That O.J. Simpson book: Why an "If I Did It" chapter?

Bluegill

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Bluegill
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Oct 17, 2002
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I apologize right off the bat for everyone who reads this and is sick to death of the story. But, hey, I put the name in the thread title, so you were warned.

I’ll post this question here since here is where books are discussed, although this isn’t literature.

Ever since O.J. first tried to publish that “If I Did It” book, and I read a brief description of it, I’ve wondered why the book would be written the way it was.

OK: I know, the point was to make money. And now the book rights are owned by the Goldmans, and they have sort of turned it around and are making money from it themselves.

My basic question, though, is why would O.J. write a book that contained a chapter that would hypothetically describe how he would have committed the crime he says he did not commit? I cannot fathom it at all.

If he is innocent and wants people to believe he is innocent, then such a chapter would be unfathomably stupid.

If he is guilty and wants people to believe he is innocent, then such a chapter would be unfathomably stupid.*

Yet, there it is. Somehow, it seems to go beyond stupid to simply unfathomable. Can anyone rationalize such behaviors?

*As I typed this I realized for the first time that maybe he actually wants people to know his guilt, but I still can’t fathom that.
 
Maybe it is to show that he would have done it differently some way, and that is meant to show he didnt do it. Stupid stunt, and it doesnt change the fact that he did it.

ETA: according to the article his description lines up well with the evidence, so then my speculation above doesnt float.
 
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I was apalled when it was announced he would be selling this book, and was glad when it was denied publishing. However, now that the money is going to the Goldman's I'm considering getting it.

Later. On eBay. Cheap.
 
Seems he is indeed "unfathomingly stupid" or tried to cash in on his notoriety - til the decision to give profits to victims. Funny how he didn't seem to feel that was appropriate with ANY profit made from the case.

Seems he has a few other things to worry about as well.

Ex-American football star OJ Simpson has been arrested by Las Vegas police investigating an alleged armed robbery at a casino hotel room.


...police spokesman said Mr Simpson could face charges including robbery with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery
Click to expand...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6997950.stm
 
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The need to confess and the need to boast are often intertwined. Guilt can have a large component of ego to it.
 
He used most of his money in his defense and lost the rest in the civil case. When he was acquitted, there appeared (at least in my area) to be a majority agreement that he got away with murder, a view which was shored up by the civil case. He is generally despised and probably unemployable. He has nothing to lose.
 
Bluegill said:
If he is guilty and wants people to believe he is innocent, then such a chapter would be unfathomably stupid.*

Yet, there it is. Somehow, it seems to go beyond stupid to simply unfathomable. Can anyone rationalize such behaviors?
Click to expand...

You missed wants people to believe he is innocent but has accepted that isn't going to happen.
 
By the way, does anyone know how blacks vs whites re his innocence number up today?
 
I agree with Cainkane1 and Gurdur, having found himself beyond the reach of criminal culpability, he now wants to brag about how clever he was. The amount of evidence he left demonstrates to anyone who's bothered to look that he was far from clever, but I guess getting away with it probably inflated his self image in that regard.
 
I once heard a police officer say something like this.

"Most 'unsolved' cases aren't really unsolved. We know who did it, but there is just not enough evidence to prove it."
 
You know why? Cause cashing in on the public fascination with him and his notoriety is the only venue to make money left to him...and the only venue left to him to do that is to write a book.

He can't demand big bucks to appear in interviews. His football career was over decades before the murder and his acting career was over because of the murder. He sure as hell can't do Nike commercials any longer.

The only in any way usable asset left to him, very ironically, is that he's one of the most notorious killers of the 20th century.

And he thought he'd be safe from his debt to the Goldman's by funneling the profits to his daughter. Didn't work.
 
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