# The Natalee Holloway story is really not that important **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301 "2005-06-22T02:58:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![goBigRick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@goBigRick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goBigRick)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/1 "2005-06-22T02:58:47Z")
It seems as if that’s all you hear from Fox News and many other media outlets. I mean, seriously, out of all the things in the world, is this really the most important subject? Yes, it’s sad, but I am just tired of hearing about it. ---
**Author:** ![goBigRick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@goBigRick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goBigRick)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/2 "2005-06-22T03:00:33Z")
I guess one of the things that gets me is that if this wasn’t a good looking girl with a good looking guy as one of the prime suspects and both with seemingly well to do families would this be that big of a story? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/3 "2005-06-22T03:03:02Z")
Who’s gonna play her in the movie? ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/4 "2005-06-22T04:42:21Z")
[You haven’t heard the news?](http://www.smirkingchimp.com/viewtopic.php?topic=56790&forum=14) > [@](#): > > June 11 (Bloomberg) � In a surprise move expected to send shockwaves through the world of TV journalism, CNN, the orginal cable news network, and NBC, which owns cable channels MSNBC and CNBC, announced a deal to consolidate their news organizations into a single giant news network. By pooling their journalistic resources, the organizations will be able to offer deeper coverage of the most important stories of the day, and will be better equipped to complete with current cable news champion FOX News. The new network - to be called Where the White Women At?, or WWWA - is set to debut this week. (Note: link is to some message board where somebody reproduced The Poor Man’s post, as he’s over his bandwidth and his site is down.) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/5 "2005-06-22T05:06:31Z")
> [@goBigRick](#): > > I guess one of the things that gets me is that if this wasn’t a good looking girl with a good looking guy as one of the prime suspects and both with seemingly well to do families would this be that big of a story? You have to ask? Also, you forgot the part about newsfolks getting to go to Aruba for an unlimited stay on an expense account. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/6 "2005-06-22T05:07:33Z")
Well, we just got over the last white woman ordeal (Michael Jackson) so we need another one to fill the void. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/7 "2005-06-22T05:30:54Z")
I remember back in the summer of '01 the White Woman of the Moment was Chandra Levy. Then September 11 happened, we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, the political wars started with a new intensity, and news shifted over to that for a while. Now that things are quieting down on those angles, we have a string of White Women of the Moment and it’s again becoming difficult to tell CNN from Lifetime. Maybe CNN should hire Oprah and create a ‘You Gone, Girl’ segment. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/8 "2005-06-22T05:37:56Z")
How do you know that “The Natalee Holloway story is really not that important”? Seriously. The fact that you can ask this question indicates that alternate sources of information are available. You were sufficiently interested and competent so you expended minimal effort and discovered lots more information. Excellent. The Natalee Holloway story is miniscule in the grand scheme of things. It’s monumental in the lives of a few people. It has next to no effect on me or anyone I know. Therefore, this story has little if any objective relevance. Why does anyone care? Because it has _subjective_ relevance. Everyone has a sister or daughter or cousin or neighbor or somebody who we’d miss if they were unexpectedly killed. TV thrives on shared experience. Scandal and grief are juicy juicy experiences. People will pay attention to a dead (racially similar female) 18 year old. Why is it that the death of 1 adolescent American white female grabs our collective attention, but everyone can forget the death of 1800 adolescent American males? To put it another way, why do we care more about the life of an 11 year old boy in Utah or a California white girl or an 8 cell embryo or a dang ol’ stem cell more than some 19 year old guy who decided the best way to get ahead was to fight for his country? Death is death. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/9 "2005-06-22T06:46:09Z")
If we weren’t focused on the plight of white women, or at least a few white women, or maybe, okay, a handfull of white women… alright, alright, a white woman or two… well, then the news agencies would have to cover the Downing Street Memo, and the quagmire, and health care, and the enviornment, and… and that would be no good. No good at all. “Your government is in control. Here, watch American Gladiators.” -Bill Hicks. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/10 "2005-06-22T13:32:43Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > … well, then the news agencies would have to cover the Downing Street Memo, and the quagmire, and health care, and the enviornment, and… and that would be no good. No good at all. > > “Your government is in control. Here, watch American Gladiators.” -Bill Hicks. C’mon admit it, **Finn**. You _know_ that the Bushies are paying Natalee millions of $ to hide out, just to keep the news away from new govt. atrocities, right? Dude, pass the tinfoil! ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/11 "2005-06-22T14:24:04Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > C’mon admit it, **Finn**. You _know_ that the Bushies are paying Natalee millions of $ to hide out, just to keep the news away from new govt. atrocities, right? > > Dude, pass the tinfoil! Hey, it all makes sense. I wonder where someone goes to apply for that job. Slap me in a safe house with a computer, a copy of World of Warcraft, and an internet connection and I’ll be fine for months. I could use a few extra bucks, and I’m not _grotesquely_ ugly. Plus I have a 4 month old daughter at home. Hello, compelling news!!! As to the OP - have you ever considered turning off the TV news? Literally almost all the news I’ve heard about this has been here at the SDMB. I watch TV news about 5 minutes a month. Local is always relentlessly depressing (guess who died today?), and national is all jump-on-the-bandwagon nonsense (let’s interview the freak releasing doves into the air at the Jackson verdict). Thank goodness we have the internet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/12 "2005-06-22T14:39:24Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > C’mon admit it, **Finn**. You _know_ that the Bushies are paying Natalee millions of $ to hide out, just to keep the news away from new govt. atrocities, right? Naw, just a confederacy of dunces. The rule of the lowest common denominator. > [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > Dude, pass the tinfoil! Now this here tinfoil is a valuable commodity. The orbital mind control lasers can getcha otherwise. If you want some, we’re gonna have to talk price. