IF I BURNED ANTS
If I burned ants
with a magnifying glass, this is how I did it. It's not a confession;
really, I'm just telling you how I did it. What you may find more
interesting is my complete lack of remorse. Well, they were only ants. It
isn't as though we're talking about my ex-wife and her boyfriend.
Apparently, when there is an ex and her boyfriend involved, it must be very
interesting, because the entire country is awash in regurgitated O.J. this
week. Yes, the complex, washed-up football hero and part-time murderer has
insinuated himself back into the public eye with the impending release of
his book, "If I Did It" and a perverse interview/movie on Fox television. It
is hard to determine which is more annoying..O.J.'s shameless selfishness or
the portion of American which has a seemingly endless appetite for vapid
entertainment.
However, this programming transcends Desperate Housewives or Idol, because
partaking in the viewing of such material, the buying and reading of such a
book, supports more than vacuous entertainment. It supports a murderer. If
your television is tuned to that show, you are part of the ratings equation.
Sure...who's going to know? We all stop for longer than we should while
channel surfing sometime, catching ourselves watching something we would
never watch. But this time it is your conscious that should be bothering
you. Simpson reaches an all-time low in human beings. Refusing to accept his
fate as a gift from a corrupted jury and spending his days of freedom in the
shadows, he continues to feed his insatiable desire for attention at the
expense of his children and the families of his victims. Can you imagine
getting that lucky in a trial? You would never hear from me again. I would
still be dancing a barefoot jig in the sands of Cancun.
Anyone who watches, or buys this book, must also know that O.J. is secretly
laughing at you. Maybe not even secretly. That he continues to profit from
this monstrous crime must bring him great satisfaction. His own wife, after
all, predicted her own death by his hand...and that he would get away with
it. How well she knew him, the poor woman. He shows no remorse for the great
damage to race relations that resulted from the ludicrous outcome of his
trial. The moment I remember more vividly than any other, was the scene
outside the courthouse when the verdict was announced. African Americans
jumping for joy! That was a sad moment for me, to realize that so many
Americans, just beneath the surface, harbored this vitriol toward,
seemingly, all white people. A victory against "the man". How shocking to
see such a railroading of justice met with celebration. Two people, hacked
to death, forgotten in the backwash of a broken justice system. It was
crystal clear to me at that moment that a guilty verdict would have resulted
in a complete swing of the pendulum in the other direction, Oh, the cries of
racial injustice would have echoed clear across the country. The real crime
was the flagrant example of justice-for-sale. Had this been some poor kid
from the projects, do you think Johnny Cochran and Robert Shapiro would have
been there? The case would probably not even have made trial, considering
the overwhelming evidence.
A great man once said..."character is doing the right thing when no one is
looking." Here is your chance. If the decent among us can't send a message
by denying ourselves one guilty pleasure now and then, I doubt there is hope
for our children. I have heard countless comparisons between the O.J.
Syndrome and car accidents. Rubber-neckers who drive by an accident and
"have" to look. I am on the road all day and never feel like I "have" to
look at an accident. In fact, if it is a fatal or an accident with severe
injuries, I don't want to look. Not because I'm queasy, but because it is an
intensely personal and tragic occurrence. If my wife or child, God forbid,
were strewn across the median strip I would appreciate people not looking, I
would assume that their death or injury is not meant as roadside
entertainment for commuters. It is a simple act of respect, it costs me
nothing, I sacrifice only having forgone a morbid curiosity. Yet, most
people will give in. It's easy to do, and nobody knows.
None of this changes the fact that at some point, as a culture, we have some
reckoning to do. Look at the absurd Playstation3 debacle over the last few
days. Those of us who aren't actually shooting people leaving the store with
them, are busy raping the dimwitted on EBay with prices now exceeding ten
grand. What must the rest of the world think as they look on? Remember, this
is the stuff that's in the news, and this is what the world sees. They don't
see you going to church with your family or helping the needy. They see an
America still fascinated with a criminal case twelve years old and the
morbid culprit, still an entertainment icon. They see swarms of people
rioting to buy an overpriced gadget which will cause you to spend countless
hours in front of a screen turning to a vegetable. Come to think of it...are
we the "car wreck" the rest of the world is driving by?