Judging Michael Jackson

So much that is wrong with our culture can be summed up in a single headline published this week by USA Today: "Don't judge Jackson, say child experts." Don't judge Michael Jackson for dangling a 9-month-old baby over a balcony, "expert" Sally Lee of Parents magazine counsels us. Why not? Because no parent is perfect, Lee explains condescendingly, and we wouldn't want to make a "pariah" of celebrities who make "mistakes." Oh, heavens no, we wouldn't want to make a pariah out of a self-destructive boy-man who suddenly surfaces with an entourage of three vulnerable children of questionable paternity -- all bizarrely bearing the name "Michael" and literally unable to breathe freely in public because Jackson puts hoods over their heads to hide their faces. Don't judge Michael Jackson for recklessly endangering an innocent life, "expert" A. Sidney Johnson of Prevent Child Abuse America implores. Why not? "All of us, regardless of income, can unintentionally place children in harm's way." As if Jackson didn't intend to wave around the baby like a trophy before his crazed fans in Germany? As if the baby accidentally crawled up into Jackson's arms while he was blowing creepy kisses to the crowd below? As if any normal, sane parent, regardless of income, would tote around his or her children for the cameras with makeshift burqas covering their heads? But never mind. We shouldn't judge Michael Jackson, warns "expert" child psychologist Sam Goldstein, author of "Raising Resilient Children." Why not? "We can't jump to conclusions without knowing the facts." Well, I'm no high-falutin' expert, but if I were the mother of the writhing, towel-smothered infant who nearly plunged to his death at the clammy hands of Michael Jackson, I'd have this crotch-grabbing celebrity thrown in jail faster than you can say "Bad." The facts are plainer than the collapsed nose on Jackson's frightful face. This man is unfit to be anywhere near children, let alone to be a make-believe parent of three. In the obfuscatory language of the psychological experts, Michael Jackson has Major Issues. He's more than a sideshow freak. He's a menace. Jackson shelled out $20 million to shut up a 13-year-old boy who accused the pop star of molesting him at his Neverland ranch in Southern California. His older sister, LaToya (herself an emotional train wreck), corroborated long-held suspicions by revealing to the press that Jackson often spent nights with young boys in his bedroom during elaborate sleepover parties. The fizzled King of Pop has a reported addiction to Demerol, and has been rumored to have hooked himself up to his own narcotic drip in the past to feed his dependency. He concocted a story for the tabloids about sleeping in a "hyperbaric" chamber to stop wrinkles. He made a chimp named Bubbles his significant other for a year, dressing him in matching outfits before dumping him off at a zoo after he tired of the primate's company. And after transmogrifying himself from black to see-through, he hysterically accused his record company of racism. Jackson's inner demons -- resentment of a distant father, self-hatred of his skin color, confusion over his sexuality, and anger over the sacrifice of his childhood as the price of fame -- have eaten away at the once-gifted entertainer's soul. If you think his outer visage is a mess, imagine the rotting core inside. If Jackson is willing to butcher himself into near-oblivion over his inadequacies, imagine what he will do to his own purported sons and daughter when they don't meet his twisted expectations. Yet, Jackson's friends and enablers and professional defenders blithely ignore the obvious danger he poses to himself and those poor children now in his possession. "Despite his peculiarities," Jackson "is extremely impressive as a father," friend Gary Pudney told People magazine last month. "He had a very lonely childhood. His motivation in having children is partly because of that but mainly because he loves them." Is the sick and selfish compulsion that prompted Michael Jackson to treat a 9-month-old baby like a headless human yo-yo this week "love"? Ignore the experts. You be the judge.