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My thoughts on the great "Hating Judge Masipa" movement.
I began as a casual onlooker when it came to the case of Oscar Pistorius. And to call it the “Oscar Pistorius” case is not to forget Reeva, regardless of anyone’s belief about what the exact circumstances of Reeva’s death were, one fact is not disputed, Reeva died at the hands of South Africa’s national hero, “The Bladerunner.” Pistorius has never disputed this. What has been disputed is the specific circumstances of how Reeva’s death came about.
A well respected judge, Judge Masipa has rendered a verdict about the largest “circumstance” that lead to Reeva’s death, Masipa has ruled that Pistorius did not with premeditation murder Reeva Steemkamp, Masipa has also ruled that Oscar did not murder Reeva, instead Judge Masipa found Oscar Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide. This ruling did not sit well with those who believe that they know the facts, the law, Oscar, Reeva, the after affects of apartheid, and whole lot of other things better and more fully than Judge Masipa and her two assessors.
We have no rational reason to believe that the evidence of the case of Oscar Pistorius was not meticulously and thoroughly dissected by Judge Masipa and her two assessors. Her history of sound judgements speak for themselves. A unanimous agreement was reached as to the finding of facts, it is upon those finding of facts that Judge Masipa made her application of law. Masipa found that Oscar’s version of the morning of Reeva’s death was reasonably possibly true and she ruled accordingly. Masipa said that the court found that the verifiable evidence supported Oscar’s story and invalidated the prosecutions allegations.
Judge Masipa was just doing her job, she was attentive and engaged during the trial as were her assessors. She clearly stated her finding of facts, her reasoning and her duty to the legal process not to speculate and her lawful duty to rely on the evidence which the prosecutor brought against Pistorius. She specifically spoke about the danger of speculation. She specifically said and gave examples of how the prosecution did not prove it’s case.
Her verdict in relation to the charge of premeditated murder was not guilty, as was her verdict on murder, she found Oscar guilty of the very serious crime of culpable homicide which can carry a 15 year sentence.
Masipa has ruled. And in so ruling she has become a safe person for enraged internet posters to hate and malign . The hate that I have read directed at Masipa is so bone chilling, so deeply held and zealous I can only compare it to a fundamentalist religion that damns any and all who do share the same exact blind faith as it’s followers. It is a hatred that seems to go to the core of many posters. The collective denouncement of Judge Masipa is unceasing in it’s refusal to even entertain the idea that perhaps Judge Masipa “got it right.”
There are those posters who claim that their singular and collective judicial wisdom is greater than that of Judge Masipa and her assessors. There are poster’s who find fault with Judge Masipa’s finding of fact and application of law and who are arrogant and ignorant enough to feel it is their moral duty to school Judge Masipa (on internet chat boards, twitter, Facebook, and the comments section of articles, none the less) in matters of the law. To what end the attacks on her character are made I do not know, unless it is a misguided belief that an assault on Masipa’s character somehow inversely gives credence to their spurious accusations.
All of this is done of course from behind a computer and any attempt to bring a little perspective to Judge Masipa’s decision is derided so there is no intellectual conversation or debate, most posts, comments and blogs seem to be a simple hate fest. They are incised so therefore they must be right.
There also seems to be a perpetual group acknowledgment of “their” rightness and Masipa’s “wrongness” what a load of, irreconcilable to the evidence, nonsense. Collective consensus, confirmation bias, preconceived notions, a single point from which to view and outrage are never a good replacement for intellectual pursuance of fact finding.
The poster’s histrionics might be fodder for a good laugh but the rage expressed by this mindless self righteous indignant is the one of the most dangerous kinds of rage, because it is hatred and prejudice veiled as advocacy, it is a speculative rage that defines it’s own truths and prejudices at it’s very foundation, it is certainty to the point of blind madness. And all this rage directed at a long respected judge is justified under the guise of advocacy.
As Patrick Jane of the Mentalist said “Certainty is the mother of fools.”
This “certainty” has caused people to accuse Judge Masipa of many appalling things including being ignorant of the law, being promoted to her judgeship because she is a black woman rather than because of her capabilities, incompetence, corruption, she has been called terrible names, in fact it seems racism and misogyny have played a large part in the criticism against Judge Masipa, she has been accused of being in the pocket of Arnold Pistorius, infatuated with Oscar, of having dementia, being senile, being a puppet of both the “Pistorius Clan” and or her assessors. On and on the libelous accusations go.
It seems that some on the internet simply can not set their emotions aside and view this verdict on it’s facts rather than their preconceived ideas which were set in stone long before Oscar sat wailing in a courtroom (another “certainty” many of the internet “experts” promote is that Oscar’s emotions were disingenuous or solely for himself.)
Unfortunately many people seem to be trying to make the facts fit their preconceived notions rather than bending their theories to fit the evidence. I think one would be hard pressed to find one of Judge Masipa’s more vitriol detractors who has the fundamental knowledge that this case is not and never has been a domestic violence case.
Lost in all the chaos of the fury directed at Judge Masipa is that it is Reeev’a last moments of life which are in question, and it is the truth of those moments, that is so important to her family and loved ones. The internet posters who insist that Oscar became a mad man and chased Reeva through his house, cornered her in a locked bathroom and maliciously murdered her, in spite of con tray evidence, do no service to Reeva, they do not honor domestic violence survivors or victims, they are not fighting to bring closure to Reeva’s family. They are in my opinion fighting their own demons and they are transferring their personal bias to a case in which a terrible and negligent error of judgement was made, so terrible it lead to the horrid and tragic death of Reeva. Advocate and ignorant instigator should not be interchangeable terms.
I believe Reeva died in terror, but not in terror of Oscar Pisroius, in terror that Oscar was shouting about a real intruder in the house, I am sure she did not realize that he mistook her for an intruder, it may be a bitter consolation but if Judge Masipa is right, if the evidence is to believed, and I think she was and it is, at least Reeva did not die terrified of the man she loved but rather she died thinking that he was trying to protect her as she hid silently in a cubical hoping that she would not be discovered by the “intruder.”
It is a horrific tragedy and those internet posters who in spite of the verdict and the evidence continuously malign, and libel Judge Masipa should hang their heads in shame. And perhaps realize that their opinion, their certainty, is not the be all and end all of this case, the be all and end all of this case is the horrid tragic death of Reeva and they would do well to honor her by letting the law take it’s course rather than demanding their “infallible" judgement reign supreme.
For the rational person, the respecter of the law, the mob like mentality that has overtaken these twitterers, bloggers, advocators, armchair detectives, and casual commentators does not need be feared because individuals do not understand Judge Masipa’s ruling and they are expressing their anger about it, they need to be feared for their refusal to unhinge their prejudicial view and look at the facts of the Oscar Pistorius case. This is not seeking justice, this is seeking an agenda.
When a poster or many posters talk about the “evil, soulless eyes” of Mr. Pistorius and how they know that he is an evil vile man and they know that Judge Masipa’s ruling was bought and paid for and not decided on the facts and the law, they are entering dangerous and libelous waters.
In the apt words of Voltaire “Prejudices are what fools use for reason.”
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If your mind is agitated you will find agitation everywhere. Where else will you find peace if not within you? __ Papaji
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Do not go gentle into that good night.
and I see I should have proof read a little better but 
