The Hannah Anderson case is disturbing and..........

[Joanne]

I have no idea why you remarked on this but I will tell ya, I don't care what color anyone is if they did something wrong. 15-16 if she was involved she knew it was wrong. She wasn't some sheltered young girl who had no idea etc etc. I do think your statement was in very poor taste and it is remarks like this that are the source of all issues. Everyone should be treated equal and I really think people are forgetting what that word means. If she is a victim I hope she gets help. If she helped in any of this I hope she goes away I don't want people like that walking the streets free.

 

 

It is HIGHLY likely we wouldn't even KNOW about this case if she weren't a pretty white girl.

[Joanne]

I have no idea why you remarked on this but I will tell ya, I don't care what color anyone is if they did something wrong. 15-16 if she was involved she knew it was wrong. She wasn't some sheltered young girl who had no idea etc etc. I do think your statement was in very poor taste and it is remarks like this that are the source of all issues. Everyone should be treated equal and I really think people are forgetting what that word means. If she is a victim I hope she gets help. If she helped in any of this I hope she goes away I don't want people like that walking the streets free.

 

 

It is HIGHLY likely we wouldn't even KNOW about this case if she weren't a pretty white girl.

[poppy]

I understand the statement. I am saying that needs to stop. The thoughts, the statements all of it. People say it and just accept it and it needs to stop. People should stop talking about color and start talking about behavior. I don't care if you are a poor black boy or a rich white boy if you do wrong you need to pay for it plain and simple. That is how it should be looked at. People should stop saying stuff like this it just keeps up the issues.

 

No, us discussing it doesn't make it an issue.  It's an issue we are discussing.  See the difference?

 

My remark in the first place was based on the fact that the DC sniper's young (and sexually abused) accomplice didn't get a lot of sympathy, and is serving six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.  Here there are people saying that she should be forgiven for her crimes even if she tortured and murdered her mother and 8 year old brother due to being a abuse victim.  If you don't think a jury would be more sympathetic to Hanna Andersson than to  the black teenager who took part in the DC Sniper movies, then I think you haven't been paying attention.  And the cure for that double standard is not "just stop talking about it!!"

[Harriet Vane]

I understand the statement. I am saying that needs to stop. The thoughts, the statements all of it. People say it and just accept it and it needs to stop. People should stop talking about color and start talking about behavior. I don't care if you are a poor black boy or a rich white boy if you do wrong you need to pay for it plain and simple. That is how it should be looked at. People should stop saying stuff like this it just keeps up the issues.

 

Not talking about the elephant in the room will not make that elephant go away.

[SKL]

I'm pretty sure the statement wasn't that she should be treated differently because she is a pretty white girl but that she would be treated differently.  It is a very true statement.  Regardless of how "fair" or "equal" the system should be there is both gender and racial bias when dealing with crimes, especially of a violent or sexual nature.  That is the reality of the way the justice system works.  A pretty white girl will not get the same sentence as a big black boy would.  

 

You're right.  If she were a black girl or boy would people be trying to demonize her for looking too alluring after her rescue?

 

I would never deny that racism and race-related privilege exists, but I also believe it's being exploited for interests that have nothing to do with fairness or decency.

 

After the dust mostly settled on the Trayvon Martin case, it occurred to me - the only reason that was even news was because it was so unusual.  When was the last time the nation got up in arms over a person of color killing a white or black person?  Oh, it must never happen that way, right?

[Joanne]

I understand the statement. I am saying that needs to stop. The thoughts, the statements all of it. People say it and just accept it and it needs to stop. People should stop talking about color and start talking about behavior. I don't care if you are a poor black boy or a rich white boy if you do wrong you need to pay for it plain and simple. That is how it should be looked at. People should stop saying stuff like this it just keeps up the issues.

 

 

This perspective, known in the 1970's and 1980's as "color blind" was an improvement to earlier decades. However, it missed the mark. Color and socio-economic status presents challenges and realities. If we ignore that and operate as though race/ethnicity does not exist we, in fact, become racist.