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/13 "2005-06-22T15:10:17Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > C’mon admit it, **Finn**. You _know_ that the Bushies are paying Natalee millions of $ to hide out, just to keep the news away from new govt. atrocities, right? Right after they selected the day for the Michael Jackson jury to return the verdict! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/14 "2005-06-22T15:10:51Z")
One nit I must pick: What stories make the news is also a function of interest, not just importance. I’m not necessarily saying the Hollway story is interesting enough to justify its coverage (not sure how to judge that anyway), I just wanted to point out that importance isn’t the whole story. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/15 "2005-06-22T15:17:33Z")
FWIW, I clicked on this thread because I had no idea who Natalee Holloway is. I’ve probably heard the name and, mainly due to a brief hotel stay last week in which I had relatively few news choices, I was aware that some blonde girl was still missing in Aruba, but I really had no idea what her name was. Sorry she’s missing. In other news, I learned from the Monday “Daily Show” that Iran is alleged to have had direct meetings with Bin Laden / Al Qaeda, both pre- and post-9/11. Has that been in the news or is that author also a “tin foil hat” guy? ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/16 "2005-06-22T15:27:59Z")
Really, there is an amazing difference in the way women and men are treated in this society. We hear most about the times when it works against women, but it cuts the other way, too. Woman goes missing for a few days? We assume she’s a victim and break out everything but the national guard looking for her. Man goes missing for a few days? We assume he’s slipped off for a fishing trip or hitting the tables in Vegas or whatever. \ This was really brought home to me a couple months back when there were two stories in the Boston Globe the same day. One was a woman who had fallen on the sidewalk. Someone found her, summoned help, and stood beside her in the rain holding an umbrella over her until the ambulance arrived. The other story was about a man who’d fallen on the sidewalk. It wasn’t the busiest part of town, but there were people passing along, and all of them just stepped around the guy and kept going. Nothing was done for him until someone who worked in a business across the street realized the guy had been lying there for quite a few hours and called the police to report him, presumably as a nuisance. Both were lying on public sidewalks, and as it turned out, both were drunk, both were slightly injured and in need of medical attention for injuries from their falls. _But_ a woman lying passed out on a sidewalk is a victim, someone with enough call on your charity to get you to try to help. A guy lying passed out on the sidewalk? He’s just a drunk. Ignore him. Double standard. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/17 "2005-06-22T15:39:53Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > One nit I must pick: What stories make the news is also a function of interest, not just importance. Fox News, at least, is taking it way too far, though. It’s on at the café where I get my morning coffee, and yesterday they had a special piece that was simply a “tour” of the neighborhood where the current suspect lives. Get that? _A tour of his neighborhood!_ Nothing to do with the crime, just where the guy lives. That is just stoopid absurd. There has _got_ to be something else going on in the world. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/18 "2005-06-22T19:32:51Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > There has _got_ to be something else going on in the world. Not for the journalists who are stuck there and have to turn in some sort of story every day to keep getting paid. Haj ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/19 "2005-06-22T20:23:46Z")
> [@AugestWest](#): > > How do you know that “The Natalee Holloway story is really not that important”? > > Seriously. > > The fact that you can ask this question indicates that alternate sources of information are available. You were sufficiently interested and competent so you expended minimal effort and discovered lots more information. Excellent. > > The Natalee Holloway story is miniscule in the grand scheme of things. It’s monumental in the lives of a few people. It has next to no effect on me or anyone I know. > > Therefore, this story has little if any objective relevance. Why does anyone care? > > Because it has _subjective_ relevance. Everyone has a sister or daughter or cousin or neighbor or somebody who we’d miss if they were unexpectedly killed. TV thrives on shared experience. Scandal and grief are juicy juicy experiences. People will pay attention to a dead (racially similar female) 18 year old. > > Why is it that the death of 1 adolescent American white female grabs our collective attention, but everyone can forget the death of 1800 adolescent American males? > > To put it another way, why do we care more about the life of an 11 year old boy in Utah or a California white girl or an 8 cell embryo or a dang ol’ stem cell more than some 19 year old guy who decided the best way to get ahead was to fight for his country? > > Death is death. IWhat exactly are you trying to say here? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301/20 "2005-06-22T20:56:42Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > Fox News, at least, is taking it way too far, though. It’s on at the café where I get my morning coffee, and yesterday they had a special piece that was simply a “tour” of the neighborhood where the current suspect lives. Get that? _A tour of his neighborhood!_ Nothing to do with the crime, just where the guy lives. That is just stoopid absurd. There has _got_ to be something else going on in the world. Yeah. Like can’t Julie Banderas put on a thong and walk us along the beach where Natalee-with-two-e’s was last seen? [sub]C’mon, Fox. If you’re going to appeal to the prurient interest, can’t you at least be up front about it?[/sub] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-natalee-holloway-story-is-really-not-that-important/309301.md?page=2)