Is It Just Me?
Perhaps I am missing something here......
......but?
Why do certain kidnapping/abductions get the ridiculous media spotlight and some don't? Am I the only one who remembers seeing thousands of kids on the backs of milk cartons? Where the hell is all their air/camera/radio/Katie Couric time? Is it a money or affluence thing? Is it an exotic locale thing? Is it an accessibility to the concerned parties thing? Is it the exigent or tabloidesque circumstances of the disappearance/abduction?
The one thing I do know is that if I someone I loved went missing, and I didn't get the kind of coverage that Aruba girl is getting, I'd be getting some media attention of my own.
I'm not trying to be critical of the Aruba girl situation or belittle the pain her family is going through, I am only using it as a frame of reference. I could have used the Utah harp girl too. I could have used the runaway bride (whom I firmly believe they should have thrown the book at).
I am just saying that I do not understand why one person is more important when they vanish than another person. I am not trying to make some sort of sappy philanthropic appeal for equality here either, I am just honestly intrigued by the formula that must exist wherein some people get the news van and the peppy news anchor lead in and some get printed on milk cartons and are forgotten just as quickly.
Perhaps we've just reached a point in society where we're all so desensitized to everything that it takes an fiery asteroid hurtling to earth to make the evening news.
posted by The Idiot @ 12:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I think you're right on. Not in terms of only child abductions, but crime in general.
My best friend from college has a brother. The brother had a wife. The wife was abducted in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Georgia a couple of years ago, and this event garnered minor media attention but NOTHING compared to the frenzy of activity that surrounds some of these cases.
Baltimore is notorious for this kind of crap, as we have just about one murder a day and barely any acknowledgement of the crime unless the victim is a white, middle class person.
Not to detract from the horror of the Laci Peterson murder, but she's not the only expectant mother to meet her end at the hands of a half-crazy sociopathic husband, and yet, she's the only one that garners the media's attention. It's frustrating what the media picks and chooses. And I guess what they choose to sensationalize is truly a sad statement about who or what is valued in this society.
Not only that, but it seems like the younger the victim, the more publicity. Message being: Elderly = nuisance. Remeber the posters they were placing in the restaurants for that missing elderly lady? That sure as heck never made any kind of news.
I think this is also why I tend to watch reality crime shows like American Justic, City Confidential. They sometimes profile the little guy. Sometimes.
Oh, and click on the cite in Rev.brandy's post. It's enough to put a giant rock in your stomach.
Agree with ZooooM about the bias against the elderly in our nation, too . . . little or no regard for folks after they get all white on the head. What's up with that?
Everything is gone it seems. Respect. Manners. Chivalry. Courtesy.
I mean seriously, if one more uber-tard stops and turns in front of me without signaling, I may take a hostage myself.
At least then, people could understand it.
Post a Comment
<< Home