Pity Michael Jackson. Of course, that's after checking off a long list of other justifiable reactions to the sad, clown-like figure whose trial on child molestation and other charges is now getting under way in California with all the solemnity of a circus. Amazement, impatience, sympathy, repugnance, nostalgia, boredom: Americans must have felt them all over the years watching the former King of Pop's life spin ever more dizzyingly downward. Or maybe it was spinning outward -- to some non-Earthly realm for which Neverland, the name of Mr. Jackson's ranch, is clearly the best word.

There never was such a land as the one in which he has tried, or pretended, to exist. Still, in the end, pity prevails, as it must when a human being comes so publicly undone.

Here are two other reasons why pity is the fallback emotion in this case, at least for now. One, it doesn't prejudge Mr. Jackson's guilt or innocence; on that score, the jury is not only still out, it hasn't even been selected. And two, though nobody wants pity, in this instance it also represents a kind of tribute. One of the main reasons the "Wacko Jacko" of today is so pitiable is precisely that the man, and before him the boy we now barely remember, was so talented and charismatic an entertainer. Before the delusions of grandeur set in, he really was as good as they come. The American satirist Jon Stewart said recently that real news in the Michael Jackson case would be if the star were actually to release a decent song. And it's true, it has been a while. But that's part of the pity: No matter what happens in the courtroom, the loss, the fall, has been great.