A bit off topic, but at the inevitable debate at a local restaurant tonight I heard "F—" The Constitution" after I countered why Casey Anthony wasn't "forced to take the stand" with the 5th Amendment, part of our Bill of Rights. It sure felt like Speaker's Corner on a Sunday morning in London where people like Danny Shine (below) are free to stand on a soap box to speak about the absurdity of Society.
Does our Society really need to change its fundamental principles because of the Casey Anthony verdict?
On Change.org, Michelle Crowder of Durant, Oklahoma has started a petition, which in less than 24 hours, has 43,000+ signatures to propose a new federal law be created, called Caylee's law, that will make it a federal offense for a parent or guardian to not notify law enforcement of a child going missing in a timely manner. Constructive.
Yet the chilling part "Let's keep another case like Caylee Anthony out of the Courts" (emphasis added). Two words, "due process".
We feel outrage at perceived injustice and the judicial outcomes of public trials are not always to our liking. Yet thankfully we live in a Society where people no longer get hung from tree limbs by lynch mobs (because of their color, religion or suspicion of guilt), debate is encouraged, and we have the freedoms that are embodied in the Bill of Rights.
Thank you James Madison and the Congress of 1789-1791.
Photo Source: Wikipedia
Recommended Reading/Viewing for "outrage therapy": The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Or add the 2009 film to your NetFlix queue.
Also Littnan: Dangerous Reactions to Caylee Case July 21, 2011.
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