‘Absurd’ Looks at Michael Jackson

Re “Michael Jackson’s Hidden Accuser: Racism,” Commentary, June 10: As long as racism can help sell newspapers and provide people with jobs, it will be popular.

Take the ridiculous article by Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African American studies at Duke University. His comments are absurd. The fascination Americans have with Michael Jackson’s problems are not rooted in Jackson’s “blackness,” as Neal states, but in the fact that a very talented human being has lost touch with reality. The black spin Neal puts on it would be amusing if it wasn’t so sad.

Jim Morino

Palos Verdes

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Re “A Case of the Much-Too-Famous,” Commentary, June 8: I was so ashamed of The Times for publishing the Michael Jackson-bashing article by Maureen Orth. Does the expression of her contempt, if not hatred, for Jackson deserve your space? At least the essay provided me news. I had not known previously that the trial proves that I “know beyond a reasonable doubt that Jackson evades reality and responsibility.”

I also noted that she provides only two sources for her material: a prosecutor and the mother of the accuser. The thought seizes me that the mother and Orth might very well be soul mates. In this celebrity-besotted culture, both are obsessed with Michael Jackson.

Jack Wood

Long Beach