BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: GUEST,Don Firth
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 05:23 PM

Aware that the case was investigated by a flock of developmentally delayed macaques and the forensic evidence was handled by a herd of headless chickens, and that everyone in the case, from the judge on down to the courthouse janitorial staff, was playing it for the television cameras, I cleave to the principle that O. J. is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

His book is not on my list of things to read. I might glance through short magazine article, provided I find it in the rack of reading material in the bathroom. . . .

I am considerably more interested in investigating the possible extraterrestrial origins of toenail fungus.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: DougR
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 07:53 PM

Nope.
DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 12:41 AM

Digression, but somehow "American Idol" came to mind with the mention of l.c.d.

My son the lawyer has been slowly collecting that series of volumes of great court cases from England. Some are engrossing.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 11:35 PM

PattyClink, you missed the point, I think. OJ's book falls into an unavoidable area called the "lowest common denominator." Just because a lot of us aren't interested in it doesn't mean that those who are can't get any materials at the library. Like "taste" and "art" and "class" and "grammar," the evaluation of "literature" is entirely subjective.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 10:00 PM

We have ONE copy on order. I suspect that that will be sufficient to meet the demand.

I have no intention of buying it or reading it myself. While I have an interest in true crime and murders of the past, the interest sort of peters out about 1930. Good books on forensic science, sure...but I'm really not interested in people like John Wayne Gacy or Jeffery Dahmer.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 09:58 PM

"It was written by a murderer to capitalize on his crime."

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Big Mick
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 08:28 PM

Bite me, Q. I never said that or implied that. Your little slap is just a case of envy or something. Get into the conversation, or crawl back where you came from. This isn't about me, but do you have an opinion, or an answer to the questions? Didn't think so.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 08:19 PM

Well, well, Big Mick was at the murder scene. Or so he would have us believe.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Big Mick
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 07:56 PM

Ebbie, my friend, you need to take things in context. I didn't say that all folks who go to races want to see crashes and bodies. The comment wasn't directed at an individual. But there are those who do, and those are the ones I am using for the comparison. There is no justification for this book, and in my mind, there is no justification one can use in purchasing it. It was written by a murderer to capitalize on his crime. The Goldman's, by publishing it, are giving him what he craves. I am in Denise's corner on this one. And I stand by my contention.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 07:52 PM

That's swinging a broad kind of brush, Mick. For instance I like races, especially hackney racing; I do not like crashes of any sort. I do not even like near misses.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Big Mick
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 07:49 PM

I can say with a certainty that I would not pick it up and leaf through it. I have no interest whatever in his ruminations. I know who killed those two folks and am not interested in giving this parasite the value of my curiosity about his actions. I believe that folks who would purchase and read this book are the same ones that go to races hoping to see a crash and a body. If I inadvertently picked it up, I would do the same thing I do when I am leafing through newspapers and come on the talboids. I simply put it down.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 07:43 PM

I have a question. And I'm not being snide here, just curious.

First, let me say that I have no intention of reading the book and I certainly will NOT buy it.

But this is very early days and it is easy to opiniate.

Question: Some time in the future, say you are at a friend's house and you see a copy of the book lying there, would you pick it up and at least leaf through it? or instead, if you inadvertently picked it up, would you drop it as though it burnt your fingers?

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: astro
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 07:00 PM

I live right by the 405...saw the blazer go by, first time I saw the 405 with lots of people standing on the freway...then a few years later saw OJ at a local electronics store...was strange...I wouldn't read the book.

Astro in LA until I get home for the weekend in Tucson...

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Big Mick
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 05:01 PM

No.

I can't even believe I bothered to post it in this thread.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 04:46 PM

The O. J. Simpson trial was great theater, I can't see any book surpassing the drama of that case. No, I won't bother with it.

It was a criminal case, in which the defendant was found not guilty. No other conclusion on the part of the jury was possible. In my opinion, any subsequent actions attempting to show responsibility on the part of Simpson are money grabs. I believe such actions should be removed from law.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Peace
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 04:21 PM

I went through something similar years ago when I was trying to get the book, "The Hoax of the Twentieth Century". It was anti-Semitic garbage and while at university I wanted to read it and refute it. Alas, the copies that had been in the stacks of the main library had been destroyed by person or persons unknown. AND, Canada had banned the import of the book because of its racist nature. (It was claptrap Holocaust denial.) Anyway, eventually I bought one while on a trip to San Francisco and simply by changing the dustjacket I was able to return to Canada with it. If I recall correctly, I gave it to 'my' university's Special Collections. I do not agree with the banning of books regardless how offensive I find them to be. However, I would not care to waste my time on any book about OJ.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: pattyClink
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 04:09 PM

