How to become a rich, despicable author

Some things, it seems, can only happen in real life.

In 1994 OJ Simpson was arrested after a low-speed chase (how's that for a turn of phrase). He was charged with the murder of his ex-wife and her boyfriend. Then he was acquitted. Then he was found liable for wrongful death, which means he probably killed the boyfriend but they couldn't prove it beyond doubt.

But here's the kicker. He tried to release a book about how, if he were the real culprit, he would have killed his wife. We're talking about him describing how to murder his wife and the mother of 2 of his children.

What's scary about this is that he found a publisher who was willing to pay him $3.5 million to write the book. Which means they expected a few million people would want to buy the book. Worse, they were right. The book made it to the top 20 of the Amazon bestseller list based on pre-orders alone. Still worse, Fox made a TV show about it. Thankfully, as of this writing they shelved it under public pressure.

What, if any, is the moral of this story? There are potentially several:
1. If you are famous, you can make money out of anything that you do. But we already knew that thanks to Paris Hilton and Jack Osborne.
2. Fox is a blight on the airwaves. But we already knew that thanks to Fox News.
3. Once the TV camera turns on to you, you're either going to be a perpetrator or you'll end up as a victim. But we already knew that thanks to "Survivor".

But I think the primary moral in this tale of mercenary amorality is this: avoid the news, stick to the cartoons.

I like to think of myself as am upbeat person but stuff like this reminds me that there is some serious ugliness in the world. And the only sane response is to pretend it doesn't exist.