The Johnny Depp / Michael Jackson Connection

Let the hate flow

I didn’t watch the trial, not a minute of it. Neither did I read the articles. I did read the headlines, because you couldn’t miss them. I also saw all the people posting their opinions about the trial and the verdict. Many of my social media friends seem quite divided on the issue.

Thus far, I have made a solitary post about HearDepp. On the day of the verdict I posted on Facebook and Twitter: “Now seems like a good time to take the rest of the day off the internet.” That was it. But something has been nagging me about it all, and here we are. I’m gonna say some shit and it’s probably going to piss people off.

First off, in case I wasn’t clear, I don’t have much of an opinion about who did what or who was more guilty, because I remained purposefully uninformed. I’ve seen a lot of people saying “yeah they both fuckin’ suck”, and perhaps that is the case. I dunno. I’m not choosing a side here because there is already enough of that going around.

But I am going to weigh in on the similarities of the Depp stans with the Jackson stans.

I author a daily column titled “On This Day in History Shit Went Down” that gets a few million readers a month. My piece for last November 30 was about the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, the bestselling album of all time. Here is how the piece begins:

Today’s history post is about two things. The first thing is the best-selling album in history, which was released worldwide on November 30, 1982. The other is about the artist, and how he was a fucking pedophile.

My editor told me, “They are gonna come for you.”

I wasn’t quite sure what she meant at the time, but I’m used to being attacked online so I was all yeah whatever I can handle it.

Was she ever right.

I AM informed about the accusations against Jackson, and the evidence of his misdeeds is overwhelming. And yet, his defenders are legion. I haven’t banned that many people in one day since far-right fuckwipe Dan Bongino slagged me on his fascist podcast.

The number of people professing the innocence of Jackson while excoriating his accusers were massive. They invaded my social media and accused me of … lots of things.

As I said, I don’t know shit about what happened between Depp and Heard, but I do know that Depp also had his legions of valiant defenders, and so I see the similarities. Johnny has been a beloved actor for many years and has his devoted fans the same way Michael Jackson was the favorite musician of so many. People can get a little weird about those they idolize, refusing to believe any negative reports about their misdeeds. Hell, we see it with Trump fans too. They don’t believe all the legitimate accusations of rape and sexual assault, or the clear evidence of all the other horrible shit he did. I wrote about how he mocked a disabled reporter and tons of Trumpanzees came in to defend it despite the clear video evidence of what he’d done.  

People love Johnny, but it’s also about the money.

There is money involved in convincing people that Trump / Jackson / Depp are pure and innocent. Alive or dead, they all have something to sell. Depp is still a highly bankable star, much more so than Heard, and if she had to be sacrificed to keep Johnny’s reputation clean, then so be it.

Again, not saying I know the square root of fuck all about who did what or hit who or chopped off which appendage or shit where. My suspicion is that those who are saying they both suck are probably on to something. But that’s not the point.

The point is that people need to be careful when it comes to picking sides. You can be influenced by your love of a favorite performer and the big money spin machine. It can cause you to deny reality.

The MRAs had a fucking field day with the verdict. What’s an MRA? I wrote about self-styled “men’s rights activists” for TIME Magazine back in 2014. They are the “what about the men?” of the internet, and they are horrible.

I don’t know who did what in HearDepp, but I do know some statistics about my gender. And we cannot let this tale or this verdict distract from the reality that the majority of violence is committed by men.

Looking at the societal level, women do commit some violent crimes, but it’s way worse with men. According to the FBI:

·      Murder and non-negligent manslaughter committed by men: 88.7%

·      Forcible rape committed by men: 99.1%

·      Aggravated assaults committed by men: 77.1%

·      Violent arson committed by men: 80.1%

·      Other assaults committed by men: 72.3%

·      Sex offenses (except forcible rape and prostitution) committed by men: 92.2%

·      Offenses against the family and children committed by men: 73.4%

·      Overall violent crime committed by men: 80.1%

Now let’s look at victims of violence. A massive study by the CDC shows 18.3% of women have been raped at some point in their lives. MRAs like to insist men are victims of sexual violence just as much or more, but not according to the CDC, who put the rate at 1.4% for forceful penetration of male victims (achieved or attempted). When it comes to men being made to penetrate someone else, that figure climbs 4.8%. Still way less than what women experience. What about false rape accusations? About that … It is extraordinarily uncommon.

The most telling figure in this regard? 51.1% of women who were raped reported it being by an intimate partner, and 40.8% by an acquaintance. Add to this one in six women being victims of stalking, with two-thirds of those stalkers being a former intimate partner. Also, 1 in 4 women (and 1 in 7 men) have experienced “severe physical violence” from an intimate partner. And it’s worth noting that, due to strength and size imbalances, when a man is violent with a woman, the consequences are almost always more dire. A survey in Canada of visits to Victim’s Services said eight out of ten were women. Regarding domestic violence, “For every 100 women we may see two to three men.” Granted, there is more shame associated with men seeking assistance for domestic violence (toxic masculinity crap), but that only partially accounts for the massive disparity. It’s also worth noting that the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network shows that of every thousand rapes committed in the U.S., only 310 are reported, only 57 lead to arrest, only 11 get referred to prosecutors, only 7 lead to felony conviction, and only 6 are incarcerated. Yeah, only six out of a thousand rapists do time. Fuck.

Yes, men are victims of violence and based on some headlines I couldn’t avoid it seems Johnny may have been but again I don’t know about that. What I do know is that people have been manipulated into choosing sides and that others are using this story to make women seem evil and men seem saintly.

But the statistics show that isn’t the case. A while back I wrote about Patrick Stewart joining Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign. Patrick grew up witnessing his father repeatedly abuse his mother, and now he works to stop such domestic violence. He explained the importance of getting more men to realize the role they have to play in ending domestic violence: “The people who could do most to improve the situation of so many women and children are in fact, men,” he said. “It’s in our hands.” 

It's in our hands.

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