There are dozens or hundreds of people in the world who do lots of things I consider insane.

Hell, there are thousands of parents in the world who do things I consider insane.

Hands up all the parents on this thread who would let their kid share a bed with an unrelated 40-year-old adult. Assuming it's not a lifeboat situation, that there are enough beds for everybody to have their own.

He said he was taught to go by the "back of the neck" test.

Sure, but was that assessment made from obsessive news reports or meeting someone personally?

My feeling is that MJ is damaged, not merely unique, and to treat him (or anyone famous or monied or not) as just an interesting guy is bad for him. That's what his money has allowed to happen for years, and even if he has NEVER done anything sexual with a child, he still seems to have a horribly unhappy life. I wish he had someone around him who loved him to call him on his shit and that he had lots of therapy. I think his parents have a lot ot answer for, frankly.

Well, nobody treats him as just an interesting guy and the way things go are pretty bad for him too. He probably does need a shrink. And a time machine stocked with parenting classes for his folks. Assume he IS a fucked-up rock star, so what? He's just fucked up in an unusual way. (again, this is assuming he's not a pedophile)

Wow! Weatherbug says that it's 40 degrees outside!

is the problem that you think the media has equated his guilt of being a weirdo with guilt of pedophilia?

or that the media plays up his weirdoness?

or that we all think is a weirdo?

I'm going with the, "Would I beat this human into pulp if s/he so much as touched a hair on my nephew's head?" rule.

I'd hit MJ so hard he'd poop out his own nose the next day.

Guy in a Klingon suit at Comic Con? I'd likely let him pinch his chubby cutie cheeks and take a picture.

But most certainly, most definately, would never, under any circumstances, allow him to sleep in a 40-year-old's bed who wasn't my Dad or brother.

Not even someone I knew well. All the people I know well would sleep on the couch and let him have the bed, because they understand appropriate adult behavior.

Even with the presumption of innocence in our legal system, MJ raises my hackles. He's probably been found guilty in the court of public opinion--not just by his strangeness--but by his repeated insistence on flouting social convention.

There is nothing in this world that would allow my son to spend ONE SECOND of unsupervised time with MJ. It's not worth the risk of me being wrong. He sends up too many red flags.

I still like Dave Chappel's skit as a potential juror for Michael Jackson. Asked if he thought MJ is guilty, he says, "he's just misunderstood." Asked if he would let his child sleep over at Michael's house, he yells, "HELL NO!"

Allyson, in class we talked about Debra Messing's good publicity with baby signs! It was fun.

is the problem that you think the media has equated his guilt of being a weirdo with guilt of pedophilia?

or that the media plays up his weirdoness?

or that we all think is a weirdo?

The first two are the problem.

The third one is just a little tedious because I don't think anyone would care that he's a weirdo if it weren't for the first two. We run aroud in corsets, we conversationally quote a genre show that's been off the air for three years, we exchange tiaras every few months...

Apparently, there are a dozens or hundreds of parents in the world who do not agree with you and are fine with their kids and twenty or thirty other kids having a slumber party with Michael Jackson.

Any adult person who wants to have a slumber party with a bunch of children who aren't his own, is suspect (that is suspect to me, as a parent, as far as me allowing my kid to stay over).

If my mother wants to have my kids over for a sleepover, that's cool. Aside from knowing her well enough (duh) their relationship is a close one. If my mother wanted to have a gang of children from my neighborhood over for a sleepover, I'd get her help.

I am NEVER going to be able to respect the judgment of people who let their kids have sleepovers at Michael Jackson's, or any random rich/famous persons, regardless of whether he is currently under investigation for child molestation charges. Right there, their judgment sucks. Their opinions carry negative weight.

And you know what? I wouldn't do the first or third of those in front of a documentary cameraman.

Appropriate context, appropriate behavior.