Bullying Oscar when he is down

WHAT a wonderful display of writing by an obviously highly skilled and knowledgeable journalist in “The special fury reserved for yesterday’s hero” (April 13). Sue de Groot’s references to “our” admiration for the gods of yesteryear as well as the more recent sporting heroes were professionally articulated to illustrate her point pertaining to our failings in the way we view and perceive the conduct of such gods and heroes. These references, of course, were presented in the context of the world of Oscar Pistorius, an athlete and hero once greatly admired, who will now not be forgiven for his weaknesses.

De Groot refers to “we humans” as savage beings and suggests that perhaps we invented vicious acts for the gods to commit so that we could, by contrast, feel virtuous.

The prosecutor in the Pistorius case, Gerrie Nel, has, with the full permission of the court, transformed a tragic set of circumstances into an international circus by showing visuals of exploding water melons, goading a weakened and devastated accused and grandstanding by shouting “Take responsibility”.

Nel is the newly acclaimed hero. We rejoice at his every word, considered sheer brilliance as, from a position of absolute power, strength and health and before an international TV audience, he attempts to kick and mock a man who was on his knees even before the trial began.

Every South African citizen has the right to a fair trial in which both the prosecution and defence make use of their intellect and skill to interrogate the accused and witnesses in search of the truth. I find the drama, intimidation and bullying tactics manipulatively employed by the prosecution to confuse and intimidate nothing less than a disgrace. — Harold Rosen, by e-mail