by Publisher Judith Regan is playing defense against the outrage and the hatred spewing at her for the monetization of her interview and book with O.J. Simpson. Many expert commentators have taken on the O.J. resurrection, but only yesterday did Regan creep forward to explain what O.J. never did: “Why?”
Regan begins her self-defense by reverting to the painful personal:
Conviction is what I wanted–and not just in the legal sense. I wanted it because I had once been that young woman who loved with all of her heart and believed in the goodness of man, the trusting girl who fell for the guy, who believed in the beauty of romance, the power of love, the joy of family and the miracle of motherhood. Like Nicole Brown, I believed with all my heart . . . and then got punched in the face. …So as I watched this new scene play itself out, I knew that this man–the killer, as Kim calls him–would be acquitted. I’d seen it before: The men in court, dressed in their designer suits, blaming the women they attacked. I’d seen, firsthand, the “criminal injustice system,” as I called it in my twenties–the system that let him go one night after assaulting me so he could come right back and do it again.
Now we understand the “why” of it: Judith Regan was an abused wife and she wanted to take a public revenge against O.J. she could not accomplish with her abusive husband in her past. Instead of privately dealing with her demons, Ms. Regan decides instead to resurrect O.J. Simpson as the means to her bitter end.
Now Regan plays the role she claimed she never wished for nor wanted: The Victim.
I never lost my desire for his conviction. And if Marcia Clark couldn’t do it. I sure wanted to try. In the past few days, since the announcement of the forthcoming book and televised interview If I Did It, it has been strange watching the media spin the story. They have all but called for my death for publishing his book and for interviewing him.A death, I might add, not called for when Katie Couric interviewed him; not called for when Barbara Walters had an exclusive with the Menendez brothers, who killed their parents in cold blood, nor when she conducted her celebrated interviews with dictator Fidel Castro or Muammar al-Gaddafi; not called for when 60 Minutes interviewed Timothy McVeigh who murdered hundreds in Oklahoma City, not called for when the U.S. government released tapes of Osama bin Laden; not called for when Geraldo Rivera interviewed his dozens of murderers, miscreants, and deviants.
Instead of condemning the actions of the hypocritical media elite, Regan decides to join them?
If the behavior is wrong, if monetizing and profiteering on the dead bodies of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman is inappropriate, why does Regan press forward for unburying the dead? Why reopen those crusty national wounds?
We all know O.J. did it. We don’t need Regan to confirm for us what we already feel in our bones.
Now Regan, obviously feeling he inadequacy of her own defense, turns as ruthless as her husband tormenter and adds as few dashes of the melodramatic to cover the holes in her logic for publishing — and endorsing — the sociopathic life of O.J. Simpson:
“To publish” does not mean “to endorse”; it means “to make public.” If you doubt that, ask the mainstream publishers who keep Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in print to this day. They are likely to say that there is a historical value in publishing such material, so that the public can read, and judge for themselves, the thoughts and attempted defenses of an indefensible man.There is historical value in such work; there is value for law enforcement, for students of psychology, for anyone who wants to gain insight into the mind of a sociopath. But that is not why I did it. That is not why I wanted to face the killer. That is not why I wanted to publish his story. I didn’t know what to expect when I got the call that the killer wanted to confess. I didn’t know what would happen. But I knew one thing. I wanted the confession for my own selfish reasons and for the symbolism of that act. For me, it was personal.
Yes, we know it is personal and we don’t care about her selfish interests in trying to resurrect justice where no justice can be done. Publishing also has a responsibility to be truthful and accurate and not hypothetical when you are dealing with facts and deaths and the justice system.
Hitler’s work is valuable because it is true. O.J.’s “What If?” memoir is nothing but a wondering, a fanciful meandering of the mind that can always be washed away with an excuse and a wink. O.J. isn’t being held to a higher standard with this Regan effort and even a full confession of “Yes, I did it!” would have no meaning now except to confirm for Regan that she is self-important and then allow her to finally bury her personal demons while giving life again to our national nightmare of O.J. Simpson.
Now Regan digs herself a hole from which she can never emerge:
I made the decision to publish this book, and to sit face to face with the killer, because I wanted him, and the men who broke my heart and your hearts, to tell the truth, to confess their sins, to do penance and to amend their lives.
Penance and confession are private matters. The need to publicize the confession and the regret is unnecessary. If Regan truly cared about outing O.J. Simpson’s murderous intent, she should have done it in the privacy of her own home.