Sheesh, I'm not burning books because I would prefer limited tax dollars be spent on higher quality material. The only signal publishers get are dollar signs, and I can't see adding to the sales count of this book. But I have offended the sensibilities of everybody here, so I will shut up about it. Read and enjoy.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 02:30 PM

The policy adopted at the university library where I work is that if patrons request a work through ILL (Interlibrary Loan) that isn't already in our collection then we'll go ahead and order a copy. ILL is a great way for patrons to cast votes for what they want or need to read if the library staff is paying attention. Some things are rare or out of print or very very expensive so this might not work in all cases. When I was a graduate student and would get a book through ILL if it looked like a good one I'd then have to make the extra step to request that the library buy it so if I needed it again I could get it. I was probably more conscientious than many students in that extra step, but it saves time and money in the long run to have our own copy of a useful text.

As Rapaire said, you serve a diverse public. PattyClink, if you have those materials in a library where you also have a lot of very good materials, perhaps a little cross-pollination will occur and they'll get some good reading in at the same time.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 02:27 PM

Well said, Rapaire. I am not afraid of O.J.'s book. I am not afraid of seeing it sitting on a bookstore or library shelf. I do not feel that I must prevent other people from suffering the shock and horror of seeing that book or some other book sitting on a shelf in a library or bookstore. ;-)

I just don't want to read it, that's all. If they don't want to read it either, then they don't have to, right? How does it hurt them if they don't read it? If they don't want anyone at all to be allowed to read it, then they've got one hell of a problem.....and they are desirous of living in a society that enforces mind control.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 02:07 PM

I agree with Rapaire's stance here. I don't want my library to pick and choose what I shall read. A library is EVERYONE'S place. In other words, if people demand access to a certain book, the money should be spent to put it in stock.

There is MANY a book that I will never read, for whatever reason: It may be on a subject that is of no interest or relevance to me, it may be poorly written, it may have a distasteful content, it I may have read other books by the same author and not be interested further in what s/he has to say... There are a lot of reasons, as I say.

Sometimes I read things only for the purpose of discovering what opposing view is being espoused. I don't want anyone to take away that right.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 02:00 PM

You bet we censor! Only we call it "selection" and every library does it.

We serve the people in our community, and we provide them with what they want to read. We recently bought 35 copies of the last Harry Potter book, even though letters condemning as promoting witchcraft and paganism appeared in the paper. I did not want to buy Ann Coulter's last book, but we had patrons ask for it so we bought A copy.

As for coarsening society, should we stock any of these: Mein Kampf; The Old Testament; The Complete Jack The Ripper; Huckleberry Finn; Cyrano de Bergerac; Macbeth; The Joy of Sex? How about such pictures as Guernica or Goya's executions? Shall we stock DVDs of All Quiet On The Western Front and Full Metal Jacket?

The public library is NOT a place for my opinion or yours to dominate. We select what appears to us to be the best available material at this time that deals with BOTH sides of an issue and will let YOU make up your own mind.

Were I to fail to buy this book because of my own personal beliefs in the matter, I would be as guilty of censorship as those librarians of yesteryear who banner "Nancy Drew" and "The Hardy Boys" because they weren't "literature" or the Brownshirts burning the works of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud because they were Jewish.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: pattyClink
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 01:20 PM

Yeah, I guess I must be an evil censor. But according to your rationale, your shelves should be filled with x-rated books and videos by now because 'people want to read them'. Or are you censoring? It's all a matter of degree, and to me the line gets crossed with this book.

I guess it bothers me because I think the coarsening of our civilization is made up of little decisions like this. It does have an effect.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 12:33 PM

Madonna's book, "Sex." Anything by Danielle Steel. Anything by Jackie Collins. The "Longarm" series of paperback westerns. Ann Coulter's last book.

We buy them because people want to read them. Are they good writing? Do I (or anyone else on the staff) agree with them?

Or do I detect a note of censorship here?

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: pattyClink
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 12:27 PM

I understand people can legally publish and sell such a book. But standards of taste used to keep such crap in the dark corners where it belonged, not in the downtown library.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 11:22 AM

As Rapaire notes, he was simply found "Not Guilty"....meaning they were unable to absolutely prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was the murderer.

