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US pop star Michael Jackson gestures, London - Source: Reuters
During those chaotic and discordant weeks after Michael Jackson died - hard to believe it was more than two years ago - a theory ran around some quarters that the Prince of Pop had been killed - murdered in fact - for being successful, and black.
The first time I heard the conspiracy expressed was outside the Jackson family compound in Encino, as ordinary fans (rather than the subspecies - Jacksonus Rabidus- everyone knows one) came to pay their respects to the star who had moved them, and whose material wealth had become metaphoric of a very American position: If he can do it, perhaps I can too.
An aside. This explains why the notion of the wealthy paying more tax seems unable to find traction in American public discourse. Higher tax rates for plutocrats will become a problem when I join that jewel-encrusted cohort; it's merely a matter of time.
Silly ideas tend to congregate, so the notion that Jackson had been murdered because his success was an affront to white America, quickly led to some assertions about OJ Simpson's innocence. Interestingly, none of those raising this (and yes, they were all black) spectre were eager to suggest that he had been accused of pedophilia because of his bank balance and skin colour.
How this court hearing has changed everything. As we've watched a bodyguard, a personal assistant, and the head of security all take the stand at the manslaughter trial of Doctor Conrad Murray, it's become clear that Michael Jackson was killed not by white America, but by zombies.
Oh, they're in better shape than the zombies of popular lore; well dressed, coiffed; their hair short or immaculately corrugated. They don't feed off human flesh in the way their cartoon brethren do. They won't chase you through the supermarket. But these people all seem to lack a kind of personal agency.
They lack the ability to think for themselves. When your gig amounts to giving the Boss what he wants, it's easy to conclude he's an addict because he wants to be and addict.
From there the leap isn't too far that he's dead because he felt like being dead for a bit. Put that huckster sawbones Conrad Murray aside for a moment. Why not wait to call EMS, just to see if the Boss will rise from the dead. Other Bosses have.
In part they're not entirely to blame. A kind of zombie-ism accumulates around the wealthy and famous, naturally. I've seen this on movie junkets with the overgrown children we otherwise identify as actors who have become so accustomed to getting what they want, they don't want what they want.
I've seen it in the courtier-like grovelling that collects around the wealthy and dominant, and the slaves that cheerfully serve this drool up. Of course, what the Big Dog really wants is a fight, but everyone's afraid to fight him.
There's a zombie-ism also in the idea that an injustice (the generally parlous position of black Americans in US society) should be allowed to colour -no pun intended- the facts of any situation. Yes it's a tragedy, but treating this tragedy as an excuse for fuzzy self-pity rather than clear thinking is a crime. It's like mental Propofol.
Having said that, I uttered none of this outside the Jackson compound in Encino two years ago. Everyone has their own inducements to zombie-ism; mine is politeness, by which I mean, of course, cowardice.
Meanwhile, I can't take my eyes off this trial.
To read more Tim Wilson opinion click here .
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