Pardon me, but I'm Appalled
a Tales from Scottland column by Scott Parkinson
It has been a year or two since the OJ verdict polarized American society and ignited a weird cultural obsession with trials. We now have a wild range of daily shows, both on TV and radio, that will look into just about any social mishap that chances to get into the system and go before a jury. Sitting back on our upholstered thrones we watch news commentators, lawyers, judges, policemen, FBI analysts, and coroners parade gruesome facts around and then gauge the effectiveness of the system based upon how the results compare to our own gut reactions.
A highly sensationalized trial made all Americans pause and wonder about the virtue of their legal system. Either you winced at the confirmation of your deepest fear that the legal system was a sham and money really did run the show, or you snarled at the fact that an innocent man had to spend all that money just to hold off the Man and his hounds. Either... or..., color-commentary pouring daily out of the mouth of the living room prophet painted a picture that seared into our consciousness and left a burning wound that now requires an almost constant application of balm to keep the ache from driving us mad. Our minds, reared on notions of truth and justice for all, took this fucker hard and the resulting spin has us on our knees begging with each trial to have the sanctity restored to our institutions.
"Indict!" we scream. "Convict and Kill," we growl. "Find, Finger, and Finish!!!" is our new motto. Bring it all on. Bring it to us, and together we'll bring this psychotic ride to an end. Justice, we howl, must be dispensed!!!
In a rush to prove to ourselves, each other, and the screaming spirits of our Founding Fathers, that we haven't lost control of the delicately balanced scales of justice, we have dragged the entire legal system into the hypnotic glare of the mass media and then dared that Bitch to misbehave again--and this time while we're watching. The first one caught us off-guard, but now we are ready and primed for action. Bring on the bombers, pedophiles, sexual harassers, and celebrity killers. Dance in the cultists, drunken ambassadors, and tobacco companies. Show me every freakish scum, twisted malcontent, and deranged asshole this country is capable of producing, and we will pronounce judgment to help shore up the foundation beam that our society is perched upon.
Our actions, and methods, might be rash and a tad bit reactionary, but being the clever little monkeys that we are, we realize that justice is the most precious commodity that a democracy can produce, and that any impurities in it, no matter how small or infrequently they appear, degrade the product and cheapen the premises upon which they're built. Democracy without justice, and justice without truth, is Tyranny, that tricky hellion, playing her old games. So maybe running trials in a carnival-type atmosphere isn't the most regal solution--it might not be a solution at all--but it has to be better than the alternative.
Imagine what type of insane shenanigans we might witness, what moral bankruptcy might ensue, what festering pit of despair might arise if we allow one, just one, person to operate outside of the strict confines of Justice. Why, imagine if you will, that we had allowed the likes of a Richard Nixon to walk without ever seeing the faces of his fellow citizens sitting in judgment of his actions. Imagine Hillary facing a mountain of evidence, but deciding a trial wasn't for her, "Oh, excuse me, but I think I'd rather not participate in your little experiment." Yes, the havoc such actions could wreak, especially emanating from such a high office, would render our system of justice a farce, a silly game that only the rabble play, and the consequences would be dear. So you didn't like the OJ trial, no matter the reasons, and are a little disturbed by the present system and its cumbersome manner. I hear and understand your concern, but I am less disturbed by the trials that we do see than the ones we don't.
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