You would have to be living under a rock to be less than acutely aware a young woman on trial for her life in south Florida for allegedly murdering her two year-old daughter in 2008. The Casey Anthony trial has eclipsed the trial of OJ Simpson as the trial of the century. There are many factors playing into this, most primarily being the role social media has played in bringing the trial right into the homes of the American people, and the macabre fascination is has wrought in common citizens.
Infanticide, or the murder of a child by its mother, is considered one of the most heinous acts of evil one human being can impose upon another. It requires an unhinging from basic humanity that once separated, cannot be reunited. A woman who is capable of killing her child is capable of committing any other heinous act imaginable. She is able to, both literally and metaphorically, kill a part of herself, both by shutting off the humanity in her soul, and by killing a child she carried as part of her own body, her own flesh and blood, for nearly a year of her life.
Why are Americans and substantial portions of the rest of the English-speaking world as well, no doubt, so fixated on the drama playing out in that Florida courtroom? Why are we so fascinated with the legal proceedings against young this petite young woman accused of the murder of her own baby? Well, let's be honest, the legal proceedings themselves notwithstanding, the viewing public is enthralled not by the buffoonery and jesting of the sophomoric defense team, nor by the righteously indignant, sharp-tongued verbal lashings by the prosecution, but by the players in the family drama themselves. Average people cannot imagine what it is like to be going through what the various members of this doomed family are going through. For those of us obsessed with this trial, it is safe danger, experiencing the darkness from a distance.
It is that thrilling danger that seems to be the draw for many people. Anyone who has watched the news and seen any reports of the trial at all have seen varying examples of the lowest a human soul can be dragged. From the disgusting examples of Dark Ages mentality when the dregs of unemployed society fought out in front of the courthouse to get in line for a seat, to the times when we all gasp as we see Casey laughing at something she finds humorous, this dark form of entertainment has not disappointed. The National Enquirer has managed to squeeze its way in, fairly legitimately this time, surprising enough. There is a mistress, and some questionable party behavior, and a mysterious older brother who is hurt by being left out, but has managed to mostly keep himself removed.
Casey Anthony is both a sign of the times and a predictor of the future. Here in our current time, when the world has become so dog-eat-dog, it's easy to imagine there are people who could convince themselves there might have been some extenuating circumstance that excuses Casey Anthony or that she is just being shafted by the state of Florida. This article won't attempt to argue the validity of the cases presented by either side of the court proceedings in this case. However, it goes without saying, the defense is clearly doing whatever in the farthest stretches of the mind they have to do to get Casey off.
It is this mentality of shucking responsibility that is a sign of the times. Defense lawyers are walking cliches for pulling some of the most ridiculous shenanigans to get some of the most heinous criminals in history out of trouble. This nonchalant shaking-off of any notion of personal responsibility is eroding our society to a point of making petite, pretty young women into baby-killing monsters, with mysterious tattoos, exotic mistresses, estranged aloof brothers, all thrown into the mix to make it more exciting. Has our craving for excitement with a touch of the macabre dragged this trial outside the realm of the logical and made it so Hollywood it simply become a salacious real-life soap opera? Or are the details just that sordid and sinister and sad? Either way, it is a tell-tale sign of the attitudes people have towards life and personal responsibility these days.
This whole crime, trial and media circus surrounding it have done nothing more than slam another few nails into the coffin of hope for the human spirit. If you are a Twitter fan, and you have followed the trial on Twitter, you may have noticed there is a growing subculture of early twenty-somethings who are firmly convinced this whole thing is the fault of the older Anthonys. According to the wise, bed- & bar-hopping generation currently learning to run our country, George and Cindy Anthony are completely and utterly at fault for the death of their granddaughter, however the method of death.Photo courtesy Orlando Sentinel
This learned hypothesis is not based on any scientific or tangible proof or evidence they have gathered, rather on a group mentality that everything Casey did wrong was her parents fault. Having gotten the general and sometimes very specifics of attitudes of quite a few young people in their early twenties, I have come to the conclusion we might have a very rocky road ahead of us as a society, if society is hanging out on Twitter, which, as I understand it, it is.
These mostly college age people feel the elder Anthony's most espcially Cindy,were responsible for Caylee's eventual death by forcing Casey to be a mother she didn't want to be, and basically pushing her into a corner. Yes, let's go with that theory, that won't open the door for every young mother in America to kill her baby and then blame it on his mother. That is one thing people need to remember when making decisions from an emotional, indignantly righteous point of view. This case is so high profile, it will be used for many, many years to come as precedent. Belvin Perry not only holds Casey Anthony's life in his hands, but the lives of many people, young women specifically, will come through his docket and those who come after him, and be affected by this tragedy forever. He can't un-know this situation. Sadly, none of us can.
It is this group of idealistic young people with skewed visions of righteousness and justice who are going to run our country in the very next few years. This generation has grown up under the blanket of the-then newly re-burgeoning progressive movement, the movement to make America shed it's traditional roots and values and adopt more global, less nationalistic values. It is a dangerous avenue to walk down, that college boulevard containing these globally-minded progressive young people who have been brought up not on math and real United States and world history but on theories of revolution and philosophy versus logic.
If a child is dead, someone is responsible. Not necessarily at fault for her death, but responsible. No one is accepting responsibility for the tragic death of a beautiful child with so many joy and potential, and that is, hopefully, the final crime here.
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