White, rich and male is ultimate get-out-of-jail card
The ludicrous, laughable "extension" of the original sentence of 5 years (of which he only served a year before leaving for luxurious house arrest), could turn into a mere 52 weeks more of incarceration - despite his conviction being upgraded to murder and despite the fact that murder is supposed to come with a 15-year sentence in SA.
He would have gotten more time if he had stopped to steal his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's phone before he killed her. Or at least he would have, if he had been black and poor and a nobody. There's a distinct possibility that he may only actually serve one year of this sentence before returning to his comfortable house arrest.
He believes his public needs him. In a ludicrous TV interview before his sentencing, OP said piously: I would like to believe that if Reeva could look down upon me that she would want me to live that life. ********. If Reeva is looking down on him, she's more likely to be thinking, "Why did you have to kill me, you murdering *advertiser censored*!"
This is a tale of privilege. Not just of white privilege, but of celebrity privilege, male privilege, the privilege of wealth and position and stardom. And it stinks.
The primary concern of Masipa was for OP and his suffering. "The life of the accused will never be the same," she said. Unlike Reeva who has no life.
"He is a fallen hero who has lost his career and been ruined financially," she said. Unlike Reeva's family who have lost a daughter and sister and are ruined in every way imaginable.
Masipa said, "He cannot be at peace".
You'd almost wish that there was an afterlife from which Reeva could return to haunt her killer. Because this didn't come out of the blue. Despite the crocodile tears, the woe-is-me, the nauseating self-pity, the attention-seeking vomiting, the pseudo remorse, Oscar Pistorius was well-known for his temper, for his love of guns, for his recklessness, for his belief that the rules didn't apply to him. This was also a man who had a history of violent abuse.
Despite all the evidence showing that he was a deluded, jealous, angry, selfish, misogynistic, lying, paranoid, spoilt and violent young man, Masipa chose not to believe what the rest of us concluded - that there had been a fight that night between OP and Reeva and that he knew damn well who was behind that door when he fired those four shots.
Just imagine if an ordinary black man, or even a white woman, behaved as OP did. If we heard in court that they were jealous, unstable, violent, addicted to guns, prone to abusing their partners. And if we saw them being evasive, hysterical, making contradictory statements - which only the kindest of us would not call blatant self-serving lies - would we find excuses for their crime? Would we give them the benefit of the doubt even if we found them to be a "poor and contradictory witness" as Masipa did? Of course we wouldn't!
If it was an unknown black man, there would be little surprise or interest, just a mandatory life sentence. If it was a woman there would be salacious condemnation of her character, much debate and discussion about women who kill and
a mandatory life sentence.
So, while race matters, celebrity, privilege and gender matter more. It may be a white man's world, but if you're wealthy and famous enough, then it can be your world too.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/c...e-is-ultimate-getoutofjail-card-34870670.html