What annoys me about the Netflix series “Menendez Brothers”.

Apparently we’ve reached a point in the continuing decline of the American empire where all a Netflix showrunner has to do is make a factually dubious drama about the crime that got them re-convicted of two criminals. A group of randos are said to have launched an online petition sign, and a reality TV star who became famous for a sex tape is expected to champion the cause. Add to that a fierce, progressive district attorney in a tough re-election campaign (George Gascón of LA County) and Erik and Lyle Menendez, sentenced to prison in 1996 for shooting their parents, are soon free.

Provided that a judge agrees to the prosecution’s request for a resentencing. If that’s the case, then a Netflix series, makeup-selling influencers, and the hive mind of the Internet could have done what defense lawyers couldn’t.

Given that the Menendez brothers’ story takes place in the communist Republic of California, I can’t say I’m completely surprised. Importantly, I am not expressing an opinion one way or another about the merits of a possible resentencing of the brothers, whose prospects received a boost after the film’s final episode Monster Anthology on Netflix (from a creator who strikes me as a bit of a sociopath). I’m more interested in the motivation behind why this is all being done. After all, it is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reason.

Call me crazy, but I think we should prefer a legal system that doesn’t swing one way or the other depending on the madness of the masses. Because the more random busybodies and online mobs get involved in this or that legal case and the system actually reacts to all of this, the greater the risk that the structure of the whole thing will be destroyed. In other words, the perception of fairness is just as important as actual fairness (blindfolded Justice and so on). By the way, that’s not just my opinion; Read this comment published in The Huffington PostOf all things, about the risks that come with giving pop culture a say in the legal system.

Gascón can insist all he wants that he has been working on the Menendez case for about a year. If you believe that, then it’s simply a coincidence that in the heat of an election he could lose, and after a sensational Netflix drama about the case that went to No. 1 worldwide and galvanized supporters of the Menendez brothers, he chose that moment to call a press conference and announce his support for potentially giving the brothers two get-out-of-jail-free tickets. They don’t call it the court of public opinion for nothing.