He was a welder (seriously, a really great welder, in the opinion of all of his colleagues), so, naturally, the whole family dressed in matching goggles, leather aprons and gloves.

That wasn't wierd, was it?

and mom should now get custody unless there is something demonstratably wrong with her. Having been through the custody wars I can tell you that there is something incredibly wrong with parents that try to get their children to like them more than the other parent. The parent that can buy their kid a pony should not automatically win custody.

I've avoided talking about the Jackson funeral, in part because I was at work during the event. I've read lots of commentary about what was said (just like his life, his death has the aspect of a train wreck that's impossible to avoid looking at). I do think that Jackson's family and other loved ones would like to change how he'll be remembered. When someone dies, what family doesn't try to forget the bad stuff?

However, as someone that was molested by a family member, I think Berman's point here is very important:

Paris' words summed up the underlying thesis of Tuesday's memorial: Michael Jackson was a hero, not a pedophile. (Never mind that he may have been both.)

It's very important to remember that someone can be both--both a hero and a pedophile. One memory cannot erase the other, only complicate it.

that "the family is, after all, preparing for what looks to be a difficult child custody fight between Katherine Jackson and Debbie Rowe." Debbie Rowe has not made any statements saying she'd like custody, and she did, afterall, give up all custody of the kids and hasn't seen them since. Nothing she's done makes me think she's even going to try to get custody. I think this is an example of the media storm surrounding MJ's death. The media has been speculating about a difficult child custody battle, but only because they'd like something to fill their 24/7 news cycle.

this essay was pretty unnecessary, to say the least.

it might have been a bit exploitative to put paris on the spot at the end of the big show, but i think it's a little mean-spirited to doubt her sincerity or the validity of her feelings.

anyone who has seen video clips (candid and staged) of michael and paris together can not deny that she was the ultimate daddy's girl. i remember seeing paris cling to him, holding his hand and not wanting to let go, showering him with affection and being a normal, talkative, excited little girl. i always admired his relationship with his children; he seemed determined to preserve their innocence and normalcy (a futile attempt, no doubt) and to not repeat the heinous mistakes of his father.

whatever we choose to believe about mj as a person, let's leave poor paris alone.

Hey, for all you know it was BLEACHED PLATINUM!!!

Or, you know, it got darker as he got older. That's a rare rare occurance of course...

Why Paris? Why not Prince or Blanket? Did she cry too late? Too soon? For real?!?!?

Are we really going to pick apart every word out of these childrens' mouths? Every follicle? No wonder their Father stuck them behind veils and masks.

Hopefully this is the last we see of them for a good long time. I've seen more of those poor kids since their Father died than their entire lives beforehand.

(If you must have "evidence" of spontaniety and genuine emotion reflect on the fact that eight professional entertainers couldn't figure out how to lower the mic. Of course they were rattled. This is their brother.)

I get the feeling that you, Judy Berman, have exploited the last moments of the Jackson memorial, where Paris spoke about her father, just so you could knock it down with an infusion of suspicion and paranoia. And, to squeeze a story out of it. Nice work, Ms. Berman.

You're exploiting the moment to make a big controversy that will drive page-views on Salon. Most people haven't seen her speak at the memorial, so by giving it this weird micro-attention, you're possibly creating a much worse problem than that which already exists. Salon has has had over a half-dozen articles about Michael Jackson. Why add this log to the fire?

Everything in Michael Jackson's life, and his family's life, is going to be a little different and more public than for the average person. It might be wrong to encourage a kid to become dramatic at a funeral/memorial service, but it would be wrong to deny her the chance to speak if that's what she felt like doing. The circumstances are much worse for her than any one transitory moment. Her dad is dead. Who cares about the style points?

that despite Jackson's obsessive insistence that the children not be subject to the public eye, immediately following his death family representatives began releasing pictures very disturbing. There seems to be no choice but to assume at least some mild form of exploitation is occurring.

It clearly seemed stage managed to me. She didn't tug on someone's arm and ask to speak ... even if it was arranged in advance, when the time came she was CLEARLY being coerced by Janet to actually take the microphone. The whole spectacle seemed less a memorial to Jackson, and more a stage managed concert designed specifically to rehabilitate his image, and give a global stage for a few hand picked performers to showcase their talents on. Even before the Paris incident, I was seeing an event as opposed to a memorial ... Paris' comments sealed it for me.

I don't think Paris' comments were planned, and even if they were--she seemed more than willing to stand up there and speak, and who on earth am I to make judgments about an 11-year-old girl's obvious grief.

No matter what the setup was, if any, it was a poignant moment, and I won't over-analyze it beyond tyat.

... but does Salon have to do it, too?