Nancy Grace and Casey Anthony

My grandmother (whom I affectionately refer to as Nana) loves Nancy Grace. She watches HLN every night and devours everything Grace has to say. And as much as I love my Nana, I can't help but disapprove of her HLN addiction. To me, Grace has always been a horrible excuse for a human being. She's a bully, a narcissist and a war hawk for the justice system. While many of her supporters may love her for these very same reasons, I can't help but hold contempt for her.

Unholy beast.

For the most part, Grace was nothing more than a sideshow. On the fringe of cable news television, HLN (formerly Headline News) always grasped straws at what news was. Numerous times, when discussing the channel, I've referred to it as the "Lost White-Girl Network". Every human interest story and new "it" suburban tragedy finds itself done to death on the network and, specifically, on Grace's program. If CNN is the Time Magazine of cable news, than HLN is the People Magazine.

On the off chance I ever need to depend on People for future job prospects,
I apologize now for harsh words.

Grace spewed her hatred on a cable news channel watched mostly by bored housewives. And that's where she belonged, in her own corner away from any real journalism (I'll reserve the debate on the necessity for 24-hour cable news for another day). Now and then Grace takes up a special cause to rally around and, in her own passion for the topic, kills it into the ground. She falsely called for the heads of Duke lacrosse players and even got told off by Elizabeth Smart, one of her previous pet projects. But my worst fears have been realized as of late. In the circus that was the Casey Anthony trial, Grace found a perfect podium for her rhetoric. And the ratings have never been better.

R.I.P. Caylee

Grace actually has people listening to her now. Not just her usual devoted followers (my Nana included), but now a whole nation was watching her. If O.J. Simpson was the trial of the century than this was the trial of the new millennium. And unlike during O.J.'s reign, information is now instant and over-saturated. I remember when Caylee first went missing. I was actually in Orlando around the time it happened, on a family vacation. I remembered seeing the billboards and feeling sorry for the family. Three years later, the case has finally erupted into the storm it was destined to be.

One family's tragedy, another family's dinner table conversation.

Now, I'm not here to judge Casey Anthony's guilt. Everyone else in the world has done that enough. I'm just taken aback by the reaction. The case definitely deserves media attention, with its unusualness, heartbreak and the fact that the Anthony family has put themselves in the spotlight (aforementioned billboards). While she was found acquitted (remember, it's not like she was found innocent), a nation calls for her blood. And at the front of that charge is Grace, in all her blonde-bobbed glory.

I mentioned my use of memes in gauging news before.

Nancy Grace is not a mad prophet of the airwaves. She's not a leader in the cause of justice. She's just a crazy women with a hard on for missing white women. She's overzealously thrown herself into any case with a whiff of media attention, and now one of those piles of crap have finally paid off for her. It remains to be seen how she keeps up the momentum of her new-found credibility, (I imagine six-months worth of Casey Anthony trial reactions) but she will milk this for as much as it's worth. Not because of justice but because now she has people watching her rants and belittling interview style. Casey Anthony was definitely not innocent but her guilt is still unclear enough to be debatable. Grace is neither judge, jury or executioner. She's just a lady with a big mouth.

Grace talking about the Duke Lacrosse case, for which they were falsely accused.