I Blame OJ.

Yesterday I mentioned that I would be revisiting this nagging media circus issue. I blame it all on OJ.


I was a junior in high school when the infamous Bronco chase took over TV's across the nation. I remember this because I was in the hospital at the time and was actually watching a baseball game when I got interrupted. I was pretty ticked.


I was a freshman in college when the verdict was handed down. That means the fiasco covered 3 years of my life. 3 years!! And it was all televised. Remember? Court TV made their mark and the news media provided an update on the days proceedings every. single. day.


Prior to that I can't say that I remember there ever being any kind of fuss over a celebrity's indiscretions or law enforcement issues. There may have been because I grew up without TV so I may have missed it all - well, not missed it but avoided being inundated by it. But just the same, I don't think it was ever glamourized like it is now.


But I question the integrity of these "public" court cases. The Scott Peterson and Casey Anthony cases are prime examples. Just how impartial can a jury be when every newspaper and television is blaring details about the case that may or may not be official, confirmed or even a shadow on the investigative picture? Nancy Grace gave Casey Anthony a black eye before the police even got to her and while it panned out this time, what would have happened if it hadn't? Would my pal Nancy have given a third of the time to her apology?


I guess my point is that until the public makes it clear that we don't want all the nitty gritty details until they are substantiated, I don't think we can really have justice. Look one more time at Michael Jackson's case. The media made a big deal about the doctor's staff removing boxes from the storage unit. Who's to say those weren't files for completely unrelated patients that were being referenced for completely unrelated reasons? And yet it was immediately all over the "news" and more suspicions were raised.


It's nonsense. If I was a great activist I would stage a boycott of the news organizations. I would slam their in boxes and mailboxes with mail asking them to refrain from glorifying criminals to celebrity status. I would insist that celebrities and sports figures who commit crimes be blacklisted and never allowed to appear on TV, a movie screen, or a sports field until they had done years of community service and proved themselves to be respectable role models worthy of being admired.


But I'm not all those things. So instead I will sit here at my computer and blame OJ. He started it all.

Is there Any Justice in the World?

I am so confused about the American justice system right now.

For starters we live in Atlanta so the whole Michael Vick thing was a big deal. So was TI (the rapper in case anyone was under a rock). Well apparently now being a criminal is the thing to do if you are looking for career advancement and an income generator.

I was applauding TI for a while because he did the whole Road to Redemption thing on MTV (I think?!). It really DID look like he was trying to teach youth from his experience and I applauded that. He did the big community service before he even went to jail and now he is serving his sentence. It was the honorable thing to do in my book.

But now I was watching the news again and Michael Vick and Rod Blagovich are being offered reality TV series in conjunction with their new criminal status. Seriously? Is that justice? These guys commit crimes and they are rewarded with lucrative contracts for television. And why do I have a problem with them and not TI? Is it because TI did it BEFORE he went to jail? Of course I don't know what Vick or Blago are going to do as their series. Are they going to do a public service project like TI did? Or is it just going to be a series about them trying to get their lives back?

I just have issues with people being given a 10 year sentence and then they are released 2 years into it to serve a few months in "home confinement." For celebrities the latter is a complete farce considering what their "confined" lifestyle is like.

It comes as no surprise to me that Chris Brown is going to have a glorified lifestyle after the Rhianna incident. It seems to me that justice is a completely lost notion anymore. Individuals can't serve a full sentence because the jails are too crowded but we glorify crime via the celebrities (think Paris Hilton) and let criminals off with a slap on the wrist.

Maybe the time has come to reinstate a chain gang and bread and water. Maybe if hard time really existed for real crimes people would actually try to lead socially responsible lives.

Or maybe I was just born in the wrong generation all together.

See Alcatraz! When justice meant something!