Typically, the father of a murder victim would have a hard time exhausting all the empathy I have for a person who finds themselves in such a situation, but I really I beginning to feel that Fred Goldman is a huge asshole. Releasing the “If I Did It” book is just the latest thing he has done that is utterly indefensible. Yes, they changed the title, and added a few chapters, but this whole entire ordeal really creeps me out, and proves he’s perfectly willing to turn his son’s death into a career move. It’s disrespectful to his son, and most importantly, to Nicole Brown’s family (including OJ’s kids).
Thankfully, most will never have to go through the loss of a loved one under such public scrutiny, but I would imagine that most would choose to handle themselves in a more dignified and rational way. Especially since the recent decision to publish the book was in stark contrast to his initial opinion when the news broke that the book existed.
Despite their claims that they had to publish the book, I think you have to a cruel person to do so over the objections of the other victims of the crime. To be willing to hurt them in order to prove that OJ is not untouchable is misguided and foolish. Or as further proof of their motives:
I feel really sad for them that they think the justice they received from the civil was trial was in the from of a 33 million dollar award, and not the declaration of liability (ie. guilt). I won’t begrudge anybody to pursue what is owed to them, but to conflate money with justice, and to pursue said justice without regard to the well being of the other victims involved is unconscionable. I would hope that most sane people would realize Ron Goldman’s live was worth more than that.
I agree with almost all you have said. Many of us have lost loved ones prematurely. I think Ron Goldman’s heart is in the right place, but his vengeance will kill him early.
He needs to continue with the grieving process and move on.
Since the book had been leaked anyway, I’m not sure publishing it is really that terrible, so long as the murderer doesn’t benefit from his crimes; at least the victims’ families come out on top.
BTW, I reported the thread for you to be moved to the pit; I don’t think “Fred Goldman is an asshole” is a great proposal for a GD debate.
I read an article about Fred Goldman the other day, and I have to disagree. First of all, I can’t even comprehend the amount of frustration and rage you would feel if your son was murdered, you knew who murdered him, and you watched this man get away with it while the whole world watched. O.J. hasn’t suffered a single bit for the crime he committed, because the criminal justice system failed Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown, they will never get justice for the terrible crime visited upon them because of stupid jurors as well as an inept prosecution.
O.J. Simpson has repeatedly said that he will never pay any of the damages from the civil verdict, and since that verdict came down I believe he has paid something like $10,000 of the $33m he owes to the families of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
Vengeance may be ethically questionable, but emotionally I do not think anyone can deny how strong a desire to avenge a murdered child could be. Fred Goldman does not strike me as money grubbing whatsoever. He is in extremely deep debt, and continues to go deeper into debt, because of his endless crusade to destroy O.J. He said any money his family gets from the book will go to pay down debts, and that there is little chance the book will generate enough money to cover all of his debts, let alone make him a wealthy man.
Pretty much the only way Goldman can “beat” O.J. is by hurting his pocketbook, because O.J. was acquitted in a criminal court and ostensibly Goldman is unwilling to outright murder O.J. or hire someone to do so. I think what he did with this book is extremely fitting when you consider what Goldman’s motivations are. His motivations are simply to hurt O.J. Simpson’s reputation and to make sure it is never redeemed. The changes he made to the book are significant because it essentially reframes the book as an outright confession and makes O.J. look worse than the original form of the book did.
I don’t really buy the argument that publishing the book “hurts the families” of the victims. These families have had to endure being part of the most infamous murder case in the last 30 years, a book is small potatoes compared to the non-stop, around the clock news coverage that Simpson got during the trial and to a lesser degree the large amount of attention he gets to this day.
If they don’t want to be exposed to the book, they just have to refrain from reading it.
I guess I would give him the benefit of the doubt. He lost a son and the person who did it is out playing golf everyday. I am sure he is and has suffered incredible pain. It might be better for him to let go of some of this, but that is alot easier said then done. What would you do if one of your loved ones was killed? As far as the book, I don’t know for sure but I would not be surprised if he has alot of legal bills from the lawsuits. He should not have to go into debt while OJ sits on his ass playing golf, getting a $200,000 pension, and robbing people at gunpoint.
