book Aphrodite principally blamed Bashir and Sneddon, but there were other players.
- She said that Bashir enhanced his career as a result, probably true, but many more had built reputations and careers on Michael Jackson bashing for years and also during the 2005 trial.
- Remember that earlier Aphrodite complained about getting nothing out of this, and also reporting to many different media outlets during the trial, she gained as well from the 2005 trial. I feel very uneasy when i read her comments. A bit pot calling…
- Was Aphrodite thus too close to the pit to really write a conspiracy book and was she still shielding the culprits (as she put it)?
