By Sean Sullivan Lagniappe columnist

Well if the horsemen of the apocalypse aren’t enroute, they’re damn sure gathering the horses and putting saddles on them. Yes, just in time to spread a big dollop of holiday cheer, the FOX network will be airing a television special to help promote O.J. Simpson’s new book “If I Did It.”

To hell with showing “Miracle on 34th Street” when you can bring this kind of programming to your viewers. The special airs two nights next week the 27th and 28th leading up to the Nov. 30 release of the book, I’m sure timed to give shoppers plenty of time to snap up this picture-perfect Christmas gift for that special loved one. What could bring the true warmth of the season into a home on Jesus’ birthday better than a book by a man who, at least in the judgment of a civil court, murdered two people?

Now that I have lashed out at the media source of this abomination I can get on to the group I’m really mad at, and that is the American consumer. The publisher wouldn’t have given OJ $3.5 million to pen this book if they had felt like the public wouldn’t drink it up like beers at a high school sorority keg party. I am sure ReganBooks, under the umbrella of Harper Collins Publishers, figures its $3.5 million investment will come home to roost ten fold.

Why? Because we love this stuff. The voyeuristic pajama party that is the American psyche salivates for the torrid lives of infamous celebrities. The difference this time is the person profiting from the crime is also the person that committed it. I hope at least there is a foreword by Cato Katelin.

O.J. will profit from this book by hook or by crook. The idea that the Browns or the Goldmans will receive a dime of money from the book deal is about as believable as the “glove” defense. The “Juice” has managed to not pay the $33.5 million judgment already levied against him in the civil case for the last 10 years, so to think a royalty check will show up at the homes of the bereaved is unbelievable. With some savvy attorney-ing the Rent-A-Car man will keep the three-and-half-million in folding money and continue looking for the “real killers” on all the finest golf courses in the nation.

To clarify, this book isn’t just some autobiography O.J has written. Previews show that in a portion of the book Simpson goes through the scenario he would have used if he was the “real” murderer, that doesn’t seem like a fitting defense for a man claiming his innocence: “Of course I didn’t kill my wife and Ron, but if I would have here is the exact way I would have done it.” These are the actions of a man so confident in the protection from double jeopardy he is thumbing his nose at the families and the judiciary.

I think the only benefit of this whole sad situation is it will push some Americans into discussing the issue and setting moral boundaries for our selves and families. I don’t believe in dictating others’ morality, maybe lampooning the lack of it but not dictating it, but I do have enough confidence in many of my fellow citizens that when they actively think about the issue they will refuse to watch the program or buy the book.

Until we as consumers of products and media do that, there will be people who see a market in our voyeurism and callousness and will provide product to feed it.

Sean Sullivan is Lagniappe lagniappe columnist. Contact him at ssullivan@lagniappemobile.com.

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