2008 Woodie Awards
Got guilt? When judgement gets personal
Jessica Corey-Butler
Issue date: 3/9/06 Section: Commentary
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An odd sort of intervention took place a few weeks ago on Desperate Housewives, wherein the contents of a housewife's trash - namely, wine bottles - were lined up on her porch for all to see.
It was an intriguing concept to me.
Say your friend goes through your trash and finds items to put out on your front porch.
What would they be?
Would there be decades of porno mags? Oh, wait, those are probably safely under your bed.
Would multiple packages of laxatives, laxative teas and empty Oreo containers make their way out for public exhibition?
Possibly Cheetos bags, pizza boxes and empty Coke bottles would pile themselves on the porch and down the stairs.
Perhaps your makeshift apple-core bongs would find their way on the railing of your porch-- and wouldn't the FBI like to know about that when you apply for a position upon graduation?
Thing is, every single one of us has something to be ashamed of. Television viewing habits, music on our iPods, the books we read, the candy we eat, the thoughts we have.
There's always something that we feel uncomfortable with others knowing.
If you're a criminal, there may be bad things you really don't want others to know about. But let's say you're not a criminal, you've been blamed for a bad thing you didn't do, and it's up to a group of your peers to determine if you did it or not.
My partner was recently a juror at a trial. The accused, my boyfriend said, looked like a nice guy. The prosecutor had no forensic evidence to link the accused to the crime. The prosecution's circumstantial case fell apart, apparently, when information was produced that paved a solid road for "reasonable doubt" to ride in on.
Apparently, in this country, even in this town, you really can be innocent until proven guilty. Or can you?
I saw the guy on the news after his release caused an uproar in his neighborhood. He didn't look like a nice guy in his mug shot. The news reporter talked of all the other crimes this guy had committed, the neighbors talked of not wanting him around.
It was an intriguing concept to me.
Say your friend goes through your trash and finds items to put out on your front porch.
What would they be?
Would there be decades of porno mags? Oh, wait, those are probably safely under your bed.
Would multiple packages of laxatives, laxative teas and empty Oreo containers make their way out for public exhibition?
Possibly Cheetos bags, pizza boxes and empty Coke bottles would pile themselves on the porch and down the stairs.
Perhaps your makeshift apple-core bongs would find their way on the railing of your porch-- and wouldn't the FBI like to know about that when you apply for a position upon graduation?
Thing is, every single one of us has something to be ashamed of. Television viewing habits, music on our iPods, the books we read, the candy we eat, the thoughts we have.
There's always something that we feel uncomfortable with others knowing.
If you're a criminal, there may be bad things you really don't want others to know about. But let's say you're not a criminal, you've been blamed for a bad thing you didn't do, and it's up to a group of your peers to determine if you did it or not.
My partner was recently a juror at a trial. The accused, my boyfriend said, looked like a nice guy. The prosecutor had no forensic evidence to link the accused to the crime. The prosecution's circumstantial case fell apart, apparently, when information was produced that paved a solid road for "reasonable doubt" to ride in on.
Apparently, in this country, even in this town, you really can be innocent until proven guilty. Or can you?
I saw the guy on the news after his release caused an uproar in his neighborhood. He didn't look like a nice guy in his mug shot. The news reporter talked of all the other crimes this guy had committed, the neighbors talked of not wanting him around.