I am willing to bet that some guys who committed murder way back in the 19th century and didn't end up in prison probably thought they were off scott free for eternity. These days, though, that just isn't the case. With the advancements in technology and science there is no crime that cannot be solved through sheer determination and patience. They have dug up Presidents who died in the 18 and 17-hundreds to do tests to see if arsenic was used. OK, technically that was only one President but since I can't remember which one I am using the plural to cover all of them.

These days everything is recorded. Anyone who honestly thinks they can do anything even remotely outrageous at any point in their lives without being caught at some point is only fooling themselves. The rules should be pretty simple by now. If you don't want a sex tape of yourself to get leaked to the internet or the rest of the world, then don't make one. If you don't want everyone hearing your verbal tirade against your daughter, don't leave one on her voicemail. If you do something, even in a parking lot that seems secluded, just assume you are on a security camera somewhere. We live in a world where event those of us who merely wish for fame are recorded, analyzed and diagnosed by anyone who has access to an internet connection.

Still, you have to admit this does take some of the fun out of life. No longer can you be eighteen years old and record a goofy rap song in your dormitory at the University of Miami, for example. Greg Olsen, the Chicago Bears' first round draft pick, has found this out recently. There are people literally screaming for this kid's head in this city right now and declaring that the Bears have no respect for women based on a leaked recording of a rap he did when he was a freshman at the university.

Apparently Greg and several of his friends lived on the seventh floor of a dorm. They called themselves "The Seventh Floor Crew" and they goofed around one night and recorded this epic eight minute rap song. It is a long, rambling, idiotic song like much of the music in the rap world. Eight minutes?! Did they think they were the "Yes" of the rap world? At any rate, Greg's turn at the mic came and he spewed a very long bit bragging about his anatomy and talking about the things he would do to the various women with his "third leg."

Now, think about this. He was eighteen. He was a freshman in college. Remember back to when you were a freshman in college? Remember pledging to fraternities and sororities? Do you remember being away from your parents for the first time? Do you remember that feeling of truly being out there alone and performing without a net? It was exhilarating and terrifying and exciting. I am willing to bet you did a few very stupid things probably even that very first week at that college, right? Now imagine it was all taped and that as soon as you achieved any kind of success it was suddenly released to the entire world. Now imagine the media of a large American city feeling they are justified in commenting on everything you did.

Everyone is so busy bending over backwards trying to be politically correct that apparently we now expect our college freshmen to be perfect little angels who never say anything that might offend someone somewhere at any time in their lives. Any organization that then goes on to hire that person is now endorsing whatever fool behavior an eighteen-year-old may have done. There is no accounting for experience and age and that the freshman who recorded that stupid thing all those years ago may have advanced and grown up and learned a few things and is probably not the same person who stood there drunkenly rapping into a microphone.

Also, let's not forget that this was all those years ago when the whole Don Imus thing wasn't even a blip on anyone's radar. Russell Simmons would not be calling for the removal of anything hateful in rap lyrics until many years later. That would mean that just about any and every rap tune out there would be filled with exactly the same kind of hateful, misogynistic, curse-spewing stuff that Olsen is being chastised for recording. In short, if he and his buddies wanted to record a rap song that sounded remotely like the rap they were probably listening to at the time, it would have to contain exactly the kind of things they are rapping about on this recording.

None of that matters in this day and age. No matter how many years you put between yourself and your mistakes you cannot be forgiven anymore. You need to be held accountable until you die and any attempts to redeem yourself are ignored or forgotten. What sells more papers or brings in more viewers? The fact that Michael Richards was standing on stage spewing angrily at the men in the balcony or all of his attempts to redeem himself since then? He could swing out of a helicopter and rescue an entire family in Darfur single-handedly and the news would immediately be followed by the video clip and then Al Sharpton talking about how he was just doing it as a publicity stunt.

Forgiveness is a word that seems to have been forgotten. Sure, people say, we forgive, you, but only after we spend months and months punishing you and making your life a living hell. We will also be sure to brand you for all time and then make sure that whenever your name is mentioned this horrible thing you did is mentioned right along side that. We don't care if you cure cancer or save the entire planet, we will be sure to remind the world that you did wrong at least once in your life, just so we can feel better about our own lives.

The fact is that Greg Olsen was a kid then. Hell, he's still practically a kid now. When he recored that stupid rap song he was out on his own for the first time. He was hanging out with other people who were all saying the same things. Of course, only Greg Olsen ended up being drafted on national television by the Chicago Bears, so only Greg Olsen's part of the rap is being broadcast and chastised and talked about by people who feel they are so clean and so superior they somehow have the right to judge a kid at the age of eighteen.

I feel sorry for anyone who has any kind of dream of ever entering public life. There may be truly great people out there who want to run for office and who might make an actual difference in the world who will never get a chance because when they were eighteen they made a recording when they mocked Mother Theresa's head-wear or something like that. What's even worse are the people who are in possession of these recordings who feel it is somehow their duty to release this stuff to the media.

I mean, which of Greg's friends had the copy that got released to the world? Why did that friend do that? Did he think it would be funny? Did he think the media wouldn't pick up on this? Did he think it would all be a big joke that he and Greg would laugh about some day? Did he imagine sitting in his backyard with his kids and Greg's kids and the Super Bowl trophy between them and laugh until they ached about that time he leaked the rap Greg did when he was eighteen to the rest of the world? Har-dee-har-har.

Of course, we have a president right now who is a confirmed drunk and former drug addict and that didn't seem to stop him. Neither did his failures in business and at school. So, perhaps there is a good side to G.W. as president and that is you can get past your past as long as you have a wealthy family with a lot of connections.

Greg Olsen should not be booed and chastised and criticized for what he did when he was a kid and off at school for the first time in his life. He was a kid. He was goofing with some friends. He was playing around with his friends. He was full of excitement about the world and playing football on a national level at one of the pre-eminent football schools in the entire country. One night he may have had a few drinks or just been joking around with his friends and talking about making rap music and someone turned on a recorder. He wasn't posting his views about women that he would hold for the rest of his life. He wasn't making a declaration about the views held by women for any organization he might work for after he left the confines of the University of Miami. He was a kid, goofing around. You did it too when you were a kid and I am betting all of the female columnists here in Chicago who are screaming about this have some embarrassing things in their closet stemming from their college days as well.

Bryan W. Alaspa's novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.