I do watch the news . . . sort of . . .

I don’t know if any of you have been following the Casey Anthony trial and verdict.

I won’t bore you with too many details because, quite honestly, if you know then you know and if you don’t, that’s ok—a great deal of it was as much or more of a media-fest than a case for justice, it seems.

In summation, three years ago, a Florida toddler went missing for a month, but her mother never reported it. Soon after they FINALLY reported her missing, authorities found little Caylee’s body hidden in the woods behind her grandparents’ house; evidently she had drowned some time ago. Fingers pointed to her pathologically lying mother, Casey.

Tuesday, , Casey was announced innocent of charges of murder, manslaughter, and child abuse due to the lack of hard evidence. She was however found guilty of lying to the police.

The general populous of Florida (and beyond) was outraged. People are calling it the OJ Simpson case of our time.
It’s interesting watching the online responses. I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few groups

• Disgusted Mother – “How could anyone let a child killer walk free? And innocent for child abuse?! No ‘mother’ doesn’t report her baby missing for month. Sickening!”
•  The Outraged Taxpayer – “We pay for her jail time, we pay for her trial, and all for NOTHING?! UGH!!!”
• The Politically Frustrated – “Innocent until proven guilty? SERIOUSLY?! She's totally guilty! Good to know our system works. NOT!”
• The Politcally Pleased -- "Innocent until proven guilty, and, really, there's not enough evidence. Good to know the system works."
• The Religious Justice-Seeker – “In the end, she answers to a Higher Power."
•  The Casey-Lovers – “WHOO-HOO!!! Innocent! I love you, Casey Marie Anthony!”
• The Chillaxed – “Guys, life goes on. Stop freaking out. Good grief. Banter banter banter. Blah blah blah. Get over it.”
• The World-Aware – “All this for one child? Really? Where’s the outrage and media about the sex trade? The thousands of OTHER missing children? The AIDs epedimic?”

All of these make sense in their own way.
Well, except for the Casey-Lovers.
That I just don’t get.
At all.
Gross.


I'll admit, I was pretty shocked at the verdict, but I understand, to a degree, why they gave it. While there's little to no doubt that Casey was somehow involved, the small amount of evidence and vast amount of speculation can't prove it.
I already hate the news media. I understand the importance of being informed, but having to watch those neat, trim, over-powdered newscasters chirp out the latest tragedies as if they care makes me ill. Maybe they do care, but, golly, it just comes off as fodder for ratings and paychecks. I haven't watched news on the TV in nearly two years. I read it online.  Facebook is also an excellent news source, for local gossip, political advances, and international scandal--someone posts something interesting, I Google it, read it, and voila! informed citizen.
But that's off topic.
 
I really just wanted to remember this. I remember hearing about a man named OJ in the grocery store, a clerk proclaiming, "Free OJ!" and my mom thinking she meant free orange juice. I wish.
I was sitting at my cubicle summer job, reading, auditing, or typing something, when a cubby neighbor turned up her radio, and everything became even more silent than usual. As the juror read each proclamation, my heart dropped a little more, my brow furrowed a little deeper, while the other cubby neighbor gasped, "No way! No way! That's awful!" with every sentence.
That's where I was when the great mass-media proclaimed the verdict for Casey Anthony.
 

Where were you? How did you feel about the verdict?
Or do you even know what I'm talking about? ;] lol