 

Race impacts the daily lived experience of each one of use, and even more so people of color (in the US) and other minorities.

 

This thread exists due to race.

[SKL]

No, us discussing it doesn't make it an issue.  It's an issue we are discussing.  See the difference?

 

My remark in the first place was based on the fact that the DC sniper's young (and sexually abused) accomplice didn't get a lot of sympathy, and is serving six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.  Here there are people saying that she should be forgiven for her crimes even if she tortured and murdered her mother and 8 year old brother due to being a abuse victim.  If you don't think a jury would be more sympathetic to Hanna Andersson than to  the black teenager who took part in the DC Sniper movies, then I think you haven't been paying attention.  And the cure for that double standard is not "just stop talking about it!!"

 

I think you are reading more into people's words than they are actually saying.

 

I don't really think it's fair to compare to the DC sniper since at this point, nobody has any credible evidence that she in fact hurt or killed anyone.  I also don't necessarily believe all the excuses a killer makes during his murder trial.

 

[nmoira]

After the dust mostly settled on the Trayvon Martin case, it occurred to me - the only reason that was even news was because it was so unusual.  When was the last time the nation got up in arms over a person of color killing a white or black person?  Oh, it must never happen that way, right?

 

Am I misreading you? Unusual how? It's not unusual for black men and boys to be killed by white men in a position of authority (albeit in Zimmerman's case it was perceived).

 

As for the murder/race statistics, It turns out to be relatively unusual to be killed by someone of a different race:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/15/the-trayvon-martin-killing-and-the-myth-of-black-on-black-crime.html

 

 

Yes, from 1976 to 2005, 94 percent of black victims were killed by black offenders, but that racial exclusivity was also true for white victims of violent crime—86 percent were killed by white offenders. Indeed, for the large majority of crimes, you’ll find that victims and offenders share a racial identity, or have some prior relationship to each other.

[SKL]

Am I misreading you? Unusual how? It's not unusual for black men and boys to be killed by white men in a position of authority (albeit in Zimmerman's case it was perceived).

Of course it is unusual.  Prove me wrong, using 21st century data.

 

As for the relative race-on-own-race data you cited, I know that, because most murders are by family members and other close people.  However, if the comparison is 86% to 94%, that could also be stated as:  a white person is more than twice as likely as a black person to be murdered by someone of another race.  It's all in how you word the facts.  Of course that would be politically incorrect to point out, but it's apparently OK to constantly bring up every anti-white factoid that exists.  Either way all it does is engender distrust and hate.

[SKL]

I don't plan on responding any further to the race issue since that would be a derailment of the Hannah Anderson thread.

[extendedforecast]

Photos of Hannah show a girl looks and acts much older than 16. She is a show-off in the photos. (Case in point: this link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2395276/Out-public-time-Kidnapping-survivor-Hannah-Anderson-spotted-attending-fundraiser-dead-mother-brother.html -- is she even wearing a bra under that low-cut top? And this is just a couple of days after her "ordeal" in the mountains with a creepy older man?)

 

There's something about this girl that doesn't sit right with me. Maybe she didn't collude with the guy in killing her family, but she may very well have flirted with him to the point that he really believed there was an understanding between them.

That's quite a stretch.

[nmoira]

Of course it is unusual.  Prove me wrong, using 21st century data.

 

As for the relative race-on-own-race data you cited, I know that, because most murders are by family members and other close people.  However, if the comparison is 86% to 94%, that could also be stated as:  a white person is more than twice as likely than a black person to be murdered by someone of another race.  It's all in how you word the facts.  Of course that would be politically incorrect to point out, but it's apparently OK to constantly bring up every anti-white factoid that exists.  Either way all it does is engender distrust and hate.

 

When is the last time you heard about a white man shot in his own driveway for trying to get into his car?