Why did she go public? Why is she publishing a book and hosting the O.J. television interview? Judith Regan did it all because she wants the spotlight of redemption on her. She cares not for Nicole or Ron or for the surviving family members. She cares only for book sales and television ratings.
Regan confirms her revenge against O.J. is a misplaced hatred for a misbegotten husband and the memories of her wasted life:
What I wanted was closure, not money. I had never met him and never spoken with him until the day I interviewed him. And I was ready. Fifty-three years prepared me for this conversation. The men who lied and cheated and beat me–they were all there in the room. And the people who denied it, they were there too. And though it might sound a little strange, Nicole and Ron were in my heart.And for them I wanted him to confess his sins, to do penance and to amend his life. Amen. We live in a world right now where hatred and vengeance is a way of life. And as the killer sat before me I was not filled with vengeance or hatred. I thought of the man who had beaten me so many years ago, who left me in a hospital, the man who broke my child’s heart. And I listened carefully.
Judith Regan is desperate for our compassion and our pity, but when she turns to a murderer as her public confessor, when she asks O.J. Simpson to redeem her and to codify her wrongs, the rest of us rage as the dead are not allowed to rest and the cycle of violence against a killer’s victims continues with the aid and consent of a publisher who demands the sins of her selfish life be washed away in the blood of the innocent undead.
I dont pretend to understand the *ins and outs* of this whole saga – but it sickens me. The original crime sickened me, the trial sickened me and this blatent attepmt to further commercialise and *use* what was a revolting crime, by a revolting person continues to sicken me.
Hi Nicola!
I have always been fascinated by the “Jack the Ripper” mentality where killers are celebrated in print and in film and on the stage while their victims are ignored as footnotes to the master killer.
O.J. didn’t think he’d get off the murder charges. You can see it in the astonished relief in his face when the verdict is read in court. All his life he ran from the Black community as he “played White” and accrued all the chits and wealth of that phony mainstream lifestyle of the favored athlete.
In the end, though, it was the community he gave up that saved him. He’s done nothing to pay back that favor since except to gloat and float in the blood of his victims.
The obvious is obvious so there is little story there. The unobvious is another matter. Just about everything we hear of, and from, seems to be like this. From O.J. to weapons of mass destruction, to even Nietzsche. People come up with close to untennable positions and try to make them rational. That is the basis of great jazz; to see how far out and abstract you can get and then resolve the position. That O.J. would attempt such a spin only goes to prove how sick he really is, spin or no spin. “Piece of work”, “beyond insane” are mere euphemisms,” in this case. How about new evidence and trying him again?
I don’t think O.J. thinks he’s spinning anyone. He knows we know, fred, and he’s just playing along with the results of the game that gave him away to us: The Race Card. He’ll ride that victory to his grave… and his end cannot come too soon.
The real damnation belongs to bloodsuckers like Judith Regan who give new life to cretins so they may bury personal demons with marketplace commerce.
I think we do need to stand up and protest this sort of exploitation, Dave, and to change the channel when “if it bleeds, it leads” is used to tune in the eye.
We need to break through the irrational notion that O.J. is not a killer. We need to make it clear it is inappropriate to profit from the deaths of others. We need to stand up and denounce the murderers in our midst and ostracize them into nothingness — not help shine up their false fame.
Just become you believe something doesn’t make it true.
It is strange your Avatar is missing from your first comment, Dave. I have no idea what’s going on.
It’s unfortunate Regan felt the need to bring this whole matter forward. The only people who are interested in the nitty-gritty of the killings are the vapid and the bored. Is there some thrill in hearing it from the mouth of the killer?
I agree O.J. should be a pariah in any village, town or city core — but he will never be… because he has money, because he beat the system, because he got away with it and because people are always drawn to celebrity even if the shine on the star was polished in deaths.
It’s interesting how the “media” likes to grab hold of certain stories and play them for all they are worth. OJ spawned many cable televisions news programs and television careers, including introducing the world to Star Jones.
The only good thing that might come from this sad event would be for the Goldman family to be able to execute against OJ’s earnings to pay some of the balance remaining on the judgment that was awarded against OJ in the civil case. Money doesn’t make things right, but it would restore a sense of justice in the world.
If things keep up, I forsee a K-Fed vs OJ wrestling match in the future.
Maybe OJ and K-Fed can join Mike Tyson as studs at Heidi Fleiss’ Nevada “dude ranch.”
How long would it take for a reality show to come from that?
