Casey Anthony Verdict

Casey Anthony is a doofus. There is no way around that. Serious issues. Heartless. Whacko. Pick your descriptor. It seems fair enough.

What is running through my mind about all this Casey Anthony stuff is really not so much about her sordid story as it is about the reaction of people around me and on the television. When Ms. Anthony was declared not guilty of murdering her two-year-old daughter, I was surrounded by cries of injustice and declarations of what she really deserved. I even thought it a little.

This is not the first time I have witnessed this type of reaction to a case. Of course, OJ Simpson was acquitted and the whole world went to pieces. I reacted way more strongly to that one. There was also a case near my hometown in which the man was actually convicted of his crime, with a different reaction. Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere make it easy to hear people's thoughts. They were ready to rip this man apart themselves.

On the one hand, people are raising the issue of injustice. "Casey Anthony deserves the death penalty!" On the other hand, some are raising concerns that our country's lack of intestinal fortitude renders us impotent and spineless as jurors. "We couldn't recognize or declare guilt for anyone!"

I guess the troubling thing about it all is that no judgment is good enough. Have we, unlike "spineless jurors," become so bloodthirsty that we cannot allow ourselves the latitude to trust our justice system? Or are we as a people being swept away by sensationalistic opinions streaming across the internet? In either case, I am getting concerned. The angry mob can be dangerous, even for those who profit from riling them up.