In other words, the jury may have believed he was the murderer, but they did not have absolute proof that he was, and that's what the law technically requires to deliver a "Guilty" verdict.

This is the stuff lawyers play with in the game referred to as "justice"...

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 11:08 AM

Norberg did it.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 09:52 AM

Absolutely not. Better to just send some $$ to whatever charities the Goldman family supports, rather than bestow additional attention on a sociopath.

~D

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: pattyClink
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 09:48 AM

Rapaire, I am amazed a library will actually 'have to' purchase this trash. Can't anybody in this society make a stand of any kind? Seems like, although some sleazy publisher wants to print it, it would have still be stopped dead in its tracks by a few large chainstores, or an association of independents. Apparently they still want to make a buck at any cost. But what kind of rationale can libraries have for buying this? Yes, I know some people will request it. They probably also enjoy reading Hustler and Soldier of Fortune, but they aren't (are they?) on the library shelves.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 09:28 AM

My husband is a great reader of history. Me, not so much, but I do pick up the best of his books. He says it takes ten years to know the truth about any big story in the news.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 09:11 AM

Please note: OJ Simpson was NOT found "innocent" of the crimes. He was found "Not Guilty."

There's a difference.

I so wish the US had the "Not Proven" verdict.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 12:33 AM

The thing I love was how "innocent" he acted just before he got arrested....

What a sad farce the whole thing was.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 12:23 AM

One thing nobody seems to care about is the imposition it was upon the jurors.

Not true, the subject just hasn't come up. I will concede that in addition to slaying Ron Goldman and his ex-wife Nicole, he slew a lot of time in the lives of those jurors. It would have been torturous to sit through all of that nonsense his defense team came up with.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 08:13 PM

"But Henry knows the "truth!" Sure. And OJ is innocent."

I don't say OJ was innocent. I do think there is room for doubt.

That trial was a cruel farce. One thing nobody seems to care about is the imposition it was upon the jurors. If I had been a juror, I would have gone to court for my rights.

Well, I have tried to research the issue of the rights of jurors. They don't seem to have any.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Peace
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:15 PM

Well, with a little salt and some ketchup . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:04 PM

No, no...I mean if you HAD to do one or the other. You don't have to do either as far as I can see. At least....I hope not.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Peace
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:03 PM

"Hmm. Well, it's a good thing you are not required to make that choice, isn't it?"

What choice? It's a no-brainer.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: GUEST,Texas Guest
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:00 PM

O.J. who?

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Bill D
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 02:41 PM

Maybe I ought to read it, as it should have a lot of humor in it...I hear OJ is quite a cut-up...

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 02:32 PM

It's time for a whole new thread on this subject...

"Will you go golfing with O.J.?"

"Will you go out for coffee with O.J.?"

"Will you help O.J. launch his new theme park?"

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Amos
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 02:27 PM

If you were an astronaut, you wouldn't have a choice -- you'd have to drink whatveer tthe recycller served you!! But you wouldn't have to read the book.

Me, I have much better reading to do.

And writing.

The book is either fiction (assuming he's innocent) or thinly disguised fact (assuming he is guilty). In neither case does it hold an attraction to me, as there is much better fiction to be read, and I prefer my facts unvarnished and untwisted in someone's self-service, if possible.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 02:10 PM

Hmm. Well, it's a good thing you are not required to make that choice, isn't it?

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Peace
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 02:06 PM

I would sooner drink liquid s#it than read his book.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Becca72
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 01:32 PM

I have to admit a morbid curiosity to read it, but I will not. I won't give that murderer one cent of my money.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: frogprince
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 01:00 PM

I tried to come up with a clever personal response, but I decided Kendall had said it best for me, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 12:44 PM

no

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 12:34 PM

Perhaps. When you finish reading it, you might ask "Is That All There Is?"

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Ebbie
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 12:32 PM

How do I say this without sounding snippy? Hmmmmm. Here goes:

I read voraciously. I am under no illusions about my habits and I feel no need to 'abstain' from something that will, either way, matter not a whit to anyone else. Therefore, if some time in the future I come across a copy and feel like reading it at that time, that's what I will do.

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Rapparee
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 12:19 PM

Is this the book in which OJ Simpson tells all about his affair with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohman and Johnny Depp and Peggy Lee and The Truth About What Happened Between Lambchop And Mortimer Snerd?

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 12:16 PM

Clever, Don!

Subject: RE: BS: Will you read O.J.'s Book?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 12:14 PM

I will read it if I can get a copy for free, and if O.J. will pay me $50/hour for doing so....