The recent passing of OJ Simpson has sparked renewed fervor in America’s deeply entrenched animosity towards the man many believe evaded justice. However, in nearly three decades, we still seem to have missed crucial lessons we were meant to learn. While the nation fixated on demonizing OJ as the emblematic black villain, we repeatedly turned a blind eye to the true perpetrators and systemic issues plaguing our society. Despite the significant implications of OJ’s trial in establishing the principles of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and holding the genuinely guilty accountable, these lessons remain largely overlooked.
America’s inability to accept a singular verdict and move forward underscores a deeper societal malaise—one that persists, despite OJ’s passing. The real culprits and systemic flaws continue to evade scrutiny. Although few want to hear this or accept it, OJ is not the villain of this American story.
The OJ Case: Unraveling Misconceptions
This is in no way declaring or insisting on OJ’s innocence. However, we are hard-pressed to have a reasonable and honest discussion about this trial and all the terrible things that transpired during it. The way the trial was covered to this day is a disgraceful travesty.
For decades, mainstream conversations were extremely one-sided and carefully controlled, so much so, that objectivity or the the mere suggestion of innocence would be quickly rebuked. “The system” was on display just as much as OJ was. Regardless of OJ’s guilt or innocence, many black Americans saw themselves being dealt the same disrespect when if nothing else, there were many serious questions to be answered before quickly arriving at one made-up-mind conclusion.
OJ was not a brilliant mastermind or a contract killer. If a man who never committed a murder before in his life suddenly killed 2 people brutally with a knife in an alleged crime of passion, there is over a 95% probability that person would be found guilty in court. There would most likely be mistakes, motive, blood, DNA, and evidence all over the place—especially for a first-time killer. Sadly, there were always more questions than answers. How was this even pulled off? No one saw it or heard any screams? How could one man murder 2 young healthy people, dispose of the weapon and bloody clothes, then flee the scene so quickly and with no signs of injury or struggle? It was truly a conspiracy and a murder mystery. Regardless, from day one OJ Simpson was the prime suspect despite no one witnessing the murder, and no one else was considered. The so-called “Trial of the Century” was never about solving a murder mystery. It was always only about proving how OJ did it. And almost the entire nation participated in trying to manipulate facts to make OJ the killer with evidence that was legitimate or illegitimate. And that’s where things fell flat and exactly how OJ eventually got acquitted.
There remains a multitude of misconceptions surrounding the OJ case, indicative of a broader failure to grasp its complexities. Rather than embracing objectivity, many succumbed to emotionally charged narratives perpetuated by the media.
The Corrupt System: A Closer Look
The OJ trial was emblematic of a justice system marred by corruption and prejudice. The LAPD’s egregious mishandling of the case and blatant attempts to frame OJ highlighted systemic flaws that continue to pervade the criminal justice system.
Regarding the OJ trial, there is a very different narrative that unfolds as soon as we eliminate public opinion and emotion out of the equation. Former LAPD Detective Mark Furhman lied in court many times. He was also caught in recorded conversations using racist expletives like the “n” word, and brashly admitted to violating the rights of many people he brutalized. Even worse, after lying under oath, the racist had his perjury charge expunged from his record and went on to write a bestseller about the case. People actually bought the book to read the account of a lying racist. And the “bad guy” in most our minds, once again, is still OJ.
Believing OJ to be guilty is an opinion people are entitled to and not the problem at all. But the irony amiss is that the American public still can’t see itself for what it is.
We also learned that the court and the LAPD blocked or sabotaged key eyewitnesses and much of the evidence that leaned in OJ’s favor, like Mary Anne Gerchas who claimed to have seen 4 suspicious men in front of Nicole Simpson’s condominium that night. However, she was very quickly and suspiciously brought up on fraud charges and barred from testifying. No one cared much about that either. We learned that many cops lied and assisted with planting fake evidence. It was brazenly done and in so many ways that it couldn’t have been their first rodeo. Yet the entire nation was only fixated on OJ, who hadn’t been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, as the sole villain.
Narrowing down people of interest should have been done without media influence or public opinion. And if the person law enforcement truly believed committed the murders was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt we should have respected it and gone on with our lives. And…the same for the reverse scenario. The courts did not prove that OJ was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt whether we like it or not. And no, he did not “get away”. He had a trial, stood before a judge and jury for the world to see, and it very clearly was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The LAPD was exposed for not even trying to solve the crime, they were solely trying to frame OJ. And even when this became a fact proven in court, the vast majority of Americans were content and complicit with this. So once again, when you remove emotion and opinion out of the equation, those still ranting publicly about OJ thinking they are the “good guys”, aren’t.
