I paid the slightest attention to the Casey Anthony murder trial in Florida. Evidently, now, if you look up “dysfunctional family” on Wikipedia, the Anthony family photo pops up – what a mess. I was aware the case had gone to the jury, but yesterday I checked my Facebook and saw anguished cries of pain at the injustice in Florida. I checked Fox News and sure enough, Casey Anthony beat the rap. She is legally not guilty of killing her child.
Evidently, twelve jurors sat through hours and hours of testimony. They were not allowed to watch the breathless 24/7 coverage of this trial and every aspect of it. They did not get to hear Nancy Grace screech her pronouncements of guilt or hear the legal experts opine.
They just sat and listened to the evidence. They considered the evidence and they rendered a verdict.
And then the 300 million or so legal experts went to work decrying the verdict. As I said, my Facebook feed started having posts like this (no grammatical corrections – it would take too much time!):
as far as im concerned everyone of the jurors should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, I hope they lose sleep and aree unable to look at themselves in the mirror without regret. Apparently its ok to murder an innocent beautiful 2 year old in this country. Our “justice” system is such a joke sometimes. Ugh
i am livid and i am trying to remember all those silly things we tell our children about injustices, but i just can’t believe it!! i just can’t.
One good thing, this will haunt her forever and her life may not be in prision, but will be miserably outside. I think the American people will see to that.. Everybody knows that face.
there is a serious problem with the jury!!!!!
dont worry some crazy psycho will prob beat that hooker down or she will be shunned by society for a very long time. just like oj simpson
Sometimes, evil wins.
Of course, the true experts, celebrities (because if you are a celebrity in America, what you say really matters, right?) chimed in on twitter:
Kim Kardashian: WHAT!!!!???!!!! CASEY ANTHONY FOUND NOT GUILTY!!!! I am speechless!!!” (15 ! in one tweet – wow).
I love response of one smart-aleck – “Yeah, like your father and OJ.”
Jill Zarin: I can NOT believe Casey Anthony was found NOT GUILTY! What..the glove didn’t fit? The is terrible. I am SHOCKED.
The “glove didn’t fit” thing got real popular.
Jason Biggs: I guess the glove didn’t fit.
Kim Zolciak: WOW
Points for being succinct.
Ricki Lake: I’m disgusted! #notguilty? Oh come on.
Well, Ricki used to have a talk show, so she is a genuine expert, right?
Aubrey O’Day: They said she’s Not Guilty guys. The jury was her maker & that’s the law. I don’t know,my heart hurts. I don’t feel like justice was served.
Now, I have no idea whether Casey Anthony actually killed her daughter. If you asked me to give my opinion, I would certainly say yes. But I’m not a legal expert. And neither are any of my Facebook friends. Some of the celebrities may have played lawyers on TV, but they are not true experts.
Twelve people sat and listened to the testimony. Day after day. They were not asked to deliver an opinion on whether Casey Anthony killed her daughter. They were asked to answer the question, “Has the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Casey Anthony killed her daughter?”
But 300 million people who did not listen to the testimony and did not join in the discussion believe they know better what the verdict should have been. Does this say something about our culture today? We watch 24/7 news coverage and consider ourselves experts on world affairs. “Hey, I watched an hour of coverage on Fox News last week and she is GUILTY!”
Do we sometimes do that with blogging? When Kevin Ezell announces some new plans at NAMB, all of us become experts. “That will never work.” “Ezell should know better.” You know what, maybe he does! Maybe he has information I don’t have that have helped him arrive at the place he is at. “Why did they pick Eliff? He’s too old. It will never work!” Are we sure? I wasn’t part of the deliberations or discussions. I have opinions and I have insights. I have the right to share them. But I should also realize that while I have some OPINIONS about NAMB, I am not an expert. I have some VIEWPOINTS on the IMB, but I am not an expert.
Maybe I should do a little research before I criticize Ed Stetzer’s factual reports. Novel concept, eh?
I am not arguing that only the experts should have opinions. But I am arguing that those of us who have opinions ought to have the humility to realize that we are not experts. We are not the jury. We have not been part of the deliberations. Perhaps, we truly do only know in part.
