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Quote of the Day – Funerals
I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. – Mark Twain
I occasionally think of this quote after the death of a fitting individual. That does not mean someone with whom I strongly disagree – nor even someone I dislike. I reserve it for the truly despicable, those whose actions go beyond foolish into the depraved.
O. J. Simpson fits that category. Not just for his actions, but what he did to American society. He literally got away with murder, killing two people in an especially brutal manner. That was not the worst part. To do so, he undermined the pillars of American society. To obtain an acquittal, he inflamed racial tensions; tarring two police officers as racist and framing the charges as whitey trying to bring down a successful black man.
The win-at-any-cost tactics he successfully used were widely imitated in the years that followed. As a result we have a coarser society. Because Simpson succeeded, victory has supplanted virtue in our society today. Yet as John Adams noted, “Public virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private Virtue, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.”
This triumph of victory over virtue is nowhere more visible in our body politic. As Adams predicted, it may well destroy us. Thanks, O. J. My sincere wish for you is half of one I wish for even my dearest dead: that you receive the afterlife you have earned. The other half? About God’s infinite mercy? I’ll reserve that one for Ron Goldman and Nichole Simpson.
Published in Group Writing
Amen.
For sure!
Burn!
That’s why we have BIH as well as RIP.
Well stated.
I remember watching some of the trial with someone:
JC: What He was dong in that Bronco are not the actions of an innocent Man.
Other: But He was afraid of the cops. They would probably beat Him.
JC: It’s O. J. freaking Simpson. Even the most racist of the racist racists wouldn’t lay a finger on Him.
I remember the Bronco chase as a confession of guilt.
Unfortunately, he did that part with a lot of help from his “dream team” of lawyers. Like those in the news media who inflame racial tensions after Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Jacob Blake, George Floyd, do they ever consider what they have unleashed or feel bad about it?
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@lillyb
That started with Rodney King.
Are you familiar with the Dexter Reed shooting in Chicago?
On March 21st, Dexter Reed was pulled over by Chicago PthD tactical officers. They ordered him to lower his tinted windows. He refused. They ordered him to exit his vehicle. He refused. They ordered again, and Reed started shooting, wounding one of the officers. The cops returned fire, as CPD is wont to do when you start shooting at them first. A great deal is being made of the number of shots fired. The wounded officer did not fire. The other four officers fired a total of 79 rounds. Dexter fired 17, basically all he had. People are working up their rage at the cops.
CNN dispatched one of their reporters to talk to Dexter Reed’s family. Does the name Omar Jimenez ring a bell?
That’s right. Omar “Fiery but mostly peaceful” Jimenez. It’s not that the media don’t care. They care very much. They have a narrative and they are doing everything they can to advance it
Yes, and I should have said, “just to name a few examples.” The media and Democrats (the “but I repeat myself” is obligatory) make a big fuss over few cases and must us know their names, but they simultaneously argue that this is happening all the time and that theses cases are actually representative of a much bigger issue. Then why can we basically list the specific incidents and point to complicating facts in each case which undermine the premise of the systemic racism argument? I only ask rhetorically.
For the moment, the outrage seems to be concentrated among Dexter’s family and the usual
suspectsrace hustlers. So far, most everyone else seems to be saying “well, what do you expect?”News Flash: O. J. Simpson buried with ex-wife’s killer.