 

Sorry, but it's not unusual for black boys and men to be killed by white cops. The question you need to ask is about proportionality, and there's evidence to suggest it happens disproportionately, at least in some districts. Nationwide statistics aren't kept, so for the most part, stats have to be fought for on a district by district basis.

 

Here are two links. Since I just saw that you're not interested in further discussion, I'll leave you to your own research. A number of police departments around the country have had internal or external investigations wrt racial profiling overall and/or shootings and other uses of force.

 

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/critics-demand-action-disproportionate-shootings-blacks

https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/department-justice-statistics-show-clear-pattern-racial-profiling

[aggieamy]

When is the last time you heard about a white man shot in his own driveway for trying to get into his car?

 

Sorry, but it's not unusual for black boys and men to be killed by white cops. The question you need to ask is about proportionality, and there's evidence to suggest it happens disproportionately, at least in some districts. Nationwide statistics aren't kept, so for the most part, stats have to be fought for on a district by district basis.

 

Here are two links. Since I just saw that you're not interested in further discussion, I'll leave you to your own research. A number of police departments around the country have had internal or external investigations wrt racial profiling overall and/or shootings and other uses of force.

 

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/critics-demand-action-disproportionate-shootings-blacks

https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/department-justice-statistics-show-clear-pattern-racial-profiling

 

How about a white guy just going for a jog?

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/08/20/oaklahoma-australian-baseball-player-shot-bored-teenager.html

[justamouse]

I had to go to a child abuse class. I was *astounded* to learn that 90% of all abusers are known by the children. 1 out of every 6 men (I may be fuzzy on that amt, but as I remember it, there were only six men at the class and I remarked that that meant statistically, one of them would be an abuser. See how I make so many friends? :D ) 
 

Stranger Danger is a minimal threat at best. 

[nmoira]

How about a white guy just going for a jog?

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/08/20/oaklahoma-australian-baseball-player-shot-bored-teenager.html

We were talking about shootings by police and security guards.

[justamouse]

It is HIGHLY likely we wouldn't even KNOW about this case if she weren't a pretty white girl.

 

They wouldn't have put out an amber alert for a black girl? Or that if the suspected abductor was considered a threat for killing two other people, and was black and abducted a black girl it wouldn't make news?

 

 

[nmoira]

They wouldn't have put out an amber alert for a black girl? Or that if the suspected abductor was considered a threat for killing two other people, and was black and abducted a black girl it wouldn't make news?

FWIW, the aggregated statistics I've seen on Amber alerts don't support the former (edited for clarity). Just under half the kids are white and IIRC about a third are black.

[Laurie4b]

They wouldn't have put out an amber alert for a black girl? Or that if the suspected abductor was considered a threat for killing two other people, and was black and abducted a black girl it wouldn't make news?

 

 

I think you're right that we would know; however, I also think Joanne is right that it is typical that victims who are white girls (perhaps even especially blondes ) get proportionately more widespread (national)  and sustained coverage than victims who are Native American, Latino, African-American, or Asian.

[BigMamaBird]

I believe the DC sniper got such a stiff sentence because he terrorized thousands upon thousands of people for weeks on end and was party to murdering at least 10 people, not because he was black.   :glare:

[Joanne]

They wouldn't have put out an amber alert for a black girl? Or that if the suspected abductor was considered a threat for killing two other people, and was black and abducted a black girl it wouldn't make news?

 

 

 

 

I believe that law enforcement would respond and community resources utilized.

 

It's the *publicity* that changes according to skin color and socioeconomic status.

[Harriet Vane]

I believe that law enforcement would respond and community resources utilized.

 

It's the *publicity* that changes according to skin color and socioeconomic status.

 

Not necessarily.

 

It's true that the publicity changes.

 

However, it's also true that law enforcement tends to under-respond to people of color, including to children of color. There is more of a tendency to view childish misbehavior as criminal, and there is more of a tendency to assume that a missing African-American child may have just run away.

