Michael Ventre on OJ & society - EXCELLENT article!

[AZBlue]

I think he's hit the nail right on the head with this!

"The killings happened in 1994. And now, more than 12 years later, rather than recede from memory, the travesty of Simpson walking free has reached its nadir, thanks to Fox and book publisher Judith Regan. But it isn’t just the Simpson situation that has hit rock bottom. Our current culture can also claim that dubious honor."

snip

"But has our society degenerated to the point where potentially millions of viewers and readers are more than eager to act as his accomplices?

I understand full well that there is almost no decency anymore. We have only the recent elections to show that certain people — on both sides of the fence — are willing to stoop to anything to get what they want. We have reality TV shows that revel in the misery of others. We have corporate executives quick to plunder the retirement accounts of their workers in order to feather their own opulent nests.

But the Simpson phenomenon is in a nefarious league of its own. The fascination over his deeds should have expired long ago. Yet as long as there are entities out there who will do absolutely anything short of televised executions to rake in revenue, scalawags like Simpson will continue to have a forum as well as a means to profit from their misdeeds."

snip

And, most importantly:

"Let’s talk about politics just for a moment, without specifying parties, recent elections or future campaigns. If hypothetically, at any point in our history, there are crooks in power, and voters keep those crooks in power, then the onus shifts from the crooks to the people who keep them in office. Generally speaking, voters get the government they deserve.

The same holds true for a lot of things in life, including television. If you keep watching garbage, they’ll keep feeding you more garbage. If you tune in to listen to O.J. Simpson casually discuss 'If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened' or if you purchase his book, then you are tacitly condoning what he did."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15732829/