The Corrupt American Media
Many people rarely ever consider that the media may have played a huge role in our current public perception. What most people believe aside, it is a fact that American media did not cover the OJ trial honestly, fair, or unbiasedly, and hasn’t for decades. During the OJ trial, hardly anyone realized that American media had taken a major turn for the worse. Slowly dying were the days of trusted voices like Walter Cronkite. Liars and sensationalists, like Nancy Grace, became media stars during this era. Honest reporting began to take a back seat to salacious, opinionated news commentary. This era saw a shift towards sensationalized, opinion-driven news coverage, eroding the foundations of fair and unbiased reporting.
Mainstream news networks were supposed to always respect innocence until proven guilt. During OJ’s trial, however, news commentators were suddenly allowed to report emotionally and imply guilt because it produced ratings. So while everyone was livid at OJ, few people noticed or were upset about American media personalities normalizing deceptive reporting, sensationalizing, omitting information, or leading the public with opinion. The OJ trial was a major factor that brought us to our present-day style of opinionated news coverage.
Commentators rarely report the news these days. To this very day, many news commentators stare right into the camera and push corporate-approved opinions as truth at us every day about myriad things and topics. So many of them speak as though they know for a fact OJ is guilty when news commentators on major networks should respect the verdict and not speak that way. It’s Orwellian and unprofessional. Many news commentators have devolved into being nothing more than disingenuous paid liars who push narratives and we should not be accepting this as news coverage. We all know most people believe OJ to be guilty, ironically largely because of our media, but people working for major news networks should be held to a higher standard and not play to the crowd. A man is innocent until proven guilty. Our institutions should understand public perceptions but still reflect a respect for the law of the land. If they do not, we are watching, allowing, and accepting institutions of evil and corruption to be our norm. These corrupt institutions want us to keep our eyes on OJ, and any other boogie men they target next, but not on them. The amazing irony is that anytime mainstream media platforms try to tell people who the bad guy is these days or who or what is evil, they’d be looking right at it.
Institutionalized Racism: A Forgotten Narrative
Amidst the fervor surrounding OJ’s trial, America’s deeply ingrained racism went unaddressed. Comparable cases of probable guilt received significantly less attention, exposing the inherent biases that permeate society. OJ became a scapegoat for America’s collective inability to objectively assess evidence and uphold the presumption of innocence.
Robert Wagner was a person of interest in his then wife, Natalie Woods death. She died on a boating trip and her death was ruled an accidental drowning. However, many people, including that ship’s Captain, believe Robert Wagner had something to do with her death. The Captain and others reported that the two were together having an intense fight just before her passing. Regardless, he was never charged and later went on to Austin Powers fame as “Number 2” decades later.
Robert Blake is another famous actor accused of killing his wife Bonny Lee Bakly, and he too was acquitted though later found liable in a civil trial. Although he was believed guilty according to public opinion, his case was another one not covered or sensationalized like OJ’s. He never became the poster boy for supposedly getting away with murder as OJ was.
Famous Beatles producer Phil Spector shot and killed actress Lana Clarkson, and was eventually jailed for it, but still, not much was ever said about it before or after the trial.
Not meaning to revive those cases or drag the aforementioned into a public lynching, but it must be acknowledged that there is a systemic problem and an unfairness amiss. There is a machine in place to tar and feather accused black men to a degree simply not done to others.
We live in a world in which we were told by the media and dominant society that OJ is guilty…because he’s GUILTY, for close to 3 decades. Even though there are arguments and books articulating his possible innocence, like one written by former detective, private investigator, and author, William C. Dear, we’ve not entertained any other scenarios or persons of interest on mainstream platforms. One would think counterarguments or opinions daring to consider that OJ might be innocent of a double murder didn’t exist. Instead, we have a very media-influenced, socially engineered, dumbed-down, childlike and unwavering collective belief in OJ’s guilt. And anyone who does not agree with his guilt narrative is publicly maligned and bullied by the masses.
“O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It: William C. Dear.” Bill Dear, 31 Dec. 2020, billdear.com/oj-is-innocent-and-i-can-prove-it/.
There are so many other cases of probable guilt that have completely slipped through the cracks. Regardless, for nearly 30 years and counting America has maintained an obsession with OJ, and its time to start honestly asking ourselves why.
