Decency Prevails

I wasn't planning on writing about the OJ Simpson incident this week. While I do want to incorporate current events in my blog from time to time, I've decided to only do this in relation to what I have to say about an event and what relevance it has to something that is important enough to be mentioned - and not to incorporate current events in proportion to how much hoopla they are causing in mainstream media.

The new book and Fox special where OJ Simpson describes how he 'would have' killed two people there is much evidence he in fact did kill, was one of those big stories which nevertheless had little place on my blog. It was something so obviously bad that to say it here would be offering nothing new.

However, something somewhat rare happened this week when both the book and the special were canceled in response to the outcry from the public and criticism from rival media companies [article HERE]. In this rare instance, the public actually said in full force 'no' to vulgarity and in another rare instance, a large corporation actually listened rather than going forward despite controversy, knowing that people's base curiosities would yield profits. What this tells us is that when enough people speak up loudly enough for decency, change is possible. It also tells me that there are still some people out there who will not be lead merely by their own morbid curiosity.

Unfortunately, it seems Simpson was still compensated a portion of the original moneys he would have received, but possibly the pressures of this outcry might help ensure that the money does indeed go to his children as has been claimed.

As an aside, what does this say of 'freedom of speech' for Simpson, Fox, and book publishers? It says that you are free to say anything you like, but you are not free to avoid the free actions of others in response.