Who knows that triggered the rage of OJ? A white man taking away his Goddess? The downfall of a god.
The god always falls when he loses “face.” Faced with the loss of validation, the loss of power and fame, self-esteem, and a place in the world, faced with that and unable to transcend, violence is the only course.
OJ was our first national Morality Play where the contradictions in our own society were personified and worked out. The glove fit us to a tee.
OJ was like a prequel to Trump and his war of real news versus fake news. OJ had fake evidence, or a compelling fake story, so real evidence lost to the Story. The Story trumped the evidence.
We now live in a world where the strongest Story survives. Evidence is subservient to the Story, instead of the Story being shaped by evidence. If it feels true, it is true, is the OJ story. OJ’s story was that he was the victim.
OJ lived believing that he run through every obstacle and carry the ball to the goal. The Juice had a reputation to live up to. When confronted with a situation he could not run through, he turned to violence.
Good dialogue: Matt Steffen Your wife was teaching a class I was in when he was originally found not guilty. She announced it and we discussed it. It reminds me of a Challenger or assassination attempt type story. Like, “Where were you when ______ happened?”
Yes…while OJ was the contents, what was the cup that held the contents? That’s what I’m interested in. What was the Media that held the contents. The. medium is the message, not the contents of the medium. We can look back and see how America was being changed by our cable 24/7 TV that never slept.
Nancy Krobatsch Patrissi Ed Conley You’re quoting the king…Marshall McLuhan!
The contents or superficial meaning is objective, the real meaning, however, is subjective. This is the meaning that activates me, that moves me to do what I have no need to do. When the message is divided, you have the meaning that one thinks about versus the meaning that one feels. Thought (or mind) and body or feeling are separated. Now you can be manipulated. Give one message the the body and the other to the mind. The message can be contradictory, but you will only hear the superficial message of the mind. In this way one can vote for what what hurts you.
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