what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Good times with his wife at SA awards.

Bad times at Pretoria court.

Prior to the 14 February 2013 whenever the name Oscar Pistorious was uttered what usually followed was notions of success, endurance, champion, survivor, and gold medalist. After 14 February 2013 if the same name was uttered, what usually followed was notions, disgust, and woman abuser, short tempered and murderer. How does one go from being loved by millions to being hated by even more? All this is in a very short space of time, well now you know the power of the media and its ability to sway public opinion.It is dreadful that one’s person reputation can be ruined within a second or minute. He was a leading south African runner, who won attention as an athlete with a disability competing at the high level including multiple Paralympic games.

On the 14 February 2013 Oscar Pistorious was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, by 15 February 2013 news had flooded the airwaves with sensationalist headlines such “bloody Valentine” or “Red Valentine”. Oscar was the brand ambassador of Nike and Oakley even though the brands reputation were tarnished. He was the inspiration to the disabled communities throughout the entire world, hence he inspired and prospered despite the odds and gave those young kids strength to achieve their goals. His brands started cut ties hence he raised awareness and increased sales. I don’t blame these brands for doing refraining it’s not like Oscar did not benefit financially and socially yet they did not want to be dragged down the drain by the negative comments from media.

His trial began with a media excitements being the first televised South African court case, he is ‘not guilty plea’ but force people to believe his infamous and wealth would acquit him of his crimes. It was started that one of the reason for this televised court case was to increase public assurance of the legitimacy of South African justice system. The truth is we all make mistakes never mind circumstances we face or overcome but the actions that we make at the end they affect us positive and negative yet we all know that not all mistakes can be erased but they can be forgotten.