Madalyn O'Hair with her sons outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963.
Casey Anthony last seen fading into the thin night air on the morning of July 17th
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Is Casey Anthony the most hated person in America?
Before her stunning acquittal of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse on July 5th in the death of her two-year old daughter Caylee, Ms Anthony, 12 days later, walked out of the Orange County Jail in Orlando, Fl, a free woman.
There was no welcoming wagon waiting to celebrate her newfound freedom; only a SUV provided by her lawyer in she was whisked away deep into the Florida night with no one knowing for certain where she was headed. Maybe she flew to L.A., possibly Arizona, or maybe she never left the Sunshine State at all; but the chances she reunited with her parents seem remote.
This country has a long history of outcasts, shunned by society, with little choice but to head for seclusion after losing grace with the court of public opinion: O.J. Simpson was the most notorious outcast in America before being sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2008 (with the possibility of parole in nine years) on charges of kidnapping and armed robbery. Aristotle Onassis, Richard Nixon, John Edwards, and even Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner were all forced to head for the hills, lock the doors tight and remain out-of-sight, out-of-mind.
Though all these characters had their share of enemies; they also had their share of supporters who were willing over time to overlook their past transgressions, gaffes, and crimes and misdemeanors. Even Simpson was allowed to wile away the days on the golf course without anyone threatening his life.
With Casey Anthony, despite being acquitted by a jury of her peers, despite no smoking gun linking her to the murder, despite now learning she never Googled the term “chloroform” 84 times as the jurors were led to believe when they deliberated, the court of public opinion and Nancy Grace still deem her public enemy number one.
According to her legal team, Ms. Anthony has been issued death threats; others are plotting revenge, convinced she got away with murder; still others on Twitter and Facebook have suggested in no uncertain terms that she is a dead woman if she is recognized in public.
With so many enemies, it is almost as if Casey Anthony has become the John Dillinger of the 21st century with everyone in pursuit of her, wondering which town she’s living; and perhaps like Dillinger’s case, which movie theater she will be spotted leaving before being ambushed by enemies.
Before Casey Anthony, the most hated woman was Madalyn Murray O’Hair, who much like Ms. Anthony became the most despised woman in America as a result of a court decision.
On June 17, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Abington School District v. Schempp, banned mandatory prayer and Bible reading in public schools. And though she wasn’t directly involved in the decision, O’Hair took up the torch for the atheist cause and took much of the credit for banning prayer in public schools.
Like the Casey verdict, the public was shocked and angry over the Supreme Court decision; the public anger grew even more pitched once they became acquainted with Ms. O’Hair’s foul language and blatant disregard for American religious customs.
In a 1964 interview with the Saturday Evening Post, O’Hair said she had nothing but abuse, hate, and vilification heaped upon her. `` She could find no work and her credit had been cut off. She had become impoverished and had been forced to sell some of her personal possessions to survive’’ the magazine reported.
Like O’Hair, Casey Anthony doesn’t know how she will support herself, other than the money, reportedly $537.68 she left jail with. Possible book deals, exclusive interviews, photo-ops, and the selling of movie rights of her murder trial are the only cards that have been dealt to her.
Even when the dust settles, and Casey Anthony takes up residence somewhere, she might still be in danger of being confronted with her enemies spitting at her, windows of her home damaged from prowlers heaving stones and rocks, her flower garden trampled on, her electricity short-circuited, tires of her car slashed, and gun shots fired at her house, all real possibilities that Ms. O’Hair confronted in her lifetime. In another interview, O'Hair said she was called a “dirty atheist,” an “anti-Christ,” a “slut,” and a “masculine lesbian bitch.” She also received mountains of letters with threats to “kill you, kill you, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.”
If that’s not hate, I don’t know what is.
The hate directed at Ms O’Hair kept going unabated right up until August 28, 1995 when David Waters, a former employee who O’Hair charged with stealing funds from her organization, abducted her, along with her son Jon Garth Murray, and Robin Murray (Madalyn’s granddaughter), forced them to withdraw $500,000 from their bank accounts, killed them and tossed their dismembered bodies in a grave, just outside of San Antonio, Texas.
The fate of Casey Anthony is uncertain. Some experts claim she’ll never live a normal life again without a deceptive makeover, a new name, while finding another country to live in. Others are confident Ms Anthony, only 25, will eventually be able to rehabilitate herself in the court of public opinion, come out from the rubble and begin to rebuild her life brick by brick.
Until the next chapter of her life begins, however, at least for now, Casey Marie Anthony will have to live with the epithet once bestowed on Madeline O’Hare; that of being the most hated woman in America.
-Bill Lucey
July 21, 2011
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really,,,? why she been hated by so many people in America? what she did to them?
Posted by: technical writing jobs | 09/15/2011 at 09:36 AM