When Liberals Vote For The Death Penalty...

The Scott Peterson trial is now in the final phase, where the jury decides whether Scott gets the death penalty or not.

Is Scott Peterson innocent or guilty of Laci's murder? Unless Scott or someone else confesses, it's one of those things we will likely never know one way or the other.

Scott is likely guilty, but if I were on the jury, I wouldn'tt be able to say that definitively beyond a reasonable doubt, public opinion be damned. If I were a juror I would be forced by my conscience to vote Not Guilty.

The thing that has nagged me all along the two years since Laci went missing is the fact that Scott Peterson has been crucified in the media as the absolute personification of the Evil American Male. The people who have encouraged the moral decay of society are among the most rabid demanding Peterson's head on a platter.

Sure, Scott Peterson stepped out on his wife. Scott Peterson is a consummate liar. Scott Peterson is also stupid. I don't know how in the world he was able to commit such a perfect crime. It just doesn't add up. Regardless of how bad his character is, proof beyond a reasonable doubt has not been submitted. People have been emotionalized to the point of mob-like behavior.

The way Scott Peterson has been demonized in the media is part of a continuing assault on masculinity. They have taken Scott's personality flaws and are trying to stigmatize all men in a sort of guilt-by-association so as to say all men are liars, all men are cheats, and ultimately that all men are potential murderers.

Beyond the Scott Peterson trial itself, the fact that so many people can be emotionalized is bothersome to me. People both on the Left and the Right have been made to demand the same result. The American population's vulnerability towards emotionalization via mass media is a dangerous thing. A powerful dictator could easily come along and emotionailze us into voting away all our Freedoms.

That's my take.

TOM