Brief Thoughts on the Casey Anthony Verdict from a Cold, Dead Fish

If you go by the outrage currently enveloping the internet, it would seem my lack of shock over the Casey Anthony trial puts me in the minority. Perhaps it's because I didn't have much of an emotional investment in the outcome -- that's to say I didn't watch the long, drawn out spectacle on television, nor did I follow it particularly closely in the news. In fact, it was only the last couple of days that I caught up with all evidence and conjecture presented over the past weeks. The smoking gun, forensically speaking, just wasn't there. I didn't see how they could possibly convict the woman.

So, my opinion came from what I learned from reading a few articles -- no videos of testimony to tug at my heart strings.

I won't even tell you whether or not I believe she was guilty. It's not relevant. The judicial system has cleared of the murder, manslaughter, and child abuse charges. Next big story, please.

Yeah, you're thinking I'm a cold fish -- dead inside. Maybe. Or perhaps I'm just so sick of all the media manipulation of our emotions that I refuse to let anything that thoroughly monopolizes the news have crack at stirring up my innards.

Kind of like when I used to jokingly proclaim that I refuse to laugh at commercials because that's exactly what they want me to do. Geico ads are the hardest. It helps to jab myself in the thigh repeatedly with a cocktail fork.

I'm sorry that a 2-year-old was brutally murdered, of course. If the mother is guilty, may she be the harsh recipient of a swift dose of Karma. But I'm sick of phony outrage from journalistic hacks like Nancy Grace and everyone else who enjoys that sort of hyper emotional style of reporting.