OJ Simpson has been in America's limelight for far too long. As a professional football player he was revered and reigned supreme in the eyes of many. With his physical prowess and winning smile he won the hearts of Americans, both black and white.
He was one of the first to be paid top dollar to do national advertisements. Then when he retired from football, he went on to act in Hollywood, taking parts in silly movies that once again put his face before the American public.
At some point he decided the basic laws of the land didn’t apply to him. And with the verdict in 1995 it was confirmed. He was OJ and they couldn’t touch him.
I have to be honest. I wanted him to get the death penalty, even though California no longer has one. I believe as most folks do, that without justice for all--we have none. But the jury didn’t see it that way. They released him back into society, leaving most people standing with their mouths hanging open in utter shock and disgust. So much for justice.
Recently he decided that breaking into a hotel room to commit armed robbery was simply retrieving what belonged to him and therefore perfectly fine. He’s OJ after all. He’s above the law. Did they forget? Well, the court system in Nevada obviously did. They convicted him.
Hooray, you say. Finally, the man has to pay. Justice has been served.
I beg to differ. Frankly, he has committed many mores crimes than anyone gives him credit for. First of all, he single-handedly destroyed television as we knew it pre-OJ Trial. Continuous coverage of that courtroom drama, for months and months, put an end to entertainment and began a steep plunge into an abyss of reality television.
While in my mind he holds the title of "father of reality television," a crime worthy of the death penality in and of itself, he also ruined the very fabric of our lives, (the days of our lives), as after months of nothing but OJ, OJ, OJ, people forgot to tune back in to their favorite daytime soaps. The ratings have never regained momentum, and General Hospital followers fell sick with Reality Courtroom Syndrome. They took to watching Court TV, Divorce Court, and Judge Judy. They neglected the soaps they knew and loved as young brides with nothing to do but clean house, nurse babies, and feed their husbands.
And now after more than a dozen years the soaps are still unable to return to their glory days. Many are discussing pay cuts and letting characters go. Characters we've grown to love through countless marriages, divorces, deaths, and evil twin storylines. I bet Erica Kane would hire a hitman to take OJ out for what he’s done to her beloved Pine Valley. And just like OJ, she would be acquitted.
But Pine Valley is make-believe and Erica Kane is a character played by an actor named Susan Lucci. OJ played himself in the reality show of life & death, murdering two people in cold blood.
According to our Justice System, OJ will never have to pay for the crime of murder. But if there is any justice left in this land he will pay for destroying daytime television. Hopefully, they will give him a TV in his little cell and force him to watch it day and night.
The reality of reality tv is that it's so very unrealistic.
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