 

African-Americans do find that they have a bigger hurdle to convince police officers either of their innocence, or that they have been a victim of a crime.

[msjones]

Assuming that's true, it could mean he had successfully groomed her to want to run off with him.  It does not mean she was on board with killing her family.

 

I wish people would not talk like this knowing that she is going to read and hear it all.  Considering it is extremely unlikely that a teen actually murdered her family, in all likelihood this is just adding insult to injury.  How would any of us feel if we were grieving our closest family members and simultaneiously being accused of killing them?  It's horrible.

 

In the unlikely event she had anything to do with the killings, she is in serious need of psychological care.  Not condemnation from random strangers.

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray: 

:iagree: 

[msjones]

Photos of Hannah show a girl looks and acts much older than 16.  She is a show-off in the photos.  (Case in point:  this link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2395276/Out-public-time-Kidnapping-survivor-Hannah-Anderson-spotted-attending-fundraiser-dead-mother-brother.html -- is she even wearing a bra under that low-cut top?  And this is just a couple of days after her "ordeal" in the mountains with a creepy older man?)

 

There's something about this girl that doesn't sit right with me.  Maybe she didn't collude with the guy in killing her family, but she may very well have flirted with him to the point that he really believed there was an understanding between them.

 

?!

 

He tortured, murdered, burned a woman and child, abducted a teen, shot at federal agents, and you're commenting on this girl's clothing?

[Laurie4b]

You're right.  If she were a black girl or boy would people be trying to demonize her for looking too alluring after her rescue?

 

I would never deny that racism and race-related privilege exists, but I also believe it's being exploited for interests that have nothing to do with fairness or decency.

 

After the dust mostly settled on the Trayvon Martin case, it occurred to me - the only reason that was even news was because it was so unusual.  When was the last time the nation got up in arms over a person of color killing a white or black person?  Oh, it must never happen that way, right?

 

No, what made national news is that Trayvon's parents were not willing to accept that he was shot by someone acting as quasi law enforcement and there wasn't an arrest. In their view, he was profiled. Profiling happens all the time to African American people. ALL the time. Every once in a while, a case opens up this wound and that's what happened with Trayvon Martin.

 

I have a friend who is African American and she loves, loves, loves to shop. And she gets followed around in most stores she goes in. They should be following her around to wait on her hand and foot because she's going to significantly help their bottom line of the day! But they're not. They're following her around to prevent her from shoplifting. She is middle class, dresses very well (remember she loves to shop and drops a lot of cash), etc.  As a white woman, I have never been followed around in a store in my entire life. And sometimes, I act suspicious. I one absent mindedly put a pair of sunglasses in my purse in the shopping cart at Walmart. I realized it a few minutes later and hurriedly took them out. But no one confronted me. Recently, my friend was not only followed, but the clerk's interaction with her was rude. It particularly hurts when her kids are with her. She doesn't want her husband to jog at night because bad things happen to black men running at night. It's too easy to be mistaken for a perp. That's what African Americans live with day in and day out and they get tired of it.

[Laurie4b]

I understand the statement. I am saying that needs to stop. The thoughts, the statements all of it. People say it and just accept it and it needs to stop. People should stop talking about color and start talking about behavior. I don't care if you are a poor black boy or a rich white boy if you do wrong you need to pay for it plain and simple. That is how it should be looked at. People should stop saying stuff like this it just keeps up the issues.

 

What are you saying?

That it doesn't happen that people are treated differently based on their looks?

Or that people shouldn't treat people differently because of their looks?

Or that people shouldn't say that people are treated differently based on their looks?

[kitten18]

One of the reasons it became instant news was because it was the first time the California Cell Phone Amber Alert Notifications went into effect. EVERYONE in CA got an alert on their phone. It woke people up and made the news.

Was that supposed to happen? We didn't get any amber alert texts.

[SKL]

Are some of you angry that Hannah was rescued thanks to the media coverage?  Why else would we be going on and on about how wrong it is that her face was in the news?