Speaking of media stories, I was caught up in an incident yesterday that ended up being covered by CNN and on the crawls at the bottom of other cable news channels’ programming.
Rainwater got into a truck carrying hazardous chemicals causing a reaction and I-65 was closed.
Officials feared the truck would catch on fire, explode and kill a bunch of people traveling on the highway to and from Chicago and Indianapolis. From a news producer’s viewpoint, it’s almost too bad it didn’t happen over the Thanksgiving travel holiday!
Deadly chemicals, thousands of potential victims, and the potential for EXPLOSIONS!!!! attracted television news helicopters hoping to capture just such an event LIVE! in high definition on television.
I was one of thousands stuck in traffic, so you probably didn’t see me on television.
The truck didn’t explode, but a news helicopter did get aerial footage of a house that blew up and caught fire earlier that day in Gary, Indiana.
Anything that burns or bleeds always attracts the media.
While the whole OJ mess is morally wrong, it does make a perfect media story — especially for cable news.
Let’s just hope that the Goldman family gets a piece of the pie to remind us that there is some justice in the world.
I couldn’t get into WordPress.com just a few seconds ago … I wonder if that affects the blog?
I agree, Chris, that panic and peril are the leads the networks choose to use to get us to watch their product. It’s too bad that the good story, the earnest story, won’t make the evening news or the even post.
We are a violent country and I’m sure a K-Fed cockfight against Mike Tyson would do great business on Pay-Per-View. Let’s just hope O.J. flops on TV and on the bookshelf. The best revenge is to ignore him.
Hi Chris —
Yes, your inability to login is the same problem that has been biting us here for a few days. The problem isn’t widespread. You have to report it via the FeedBack button in your blog Admin panel on the upper right hand side of your browser window.
There have been many times over the last couple of days where the blog would not load or I could not login or logout or have updates take… they’re aware of the problem and we hope for a fix soon.
Hi David,
I was listening to Glenn Beck today and he said that Nielson TV ratings families should go to their friends’ houses to watch the OJ interview, if they must so that low ratings discourage future programming of that nature. If people like this, what’s next? A re-enactment of Abu-Ghraib featuring Lynndie England?
I wonder if there is a list of advertisers who plan to plug their products during OJ’s TV show?
If such a list becomes available, everyone should call and complain.
Sponsors need to be reminded that bad will can last for years.
I remember hearing about a company transferring technology to the Soviets when I was a kid and still avoid buying any of their products, even though the incident was more than two decades ago.
I’ll probably do the same for any company that buys ads for anything to do with OJ Simpson.
Writes The Boston Globe in “Blood Money For O.J.“:
Hi Chris!
Wow! I had no idea about Toshiba. I used to do end user support for them. I have a lot of friends who still work for them in Irvine, CA.
Didn’t Regan pay $3.5 million for the O.J. book? She claims she was told the money would “go to his children.” Um. Yeah. Right! They’ll give it right back to him, right?
I agree we need to do an international freeze-out on O.J. now and forever and any future Regan project should be given the “Hedges Toshiba Treatment” as a remedy for what ails all of America!
The money will have to go to O.J.’s children’s therapists.
I’d be pretty freaked out if something like that happened in my family, then one of the family members did a *wink wink* “If I Did It.”
I hope the Goldman family is able to grab the money. Since the money is going to the children, I bet O.J. won’t have the check issued in his name to prevent it from going to pay the judgment.
Chris —
Right! The children will have a hard time with this new “semi-maybe-confession” because it will betray their faith and their support of his innocence that they have had to believe in order to get over the fact of the public ridicule that they are being parented by a father that murdered their mother.
Fred Goldman had an interesting lawsuit filed a month or two ago that must’ve informed this book and interview. He was seeking the intellectual property rights, I think, to O.J. Simpson as a creative entity and that anything he is involved with in creating something belongs to Fred as terms of settlement for the money owed. I think it’s a fascinating legal ploy and I hope Fred gets all the $3.5 million!
Yay!
The O.J. book and interview are CANCELED!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,230838,00.html
News Corp. did the right thing! I celebrate them even as I loathe their Fox news station!
Now the “Hush Money” accusations begin to stew:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/21/D8LHHG2G0.html#
Here’s evidence there is some justice left in the world:
Santiago Meza Lopez and Enemy Lye Liquefaction
Santiago Meza Lopez knew one thing the rest of us never needed to know until now — just so we can begin to try to find a defense against the indefensible: You can liquefy 300 of your closest enemies in…