Truth, Justice, and All-American Allergen-Free Apple Pie

Reeva Steenkamp. From http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/.

Last night I caught the tail end of The Usual Suspects just before Keyser Söze/Verbal Kint says, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

The past few days I’ve been quietly observing the case building against Olympian Oscar Pistorius after the brutal death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. From the beginning there have been obvious red flags indicating that this case isn’t as cut and dried as Steenkamp being mistaken for an intruder.

In disgust, I’ve watched Pistorius’ fans flocking to his defense as if being a celebrity or world-class athlete makes a person incapable of domestic violence and murder. I’ve kept a wary eye on statements coming from Pistorius’ agent, some of which absolve his client of murder:

After consulting with legal representatives we deeply regret the allegation of premeditated murder. We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the State’s own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all.

Respectfully, I’ve noted how Reeva Steenkamp’s family has conducted themselves with class and dignity. Burying your own child must be among the highest horrors on this earth, especially when they have died an agonizing death at the hands of someone else. Yet they have not only honored her memory by holding their heads high and being civil, but by pledging to carry on her work against rape and domestic violence.

In South Africa, violence against women is appallingly high. The murder rate of women is five times higher than the global average, and the level of violence involved is abnormal as well. One organization reports that one in four men has raped a woman. Domestic violence is commonplace, fatherless families are extremely common, and teen pregnancy is a major concern. For Reeva Steenkamp to speak out against these societal evils was not only brave, but desperately needed.

South Africa is also a crime-ridden country, so it is said to be normal for many homeowners to be willing and able to defend their property from intruders. Unfortunately, Pistorius has claimed that he thought Steenkamp, locked in the bathroom, was an intruder, so he allegedly fired four bullets through the door. He said that he thought she was next to him in bed when he got up to investigate a disturbance, and he felt vulnerable because he didn’t have his prosthetic legs on.

Pistorius allegedly forced the LOCKED bathroom door open by smashing it with a cricket bat and then unlocking it. He said he subsequently carried Steenkamp downstairs where he “tried to revive her.” But now, supposedly that blood-covered bat is in evidence and some news outlets have reported that Steenkamp’s skull was crushed. South African police have said that they have investigated or are investigating previous domestic violence incidents at his home. A former girlfriend’s mother is publicly thankful that her daughter is no longer with him. Pistorius’ first phone call, as far as I know, was to a friend, and to that friend he said he needed help because he’d shot Steenkamp.

The legal system needs to run its course yet none of what I know so far sits right with me. Also, while it is so utterly predictable but tremendously irritating is the widespread belief that if someone is famous or talented, then they could not have committed murder. Many people have voiced their support for Pistorius and that is their right, but it never fails to amaze me how many people go blindly rushing to the defense of our modern day demigods when evil is alleged.

This is also true of people suffering from disability and illness and those who have overcome great obstacles. Somehow they are generally considered less likely to commit violence against others. Their hearts and minds somehow become more pure by virtue of the challenges they have faced– at least that’s the mentality I’ve seen at play in cases where dark souls have used these issues to cover grave misdeeds. What do sociopaths and other manipulative people instinctively do? They prey on our sympathy. They capitalize on anything that can tug at our heartstrings.

While I absolutely do not mean to downplay the mental or physical issues that any individual may be dealing with, having cancer, for example, does not make you a good person. Being a nurse does not make you a good person. Being famous or accomplished does not make you any more moral, enlightened, trustworthy, believable, or wise than anyone else. Yet many hang on some celebrities’ every word and treat their personal opinions and preferences as gospel. Our moral compass is no longer set to heaven, but to earth. Our “gods” walk among us.

So should this case be looked at as a superstar, history-making athlete being unfairly accused of murdering his beautiful model girlfriend? Or should the evidence be allowed to speak? As the layers of celebrity are stripped away, can we consider the possibility of an angry and/or mentally ill man viciously destroying the life of a woman who had no physical escape from his rage?

I would ask anyone quick to declare Pistorius’ sainthood to picture themselves in that bathroom for a moment where a gunshot strikes you in the hip as you scream for mercy, but three more slice through the door and two tear into your flesh. And were you beaten with the cricket bat? Before or after being shot? What threats or violence might have been brought against you before the fatal injuries? Were you conscious when you were carried down the stairs by the man who just cut you down? Did it cross your mind how ironic it is that you spoke out on behalf of other victims but now are dying in the same manner? Did you wish you could have told your family and friends you love them one last time?

That’s something I always think about– what was it like for the victim in those last moments? Can I get other people to understand the level of cold terror that a woman feels as she is confronted with fatal violence? How about the feeling of helplessness because the attack might have struck so inexplicably, so quickly, or while she was in a physically vulnerable position? If more men and women could understand that hell on earth, perhaps they would not be so quick to make excuses for their “gods.”

Hopefully the truth will come out in this case and any lies designed to elicit sympathy and hide the truth will be swiftly revealed. I also hope that Steenkamp’s legacy will be that the nation of South Africa will rise up to take an unprecedented stand against the violence that extinguishes so many promising lives. She was not only an advocate against violence but a law school graduate who could have gone on to become a much greater force against these evils. Damaged and disturbed men frequently attach themselves to strong, successful women like her; they attempt to fill the bottomless pits in their own souls by feeding off of them.

How many more rapes, murders, assaults, and other acts of violence will it take before we acknowledge that domestic violence and sexual assault do not respect class, gender, race, or any other categories we can create for ourselves? Even more than that, what is it going to take to stop treating celebrities as higher life forms who are less likely to be responsible for these very acts? Their status and fame can function as handy smokescreens for their true selves and choices, as well as obscuring the true magnitude of what they have done to the real victims.

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What we see depends mainly on what we look for. –John Lubbock

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