[I.Dup.]

That's quite a stretch.

 

I've got to say, THIS ^^ is the way I wished we confronted people around here. Albeto also does a really good job of it, IMO. Albeto's posts have gotten me to truly think through issues because even though she can be obnoxious and determined (sorry, Albeto :D ) she stays level headed and doesn't resort to things like name calling, badgering (count how many posters in this thread piled on Rebecca, I would bet it was in the dozens), attacking their character (I think "stupid" and "hateful" were just 2 of the names used to describe Rebecca)....those kinds of posts just get me to roll my eyes and think the poster losing their shit just lacks maturity and self control.

 

We are a homeschooling board based on logic and critical thinking skills, EVEN IF SOMEONE POSTS SOMETHING WE VEHEMENTLY DISAGREE WITH, does name calling, berating, piling on, condescending emoticons, etc, etc, help anything? Not in my (humble) opinion.

 

So thanks Albeto, for staying calm and rational, you HAVE gotten me to ask some serious questions and think through things in a different way.

[I.Dup.]

I'm really tired of people yelling. "Bully!" when what is REALLY happening is that person is being called out on their hate. That's not bullying. That's shining a light on unacceptable, and frankly sick behavior.

 

It's bullying to call someone names, YELL at them in BOLD LETTERS AND ALL CAPS, call them stupid, "hateful" and "frankly sick" (among other names) for a few posts on a freaking message board when you don't have a clue who they are in real life, yeah, I would call that bullying.

 

"Shining a light", ha. Use calm, rational discussion if you want to shine a light. Educate people in a kind manner. None of the posts in this thread confronting Rebecca deserve a medal for heroic light shining. They're catty, plain and simple.

[Harriet Vane]

Are some of you angry that Hannah was rescued thanks to the media coverage?  Why else would we be going on and on about how wrong it is that her face was in the news?

 

No, not angry that Hannah was rescued. We wish the same attention could be given to people of color as well.

 

The race issue was brought up in this thread as a cynical commentary on the likelihood of Hannah being treated well in the official case because she is pretty and white. There were posters that objected to the discussion of race as an issue for this case. Others of us jumped in to the discussion to support the validity of race being a factor.

[Joker]

It's bullying to call someone names, YELL at them in BOLD LETTERS AND ALL CAPS, call them stupid, "hateful" and "frankly sick" (among other names) for a few posts on a freaking message board when you don't have a clue who they are in real life, yeah, I would call that bullying.

 

"Shining a light", ha. Use calm, rational discussion if you want to shine a light. Educate people in a kind manner. None of the posts in this thread confronting Rebecca deserve a medal for heroic light shining. They're catty, plain and simple.

 

I'm interested to hear what you think it should be called for Rebecca to call out the attire of a young kidnap victim and imply she might have been responsible for his feelings toward her. Is it not sick and catty? If not, then what the heck is it?

[SKL]

Whose fault is it if more white people get more news coverage on average?  Who decides these things?

 

The Ariel Castro thing happened near me.  His first victim was a young white woman, mom to a young boy.  No media attention for her.  Nobody had even heard of her.  A later victim was a brown-skinned teen.  Her family never let this go.  Everyone knew her name and what she looked like, even 10 years later.  Why is that?  The difference I see is that the first victim's family didn't push as hard.  They seemed willing to believe she voluntarily made herself scarce.  Supposedly someone even kept collecting and cashing her disability payments.

 

Where I live, I've seen plenty of media attention on missing / abducted children of all colors.  Those involving young children generally make national news.  Why they don't stay in the news long, I don't know, but generally I see the crimes solved locally, so does it really matter in those cases?  It is probably a good thing when the news stops covering a child who isn't going to be found alive.  All that sensational news coverage just serves to make parents unduly afraid for their kids.  In the Hannah Anderson case, the national news mattered because she was still alive and the abductor was on the run, armed and dangerous, with no good intentions for the girl.