I can’t imagine what Fred Goldman went through. I can’t fault the guy for wanting to get out of debt brought on by the murder of his child. I only hope the Nevada State Prison golf team gets a famous addition soon.
If you believe OJ did it (IF?) then remember: Goldman was killed simply for showing up at the wrong time. The only motivation for his senseless murder was that he was a witness to the crime. OJ’s killing of Nicole was a crime of passion, which is easier to understand than a senseless killing.
I’m not saying that Goldman’s murder was worse than Nicole’s. They were both victims of a crazed killer. But the circumstances of his murder were more than I could have borne. If he had been my son, I would have shot OJ and probably gotten away with it on grounds of “temporary insanity.”
Fred just seems waaaaay to obsessed with OJ. OJ seems to have ‘won’ in some respectes because Fred’s life is all about the Juice now. Is Fred really all about vengence now? Is there really any ‘truth’ to fight? Can he ever really get any more justice? Will he ever be able to move on with life?
And his mustache is creepy.
I might be a trifle obsessed, too, if someone murdered my son and got away with it.
I’d a thousand times rather the Goldmans got the $$$ from OJ’s book than that murdering scum OJ. OJ has refused to pay the damages awarded by the courts from his NFL pension. If there were any justice, every penny of the pension would go to the Goldmans and OJ would be starving in the street.
Actually, if there were any justice, OJ would long since have been executed for the double murder he committed, so no pension anyway. But since the Goldmans only filed the civil suit because OJ got away with it, presumably it would make no difference anyway.
I don’t think they want the money so much as they don’t want OJ to have it. He doesn’t deserve to profit from his crimes.
I think that this is exactly right. The publication of the book (did you see the cover, by the way? Priceless.) is a way to gain the restitution that the courts told him he was entitled to but were unable to deliver, at the same time sticking it to OJ the best way he can- getting fat on checks that OJ would have gotten. OJ did everything he could to shield himself from the man, now he’s getting it in the shorts.
I consider it justice of the vengeful sort. Since I think that the purpose of our law system is to exact punishment, I see nothing wrong with this.
I wonder how you would feel if your child was murdered and the person that Murdered him was free to walk around every day and then even try to capitalise on your child’s death?
I can’t say for sure, but I doubt I would conduct myself in such a pathetic and mean spirited way. I certainly wouldn’t punish the other victims (and to a lesser extent, the country at large) by continually doing interviews on TV. And I certainly would not be equating money with justice. He got away with it. It sucks, but it was the right verdict even though he probably did it. Fred Goldman could be directing his vitriol toward making sure things like this don’t happen again as opposed to trying to grab crumbs from OJ with the help of high priced lawyers. I think I’d have a problem taking blood money.
I doubt that you would be any different than Mr. Goldman had you known your son is not around and no amount of money can bring him back. Mr Goldman knows that Justice is out of the question, and OJ is not paying what was due to Mr Goldman. He just wants to be sure that OJ does not make money on his son’s and OJ’s wife’s death. There is no way for Mr Goldman to stop such things from happening again. The best way to show the injustice is to do as he is doing. Reminding people that OJ got away with murder.
Ah yes, Since we all forgot OJ got a way with murder :dubious: . Bottom line is that he decided pursuing the money owed to him was more important than the other victims in the case. OJ already got his money. The book was already shelved. The only thing that could be gained is money.
Well, going to court last year to sieze the publishing rights to OJ’s book prevents OJ from profiting by the murders.
Going ahead and publishing the book, himself, does nothing but bring income to Goldman while OJ is completely out of the loop. If Goldman really did go deeply into debt to pursue the civil trial, I can see a motivation for attempting to recover some of those expenses using what OJ had hoped to use, but he has already made “sure that OJ does not make money on his son’s and OJ’s wife’s death” and publishing the book for himself does nothing to further punish OJ.
I think OJ might not be too happy when he contemplates the cover of the book to which Airman Doors linked. Goldman’s further motivation is to push as hard as he can to make it clear(er) that OJ did really do it, and all his protestations of innocence are lies. Hence the design of the book cover.
Are you talking about Fred Goldman here? Because I don’t see how Goldman demonstrated that his money was more important than Nicole Brown Simpson.
OJ killed both Nicole and Ron Goldman. Publishing this book humiliates OJ for both murders. I am not following your reasoning here.
