Shame Shame Shame

I hope Americans are not going to disappoint me, but all of the major news outlets predict that they will--overwhelmingly. And this time it's not through their voting power:) It's through their buying power.

You may already be sick of hearing about O.J. Simpson's book If I Did It, which is hitting the shelves on November 30. Some are pre-ordering it on Amazon.

Personally I want to stand by the cash registers at my local Barnes & Noble so that I can see who buys this book. It infuriates me that anyone would even consider purchasing a book written by a killer who is gloating about the fact that he suceeded in getting away with the violet crime. I makes no matter to me that he may not profit from this book or that people are curious. It's sick.

Imagine the agony of the victims' families; not only was the killer found not guilty, he's now written a book detailing the murders and being featured in a special on Fox, essentially bragging about he got away with taking two lives. Who would help O.J. succeed in doing so?

At first I thought of the other day at the Soup Kitchen when the television in the corner was turned to the local news, which had a special report about a plane that had just landed on the interstate. Two guys at a table near my friend Grace & me, looked at each other and said "We gotta go check this out." Ridiculous. Someone rushing to the scene of the accident--not to render help--but to add to the confusion and chaos that comes with an emergency. But that's not quite the same thing as purchasing O.J.'s book.

What really got me wound up about this was hearing that Walmart is selling the book. Yes, I know Walmart is the devil and all, but it, at least, occasionally tries to pretend to have morals or some weird form of them. For example, when I bought the single (remember when you used to buy those tapes in the cardboard wrapper?) "I'm a Bitch" from Walmart, I was rudely surprised when I listened to the tape and the word "bitch" was muted out. Seriously. Why even sell the single? So Walmart isn't going to let its customers hear the word "bitch," but they are going to sell a book detailing the murder the author got away with. Insane.

I'd love to hear about some major retailers who are refusing to sell the book. I'd love to see corporate America stand up for something besides the almighty dollar. It makes me think about Chik-fil-a and how cool it is that it isn't open on Sundays (which is, of course, the only day of the week I crave it) even though that is certainly "costing" the company millions of dollars. I guess I want to see people say something is wrong and refuse to be a part of it because whether our society wants to admit it or not, there are things that are just wrong.

p.s. I know I'm rambling...I'm just mad (and watching Grey's Anatomy). For a slightly more coherent rant on relativism, check out this post.