Wow, Nancy Grace fans came out of the woodwork after reading yesterday’s anti-Nancy blog post. Received a slew of e-mails, all but two of them negative, and was accused of everything from condoning baby-killing to having “a thing” for Casey Anthony. Jeez. I honestly don’t mind the negative comments — you get used to that kind of thing in this line of work — but it just seems bizarre to get so many of them about this particular topic. Yes, I know there are many people in this world who don’t care about the political issues some of us consider more important, and whose primary interest in the news is as a source of vicarious excitement or outrage or worry or whatever. But damn, people … getting riled up to the point of seeing spots before your eyes over a case in which you do not personally know anyone involved, is, well, pretty screwed up.
But let’s be positive, and assume that most of the e-mailers and Nancy Grace defenders are simply concerned about children’s welfare — a noble outlook, for sure. If that’s the case, then I agree with an old acquaintance who wrote yesterday that if people who have spent so much time following the Casey Anthony case and talking about it would have devoted just a fraction of that time to mentoring or helping a child, the world would be a better place and many children would be safer. OK, that’s enough of being positive about these people. What I really think is that American TV culture has spawned millions of trial-watching zombies who would do well to get off their asses and do something constructive in this world, rather than feeding their own emotional turmoil by getting second-hand kicks through Nancy Grace. Thank you and goodnight.
This article appears in Jul 5-11, 2011.
I don’t like her show since she is more angry than your average liberal even. No one wants to see someone angry all of the time. I do think Nancy’s heart is in the right place. She has been in the court rooms and seen many OJ types go free so I can see how she would like to chase down every killer. The problem with this particular case is that Casey probably did kill he little girl but if you do not know that it was on purpose you cannot convict her for 1st degree murder. They needed to convict her for something they do have proof of and that would be to cover up Caley’s death. A mother waiting a month to report that her little girl is missing is proof in itself.
The prosecution aimed to high. They should be the ones getting hate mail for being so irresponsible with thier charges.
There is no sugar coating this. Nancy Grace’s misplaced rage and her rabid, rubbernecking fans are the only reason a murder is walking the streets.
John, you are absolutely right in your commentary and your criticism of Grace.
Dear Ms. Grace:
As a former prosecutor you should know that if you are going to charge someone with murder you need to be prepared to prove that a murder actually occurred. Then you need to be prepared to prove that the defendant is the one who committed that murder.
You cannot convict someone solely on circumstantial evidence. You cannot convict by showing that she is a bad person who PROBABLY did it.
Wow. I would say that I’m shocked by the sort of angry, misguided mail you received – but that would be a lie. People love their sensationalized media – and Nancy Grace offers it up in spades.
But, Nancy Grace isn’t important. The belief that people should be out mentoring and helping children is. Kudos to you and your acquaintance for pointing that out.
It’s interesting that those that wrote you used the same language as those that supported the Iraq war. If you were against the war you “supported” Saddam Hussein.