[SKL]

Re Amber Alerts, I've gotten a couple on my phone in the recent past.  I'm in a state far from California.  The ones I've received didn't have any photos attached.  It would be good to include photos IMO.

[unsinkable]

I think there should be a nationwide missing persons TV channel, with the missing listed and played 24/7.

[SKL]

I think there should be a nationwide missing persons TV channel, with the missing listed and played 24/7.

 

There is something like this on the internet.  I used to look at it but it's been a long time now.  Sorry, I can't remember the name of the site . . . .

 

[unsinkable]

There is something like this on the internet. I used to look at it but it's been a long time now. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the site . . . .

 

Websleuths lists many of the missing.

 

But its by civilians, not LE.

[Scrub Jay]

I'm a Californian and got the middle of the night Amber Alert text. From what I saw tweeted by local news organizations, it sounded like everyone got the text.

[I.Dup.]

I'm interested to hear what you think it should be called for Rebecca to call out the attire of a young kidnap victim and imply she might have been responsible for his feelings toward her. Is it not sick and catty? If not, then what the heck is it?

 

Her opinion.

 

No need for personal attacks. I've never heard of someone becoming enlightened and changing their views on something (not that anyone in this context should) because of name calling and shame.

 

It's her opinion that her apparel is inappropriate. She even clarified that she never meant that Hannah's behavior justified any of it (sorry, nursing a baby, I don't have time to go back and comb through all of the posts and form links, etc) but even AFTER she clarified, people continued to pile and pile and pile on. It just seems completely unnecessary and yeah, like bullying.

[Laurie4b]

No, not angry that Hannah was rescued. We wish the same attention could be given to people of color as well.

 

The race issue was brought up in this thread as a cynical commentary on the likelihood of Hannah being treated well in the official case because she is pretty and white. There were posters that objected to the discussion of race as an issue for this case. Others of us jumped in to the discussion to support the validity of race being a factor.

 

:iagree:

 

[Laurie4b]

Her opinion.

 

No need for personal attacks. I've never heard of someone becoming enlightened and changing their views on something (not that anyone in this context should) because of name calling and shame.

 

It's her opinion that her apparel is inappropriate. She even clarified that she never meant that Hannah's behavior justified any of it (sorry, nursing a baby, I don't have time to go back and comb through all of the posts and form links, etc) but even AFTER she clarified, people continued to pile and pile and pile on. It just seems completely unnecessary and yeah, like bullying.

 

Yeah or we need a beating-a-dead-horse emoticon around here.

[msjones]

Yeah or we need a beating-a-dead-horse emoticon around here.

 

Also consider that people come to a thread late in the game.

 

 I just read this thread today and responded to the "show-off" post.  So, that wasn't "piling on" but just the nature of a forum where not everyone reads at the same time.

[msjones]

I found the criteria for Amber Alerts.  The bar is fairly high.  

 

 

• There is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred.
• The law enforcement agency believes that the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.
• There is enough descriptive information about the victim and the abduction for law enforcement to issue an AMBER Alert to assist in the recovery of the child.
• The abduction is of a child aged 17 years or younger.
• The child’s name and other critical data elements, including the Child Abduction flag, have been entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) system.

 

 

[Kathryn]

I'm now all read up on this case after ignoring it for quite a while. Here's what I don't understand.

 

Originally (and many still are), it was said that she was at cheer leading camp on August 4 and he was supposed to pick her up. That day they called each other a dozen times. That evening, his house was on fire with her mom and brother inside and he had taken her.

 

Then, video of the two of them in a vehicle at border patrol checkpoint after midnight the morning of August 4 was released. Now, some places are saying that she was really abducted following cheer leading camp on August 3 and the fire was set on a timer 24 hours before. But, if she was already abducted and in a car together, why would they be calling each other? I suppose we could assume she didn't know she was abducted somehow, so excuse her not calling police with the phone she still had in this scenario for 24 hours, but it still doesn't make sense that she and he would be calling each other while they're in a car together.

