I've been pontificating to my bedroom walls for years and I've been thinking about blogging, but I've been afraid of appearing ignorant. Then I realized that there are a lot of ignorant people on the web. I also realized the that facts are as slippery as the spin put on them, that nobody really worries about originality and creativity, and I'm the only one whose going to read this anyway.
I'm going to begin with my most original stuff--Casey Anthony.
In 2008 an essentially unknown CNN news commenter named Nancy Grace--for reasons even her coworkers don't seem to be able to understand--took up the case of a young woman who had not reported her child missing for a month. From the very beginning, Nancy decided that based on Casey Anthony's behavior, the woman had to be guilty of doing something to her child. Of course, we all understood that Casey Anthony was the only young mother in 2008 who was accused of doing something to her child, hiding the body, and not reporting it right away.
Night after night, Nancy bitched on and on about the authorities, the family, and about how obvious it was that Casey Anthony had committed some heinous crime. Nancy occasionally interviewed "experts" on her show. If they began to say something she didn't agree with, she rudely interrupted them and harrangued them into silence.
Based on her own personal outrage, Nancy became reporter, commentator, judge and jury
In the years that followed, thousands of news agencies spent millions of dollars and hours of time following the story of a young woman who even her own defense attorney described as a "liar and a slut." Again, primarily because they didn't approve of Casey's behavior, the popular press developed a strong bias toward her guilt.
Over the last seven weeks, the jury has sat through every hour of the trial while the prosecuters tried to prove Casey Anthony guilty. They heard every hour of the defense. They heard far and away much more evidence than the popular press--biased toward Casey's guilt-- decided they wanted to report.
The jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of all the murder charges.
Was justice served? If not, it's because the prosecutors obviously put on a lousy case.
Is the public outraged by the verdict? Of course they are. They have been inundated with "news" reported by a biased press.
But it remains that twelve people who sat through every minute of the trial and heard everything and not just what the press felt like reporting--these jurors did their duty and rendered a verdict based on what they heard in that courtroom.
And what has come of it all? Casey Anthony and her family will never again be able to live a normal life.
And, oh yes, Nancy Grace became a household name.
And for those of you who don't believe the popular press is biased, ask yourself the following question: Why is it that only a half dozen or so of attractive, white, upper or middle class young women (who just happen to have head shots) are reported missing by the national press every year?
