no, it’s not O.J. again

Everyone in the U.S. seems to be following this Casey Anthony trial, about which I know very little, and I feel uninterested in learning more. But I strongly disagree with this passing remark by a Psychology professor:

“This is O.J. all over again, but with less forensic and more psychological features. The glove didn’t fit, but in the Anthony trial, few things fit.”

I don’t see the O.J. parallel at all, except that both trials are attracting a lot of media attention.

The Casey Anthony trial, while dealing with a tragic event (the death of a toddler), is the trial of an average person who was previously completely unknown.

The O.J. Simpson trial wasn’t “the trial of the century” because it involved a grisly double murder– those happen all the time, you know. The O.J. trial was a big deal because it was O.J.: probably the best football player of his generation. I grew up wearing O.J.’s #32 jersey and his Buffalo Bills helmet; photos exist of me dressed up as O.J., and I was one of thousands of kids nationwide.

Moreover, O.J. was widely considered by the public to be a “good guy.” He was personable, he was the major pitchman for Hertz rental cars, and generally looked like the sort of guy you’d like to meet and speak with. If you read the news closely you might have seen a domestic violence incident in the mix as well, but you might not have seen it, or might not have known the severity of it.

So, the O.J. Simpson murders/car chase/arrest/trial hit the nation like a ton of bricks. He had been part of our unofficial supreme court of likable ex-athletes, and suddenly we were asked to start thinking of him as a brutal killer. It was a sudden and shocking change in his public status. I can think of no comparable cases in recent history.