The Public Moralizers: A Call for Reflection
Public moralizing surrounding OJ’s case often devolves into mob mentality, devoid of critical thinking or genuine concern for justice. Rather than engaging in meaningful discourse, many succumb to the echo chamber of social media outrage. It’s imperative to recognize the difference between genuine activism and reactionary condemnation fueled by media narratives.
There is a psychology to public moralizing and in some cases it’s very honorable. For example, like when activists use their voice to spread awareness about unpopular or controversial topics they believe in their heart is the truth. In contrast, most people taking to social media to vent about OJ are not doing something honorable. It’s part of a mob. And judging from scores of close-minded comments, most people ranting about OJ all over social media do not truly care about Nicole Brown Simpson, Ron Goldman or any victims of murder for that matter. Most are not activists with a history of speaking truth to power about anything. Nor do many of them seem to care about facts, evidence or real justice. It’s clear that many of them primarily care about lynching OJ Simpson.
The outpouring of rage after OJ’s death is merely the emoting of the propagandized masses who get upset when the law can’t be bent or bastardized to serve the wishes of their media-led emotions. American society needs to mature away from public grandstanding and moralizing in the misguided belief that it’s good. No one publicly grandstanding about how guilty and bad OJ was represent the proverbial “good guys”. They rather represent our all-American mob mentality. The masses are routinely indoctrinated with media disinformation and then swarm in on the target of the day. Society needs to begin the process of checking wild emotions, respecting what isn’t known, and innocence until proven guilt.
OJ’s Real Legacy: An Unspoken Truth
Here’s a bit more of an unpopular truth that few people want to hear: Despite the controversy surrounding OJ’s trial, it catalyzed significant reforms within the legal system. Initiatives like “The Innocence Project” emerged, shedding light on wrongful convictions and systemic injustices. OJ’s trial serves as a cautionary tale, underscoring the need for accountability and reform within America’s flawed justice system.
And perhaps that is one of the real reasons why the powers that be want us to hate OJ so much. He was a sacrificial gift in disguise that exposed the system. While the enraged public at large remains obsessed with OJ, some people may have missed the fact that one of OJ’s lawyers used what was done to OJ to help exonerate hundreds of wrongfully incarcerated people all over the country. Barry Scheck co-founded “The Innocence Project” and it was an American game changer. The “Innocence Project” exposed law enforcement agencies’ improper use of falsified evidence that had been wrongfully incarcerating innocent people for decades. Many of the tricks and schemes crooked officers used to employ were attempted on OJ. But because he had a powerful legal team, however, it did not work and set the course for change.
Here is another thing that our lost society can never bring itself to admit; As people continue to storm the streets with torches and pitchforks, before joining them, understand that the right verdict was reached that day based on what we knew. And it literally saved the lives of countless others.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in world in which this will be explained to anyone. We live in a system that will continue to protect and cover up for crooked cops, judges, and prosecutors, city to city and state to state, and mostly against people who don’t have OJ’s money. We live in a world in which the media will still omit information, deceive us, and frame narratives. And we live in a society that will continue to chase accused black men even after death. A society that will never hold itself accountable for its many sins or look at the log in its own eye.
Conclusion: A Call for Accountability
In conclusion, OJ Simpson’s legacy is not just about the man himself, but about the mirror it holds up to American society. For nearly three decades, we’ve fixated on OJ as the epitome of guilt, yet in doing so, we’ve missed the deeper lessons his trial was meant to teach us. While we pointed fingers at him, the real villains and systemic issues remained at large and unchanged.
What we fail to acknowledge is the profound impact of OJ’s trial in revealing the flaws within our media, justice system, and societal attitudes. The relentless media coverage, biased reporting, and public outrage masked the deeper truths lurking beneath the surface. We allow ourselves time and time again, to be swayed by emotion rather than seeking objective truth.
The trial exposed the ugly underbelly of American media, where sensationalism trumped integrity, and opinion overshadowed fact. We watched as justice became a spectacle, with ratings dictating the narrative. Meanwhile, the systemic flaws within our justice system were laid bare, revealing a culture of corruption and racism that still persists today.
As we continue to grapple with the legacy of OJ Simpson, let us not forget the lessons that remain unlearned. Let us challenge ourselves to question the narratives fed to us by the media, to demand accountability from our institutions, and to confront the uncomfortable truths that lie at the heart of our society.
OJ Simpson may be gone, but his trial serves as a reminder of the work that still needs to be done. It’s time to move beyond the obsession with OJ and focus on addressing the deeper issues that his trial brought to light. Only then can we hope to build a more just and equitable society for all.
Blog Comments
Be the first to comment