The death of San Francisco native Orenthal “OJ” Simpson to cancer this week has the country grappling with how to define a man who was both loved and reviled in his lifetime. But his trial and acquittal for murder may have also been one of the most divisive times of the 20th century and the beginning of what some are calling a “post-truth” society.
Simpson was raised in the housing projects of Potrero Hill. He then rose to prominence for his football skills playing for City College of San Francisco. From there he won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 for University of Southern California, then went pro, playing for several teams but ending his career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979.
Simpson’s last post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, was a video from Las Vegas, where he was in town for the Super Bowl between the Niners and the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Thank you to the people who’ve reached out to me,” he said. “My health is good. I mean obviously there are some issues, but hey I think I’m just about over it and I’ll be back on that golf course hopefully in a couple of weeks.”
Simpson succumbed to prostate cancer at the age of 76 on Wednesday, according to his family.
Following his football career, the handsome, affable and the quintessential “All American” Simpson parlayed his sports fame into movie roles, cameos and being a spokesperson for Chevrolet, Tree Sweet orange juice, and Hertz rental cars.
Unraveling the ‘trial of the century’
Indeed, the sun never set on his empire until June 12, 1994, when his then-wife Nicole Brown Simpson was found brutally murdered along with her friend, Ron Goldman. Simpson was arrested on suspicion of the stabbings, but only after a now-infamous white Ford Bronco chase.
Then came the “trial of the century.” Simpson was acquitted of the murders but found liable in civil court. But his trial may be the first time that Americans experienced what has now been dubbed “post-truth,” which is defined as circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.
Put simply, at the time of his trial, a large percentage of American white people believed he was guilty, while a large percent of Black Americans believed he was innocent. What people saw unraveling in the courtroom was in the eye of the beholder.
Nolan Higdon is a professor of history and communication at California State University, East Bay and has written books about the post-truth society, which seems to have snowballed following the COVID-19 pandemic and then met with the consequences of the “Big Lie” that former President Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election.
Higdon said that the Simpson trial was in many ways a Rorschach test for the country, with different people seeing different things in it depending on their background.
What people saw unraveling in the courtroom was in the eye of the beholder.
“One read could simply be, ‘Here’s another wealthy individual who has the money to beat a murder trial,’” said Higdon. “Looking at it less of a class lens, and more of a race lens, ‘Here’s another case of where white America has fixed the judicial system against a famous Black man.’ Looking at it through a gendered lens, ‘Here’s a man who, you know, beats the [rap] after a history of physical and verbal abuse, and even the murder of his wife.’”
Higdon said that the trial emerged just after the Rodney King beating from police officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, but also after the “I believe you Anita Hill” moment for American women after she testified about then-U.S. Supreme Court justice candidate Clarence Thomas.
In some ways, all of these things, including the Simpson trial, played off of people’s distrust in institutions — a distrust that was rooted in real truths, Higdon said.
“Often times skepticism of these big institutions and believing in things that point to corruption in these institutions is usually rooted in some small amount of truth that is amplified to absurdity,” said Higdon.
Using fear of vaccines as an example, which were scientifically proven to prevent serious disease in most people during the COVID-19 pandemic, Higdon said that there’s plenty of information and data out there that clearly shows that big pharmaceutical companies put profit over people.
“Now, does that mean that vaccines are some Bill Gates conspiracy to put 5G in us? No, that’s totally absurd,” he said. “But you can’t deny that corruption and the big institutions like Big Pharma play critical role in convincing audiences to be skeptical to the point of absurdity.”
But will we ever get past post-truth, into post-post-truth?
Often times skepticism of these big institutions and believing in things that point to corruption in these institutions is usually rooted in some small amount of truth that is amplified to absurdity.
Nolan Higdon, Professor at California State University, East Bay
More recent polls of Black and white Americans about the guilt or innocence of Simpson have shown a marked change, with a majority of Blacks now believing he was guilty of murder and an even greater majority of whites believing so than at the time of the trial.
As for Higdon, false information and its interpretation is as old as recorded history and isn’t going to go away anytime soon.
“The idea that we’ll ever get rid of false information is just impossible, it’s never going to happen,” he said. “The best thing we can do is learn how to manage it. Try to teach people how to spot it, try to teach people how to resist the urge to react and instead investigate. Those are more substantive steps where we can actually make a difference.”
