OJ Simpson Special = CANCELED!

When the OJ Simpson special, "If I Did It," was cancelled I had two thoughts about. One was that I was relieved that this foolish man would not go on television and completely embarrass himself. Afterall, he was actually going to go on television and discuss the "hypothetical" situation of how he "would" kill somebody. The idea that he could go on television and humiliate himself in front of millions just doesn't sit well with me. Whether he did it or not (and I hold no personal judgment on the case), you don't talk about who you would have killed the deceased, and certainly don't talk about what you did to kill them if you indeed did so and got away with it.

My second line of thought, however, was based on the rational of decision to cancel the special and the reaction to it. While I do understand that the topic that OJ was going to present on this special was devious, it's not like this world has not been presented with television programming that is just as despicable. Yet those telecasts did not get cancelled, and the reaction against them was not even 1 percent of what the OJ Simpson special is receiving. From Timothy McVeigh to Ted "Unabomber" Kaczynski, despicable people have been interviewed on television to discuss themselves and their horrible actions. Such interviews have been scrutinized, but never were they so protested that they were cancelled altogether.

As a black man who is too young to remember the day-to-day details of the trial and thus don't deem myself knowledgeable enough make my own decision on whether or not OJ did commit murder, I am having a hard time having to live in a world where we allow certain people to get away with doing despicable things and not others.

As I mentioned before, the Unabomber and McVeigh have been broadcasted on television, and they didn't create the uproar that OJ Simpson's special has. So I wonder, why is the reaction so different, when clearly what McVeigh and the Unabomber did was just as despicable as what OJ did?