Throughout the course of our Simpson case study, we've gotten the opportunity to see how people respond emotionally to evidence. In the civil trial, the bad evidence collection and opportunity for tampering was perhaps given more weight than it should have, even by members of this class (including me). We love a conspiracy, so it makes some sense that we see every honest mistake and chance to mess with things as proof that things aren't going as they should.
However, there's also a very visceral response to Simpson's lies, for example. We really didn't trust him after he lied about the shoes, the abuse, etc. Partially, it was because it was completely ridiculous. However, there is also that aspect of simply hating a liar. His lies made sense, in a way. I certainly wouldn't want to give the prosecution anything in my testimony. Maybe there was an element of truth to some of his statements, despite the vast amount of lies, but in our minds, that doesn't matter. He lied several times, badly, so nothing he said should matter.
I agree with you Miranda, lies really made a difference, especially in this case. The thing that made it seem very absurd was how far-fetched his lies were, 30+ photographs being "faked". Even a photo in the newspaper, faked... it's just a bit...far-fetched.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. No one likes to admit that they lied about something. In OJ Simpson's case, he decided to say that he never owned a pair of size 12 Bruno Magli shoes. But 30+ photos, taken at a football game, showed that he did own a pair. He would have never admitted about lying about the shoes, but he would let people assume that he did. I think he did this because saying that he lied shows that he was a liar. Is there any circumstance where someone should admit to lying?
ReplyDeleteAs a society, we like to say that people should always tell the truth about any lies they may have told, and that's definitely the case in personal relationships (familial, platonic, or romantic) where trust is key. My first instinct is to say that people should always admit the truth, but I know I'm coming from the perspective of an idealist who is AWFUL at lying. It's especially complicated because the legal system doesn't always take "I'm making amends!" into account, so he may have been worried about legal repercussions.
DeleteI think that your argument is very interesting. We always say how our emotions won't get in the way when we are trying to make decisions, but in the end, they almost always do. In this case, emotions are what made the final decision. It shouldn't have been that way, but it was. The media was also a huge thing that influenced people's opinions. I agree with your idea about how we love to hate a liar, but in the end, we need to keep our own opinions out of the facts.
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