Voyeurs R Us

Despite living in rural Maine and having few diversions, I have never been sucked into the lives of people who murder and rape and otherwise engage in depravity. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but it seems to have quite a lot. But with so many things happening around the world each day, it's tough to keep up; some stories just slip by. One of those for me is the current Most Popular Crime involving Jodi Arias, a young woman who claims she is innocent and that she killed her boyfriend in self-defense. I repeat: I know nothing, but what I've heard suggests that's insane, since the poor guy was stabbed multiple times, had his throat slit, and was also shot in the head, and Jodi, who looks somewhat like a drowned rat and certainly is no stranger to anorexia, was the only one around. I say off with her head, and as soon as possible, but then I am not on the jury which is still out deliberating.

To be honest, I don't care about Jodi. But I do care about the fact that a crowd has gathered around the courthouse, and that tickets are going for $200 for the privilege of being right there when the verdict comes through. Jodi is a media star, just like that Anthony woman who murdered her child last year, or three years ago, or didn't murder her child, you know the one. And Amanda Knox, the American student living in Italy who did or did not kill her roommate several years ago, and went to jail but now she's out and just wrote a book about the whole sordid affair.

You just gotta wonder: What's missing from our own lives that allows us to become so fixated on others? And such bad ones to boot.