 

And the whole thing with the DNA kit, used condoms, and letters from her being found is really strange.

[Joanne]

Note: I am not questioning the use of law enforcement, community, or Amber alerts (although I do think Amber was a white girl. ;)).

 

I'm stating the fact (to me) that publicity attaches to pretty white girls, and rich pretty white girls even more so.

While Hanna Anderson's situation was going on, there were other kidnappings. The same is true for Jon Benet, and a long, long list is disproportionate focus on white girls.

[Kathryn]

She says the communication were texts not calls which makes a lot more sense.

I don't think it does. She said that they were texting about where to pick her up. Which, if we are talking about these texts taking the place of the "about 13 calls" on August 4, would once again put her not abducted when she was seen with him at a border patrol checkpoint at 12:10am the night before.

[Seasider]

Note: I am not questioning the use of law enforcement, community, or Amber alerts (although I do think Amber was a white girl. ;)).

 

I'm stating the fact (to me) that publicity attaches to pretty white girls, and rich pretty white girls even more so.

While Hanna Anderson's situation was going on, there were other kidnappings. The same is true for Jon Benet, and a long, long list is disproportionate focus on white girls.

Natalee Holloway.

[SKL]

Disproportionate focus by the media on white girls - yes, I tend to agree - but what I'm not sure of is whether that is true *before* the case gets to the point where the media no longer bears on whether the child is found alive.

 

Jonbenet Ramsey was found dead before she even hit the news the first time.  Others were rescued before the media started going to town at their expense.  In the present case, it is far from benefiting Hannah Anderson to have the media's ongoing interest.

 

Nothing new about the media having very questionable judgment about what they cover and how much coverage things get.  This would be why I don't even turn on the TV in my house.  The daily "news" is a very negative influence IMO.  Thanks to the TV at school aftercare, my kids were coming home asking me about moms drowning [white] kids in bathtubs and a little [black] girl being raped and murdered in and left in a field.  ("Mommy, what does 'assault' mean?")  And this was just from the commercials advertising evening news / shows.  I guess I don't understand why anyone expects responsible behavior by journalists any more - pertaining to race or anything else.

[FaithManor]

SKL, I agree. I really have no expectation of that journalists are responsible. Ratings pay the bills now, and what I suspect happens is that the producing staff gets everyone into a room to discuss the most sensational stories of the day, which ones will get them the most viewers, most advertisers, etc. and they drop anything that didn't get enough attention the day before while also refusing to even air worthy stories that SHOULD be presented to the public because those stories aren't sensationalist enough. IF anyone in those rooms, and I believe this is a big IF, brings up that possibility that story A should die on the vine because it is not in the best interests of the innocent parties involved, the family, the victim, whomever, I am pretty certain they get shouted down because the bottom line is that human life is a commodity to be sold. Who cares whether or not Elizabeth Smart, Hannah Anderson, or anyone else is further victimized and traumatized by their actions! It is of no consequence to the media outlets because MONEY, via ratings which produce more advertisers at higher prices, is the almighty consideration.

 

Yes, I like you have a very, very cynical view of "journalism" these days!

 

The locals are no better. Back when my dad still built super stock racing cars, the local paper came down to interview him about his newest project. This was a Camaro that was, at that time, nothing more than a Chassis on blocks. The body work was just beginning, and the engine was not built yet! When the story came out, we were shocked to discover that dad's car had already been on the track with time trials averaging 185 mph and predictions that it would hit 200 inside of a month! That's pretty darn good for a CHASSIS WITH NO WHEELS!!!!

 

 

[unsinkable]

Chassis

 

Not trying to be a know- it-all, just thought you might want to know.

[FaithManor]

Chassis

 

Not trying to be a know- it-all, just thought you might want to know.

Thanks,

 

It's been years since I've used that term and didn't bother to look it up. Too lazy today!