The latest news to sweep the airwaves is the brutal shooting of a beautiful, smart and kind woman in South Africa. Reeva Steenkamp.
But, as always when "celebrity" is involved, this gets completely and utterly forgotten. The murderer in this heinous situation is the Paralympic and Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorious. Due to his disability (he's a double amputee) he's become a celebrity and icon. This for me is a little far fetched. If he'd saved a person's life, dedicated his life to the benefit of others, despite the hardship of being a double amputee, then I would consider him an icon. But really all he's done is use the latest technology to give him a pair of legs that are lighter and much more efficient than a person's real legs, and he's gone for personal glory. I've no problem with that at all, but as opposed to thinking him an icon, I would say "fair play, good work, boy done well". However, in terms of marketability Oscar Pistorious is manna from heaven, an advertising executive's wet dream. He's been lauded as this and that, even as a hero!! He's become a national hero!! Oh please, what a crock of shit. Nelson Mandela is a national hero, someone who suffered incarceration for many years because of his belief for a fair and equal South Africa, for the rights of the black people of South Africa. Even when he was released from prison and he deserved to put his feet up on a beach, sup beer and soak in the tide of change that was sweeping the country he didn't, he dedicated pretty much the rest of his life to the pursuit of helping others. That's a hero.
Oscar Pistorious by any admission is an arrogant prat with a chip on his shoulder. Take the Olympics. The Olympic ideal is about fair play and true competition. The use of performance enhancing drugs and anything that gives the athlete an unfair advantage is hideously frowned upon. And rightly so. It isn't nice that Oscar Pistorious had to have his legs amputated, and yes he deserves some pity and sympathy, but to put him in the Olympics, for me, was a pathetically weak decision forced by the media and the money grabbing sponsors. There're plenty of people that work and strive really hard to compete in the Olympics and deserve the right to be there, but don't have the media circus behind them to bully the IOC into allowing them to compete. It was a disgrace. Using technology to give yourself a completely unfair advantage is against all Olympic ideals. First it has to be ratified but it also has to be available to all athletes. In fact the only reason he was allowed to run is because he's so slow there was no chance of him winning. If he had won.. what would the world have said about his prosthetic legs then! What would the silver medalist have said! Fact is Oscar Pistorious is not quick at Olympic level and the only reason he's as quick as he is is because he has the lightest, strongest and most flexible legs science can provide.
So the media have created this brand.. the Oscar Pistorious brand who is sponsored by the likes of Nike because of the sheer amount of money they can use him to generate.
And what of Reeva Steenkamp? A beautiful woman with a Law Degree, a model, a presenter, with her whole life ahead of her. Murdered by the brand Oscar Pistorious. Is there any hope this woman can get real justice? I hope so but I seriously doubt it. Even as I type this the investigating officer is getting destroyed in the bail hearing, his evidence is being torn apart. A friend told me that if a person is found not guilty of a charge in South Africa they cannot be convicted on a lesser charge like in the UK. Pre-meditated murder? Oh Jesus. That's hard enough to prove in a cut and dry case, let alone one with little evidence. Murder yes.. but pre-meditated? It's Reeva Steenkamp my heart goes out to, she who has no voice, she who has had her life cruelly taken away. Lock up Oscar Pistorious and throw away the key.
There aren't so many cut and dry facts just now concerning this case, but for me, the few there are are telling. I don't have an opinion on whether this was pre-meditated, but the fact Oscar Pistorious is saying he thought there was a robber is a fucking crime in itself. Lying bastard. Why can't he just say he got upset and shot her, even temporary insanity, but to come up with such a bullshit blag is awful and an insult to Reeva Steenkamp. We know there were domestic disputes that police were called to prior to 14.02. We know the bathroom door was locked (why the fuck would a robber break into a bathroom and lock himself in?!?! What the fuck is he robbing from a bathroom?!?!), and the coroner has indicated the bullets had a downward trajectory (Oscar Pistorious has stated he didn't have his legs on). Add a couple of possible circumstantial's.. ie Oscar Pistorious was on herbal remedies to increase testosterone (legally) but increased testosterone gives one a very bad temper, and the possibility that Reeva Steenkamp had grown close to Francois Hougaard (Springbok).
Whole thing stinks. Looks to me like they argued, Reeva Steenkamp locked herself in the bathroom scared, Oscar Pistorious had his legs on and wanted her to unlock the door, lost it and pumped some bullets through the door.
There's plenty of other stuff going on and we're yet to hear it all, but I hope justice is done and Oscar Pistorious gets banged up for 15 yrs and fades away into anonymity.
Best news for that? The Officer who got destroyed in the bail hearing had had a charge of attempted murder previously dropped.. and these have been reinstated. This means he'll get removed from the case. Which means the defense can't use him to snake their way out of the charge. I hope this was a pre-meditated move to make sure justice is done.
RIP Reeva Steenkamp.
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