I made a commitment to myself and my blog readers a long time ago to stay far away from referring to Mr. Jackson until the conclusion of the present affair unless the situation positively demanded it, and other than the odd snarky comment occasioned by something too painful to pass up, I've kept to that. It's been mildly amusing to observe the fanatical defenses offered up by his hugely partisan fan base (I mean, come on, quitting your job in order to stand outside the courthouse to scream "Innocent!" does raise a few questions about people's connection to reality), but the entire affair has been extremely low on my radar (and for the record, my position on the current affair is innocent until proven guilty, and not being there nor following the events in any manner, I have no reason to change that outlook).

For the non-cognoscenti, Godwin's Law states "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one", and some of the corollaries are applicable to the subject matter (although of course The Gloved One isn't explicitly mentioned, then again, Sir Isaac Newton had no way of imagining a Saturn V when he came up with F=ma). Case's Corollary to Godwin's Law states "If the subject is Heinlein or homosexuality, the probability of a Hitler/Nazi comparison being made becomes equal to one", and of course the intelligent reader can subsitute Michael Jackson for Robert Heinlein in this case.

So what does Michael Jackson have to do with Godwin-ing a thread? The thread is occasioned by an interview given by a second-hand source, Shmuley Boteach. In an op-ed in the May 19th issue of the Jerusalem Post(registration may be required), Rabbi Boteach recounts a conversation he had with Michael Jackson at one point, regarding how he could reach the good even in the most evil of people:

SB: What if they were like the Nazis, just evil people?

MJ: I can't imagine that I couldn't reach their hearts in some kind of way.

SB: So you believe that if you were face to face with Hitler you could...?

MJ: Absolutely. Absolutely! He had to have had a lot of yes people around him who were afraid of him.

SB: You believe that if you had an hour with Hitler you could somehow touch something inside of him?

MJ: Absolutely. I know I could.

SB: With Hitler? Come on. So you don't believe there is anyone who is completely evil and there is no way to touch them? So you don't believe in punishing the wicked because then...?

MJ: No I believe you have to help them, give them therapy. You have to teach them, that somewhere something in their life went wrong. They don't see what they do. They don't understand that it is wrong a lot of times.

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