The brutal killing of adorable Caylee Anthony and the subsequent acquittal of her mother, Casey, has evoked nearly every kind of emotion one could imagine. It is as though a river of anger, confusion, and disbelief has engulfed the nation. Sadly, this is the same country in which the vast majority of its citizens silently and apathetically live life as usual even though thousands of innocent children not yet born go to their own gruesome and incredibly evil deaths daily.
What is it about the Anthony case that has engulfed America in sorrow and indignation? The only conclusion possible is the inordinate amount of news coverage this case received from the outset—it was a media circus that grabbed headlines and evoked commentary and daily reporting. Yet, in the final analysis, it seems that little Caylee did not receive justice.
As Mark Pickup opined regarding what happened in that courtroom, “Three years later a hand-picked Pinellas County jury acquitted Casey of murder after her defense lawyers went to unreasonable lengths to raise reasonable doubt. They recklessly destroyed or tarnished the characters and reputations of many people whether they were connected with Casey or not. They even trashed the meter man!”
One can see that, at least in Mark’s view, the defense team was tireless in its strategy and persistent in its claims—even to the point of smearing others, including members of Casey’s immediate family. Though rarely observed with the intensity of this trial, such tactics have become commonplace in courtrooms across this nation.
The entire nation watched, discussed, argued, and ultimately became enraged when the verdict did not concur with public opinion. One has to wonder if it is really healthy for a nation to become a cadre of voyeurs hoping that justice will be served out of respect for the memory of this three-year-old child.
Yes, the evil perpetrated against Caylee Anthony was egregious, but is it really any worse than those practices that result in the deaths of individual preborn children? We can continue to ignore the facts about abortion, but we cannot overlook the horrors discovered in a plastic garbage bag tossed aside a few doors down from Caylee’s grandparents’ home. Americans could see this child, hear her sweet voice, and witness the statements of various family members on the nightly news. Because of this, Caylee became a cause célèbre for our national desire to express our collective agony, anger, and angst.
This may sound callous to those people who do not equate a preborn baby—zygote, embryo, and fetus—with someone as adorable as a three-year-old child. Voila—we see the problem as it really is. Though the media does not provide the platform for the honest discussion of the humanity of the preborn and the tragedy of every abortion, the truth is that there is no difference between the preborn child and the little girl who lost her life at the age of three due to the violent acts of others.
There is, however, a crisis in awareness, recognition, and honesty.
It is my firm conviction that what happened to Caylee, regardless of the fractured jury, the indignant judge, and the flawed tactics of the prosecution, is a direct result of what happens every day in abortion chambers across this land. We have become a land occupied by far too many citizens in denial.
It is convenient to mourn Caylee’s death, yet it is simply unrealistic to mourn the deaths of preborn children. America has denied that abortion is an abominable act of killing. In an effort to continue the charade, America turned her collective attention elsewhere in order to express a sadness that, while very much deserved in Caylee’s case, ought to be expressed at least 4,000 times a day, every day of the year.
