Intergenerational abuse

Not since Bindy Irwin was thrust into the limelight in the wake of her father's death have I seen such a cringe-worthy example of tasteless self-promotion as the spectacle that was Paris Jackson "speaking" at her father's sideshow.

I'd love to have been a fly on the wall during the planning, and I could be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't her idea to speak, or even be on the stage. If I am wrong, then it was at the very least an inauspicious coming out for someone who, very deliberately by her father, had been kept out of the spotlight.

The family jostling her and giving her instructions in front of a billion people hardly gave any respect to the occasion. But was that the intention at all?

What better way, in the face of a looming custody battle, to show such "family" solidarity? What better way to quell leftover whispering than to have the children validate the quality of Jackson's interaction with the younger set?

Personally, I never thought him guilty of anything other than being incredibly naive. When the local parish priest comes out as a pedophile, there follows a landslide of victims willing to testify to his sexual proclivities. Who came out of the woodwork when it was suggested Jackson was molesting children? No one. Well, a few with obvious agendas, but no one credible.

The abuse that is confirmed within the Jackson clan was that perpetrated by father Joe - and silently condoned by the mother? But would forcing a heretofore reclusive child in front of a billion people for purposes more political than personal be another form of abuse? At the very least manipulative and demeaning, the bastard love-children of abuse?

Celebrate Michael Jackson's life, music, and positive aspects, by all means. But leave the children out of the politicking.