I must be naive, for I doubt race is a factor. I think it’s naive to think that there is a conspiracy of the national media. Headline stories are discussed by editors and directors with their staff. Furthermore, media people are among the most “progressive” (just ask them!).
The Smart and Ramsey cases are especially frightening (and therefore intriguing) because they occurred in the inner sanctum of the family home. The parents, only steps away, slept through the horror of their child being abducted and murdered. We have the paradox of sanctuary vs. vulnerable target, innocence vs. evil, protective parents rendered helpless by sleep. What could be more nightmarish?
Steve
P.S. This is my first post here. I used to frequent www.LS1.com, an automotive performance board, but the moderators are fond of locking or deleting interesting threads in the interests of not offending anyone (religion, race, etc.).
It’s because these damn kids today have to go off and get kidnapped instead of getting stuck in a well like in the good 'ol days. Back in my day, we didn’t have this ‘oh, she got kidnapped and possibly raped and/or killed’ kind of news, we had 24x7 coverage of a little girl stuck in a well and the firemen trying to feed her and get her out. It’s a sign of just how far the younger generation has fallen, that they go off and get kidnapped instead of playing in wells like they did in my day.
Seriously, like other people have said, news is fairly slow and it’s a story that people (certainly parents) will watch, and it involves a photogenic victim and a lot of mystery. Much like the kid in the well that I remember, it will be in the papers for a while, then go away once either the newness wears off or they solve the mystery.
Bad Hat: Did anything ever come of the “Girl X” case? Arrests? Convictions? I had not heard of the case at all until I saw your post.
But overall, I have to agree about 85 to 95% with the thoughts of those like Green Bean; that the circumstances of the disappearance combined with the local area (both supposedly quite safe, and where nothing notable ever really happens) made the story noteworthy. Here in the DC area, they now only give it air time if there isn’t anything else to report AND they can do a local tie-in somehow.
The remaining 15 to 5 % I have to agree with the race angle. Not because of an overt or covert conspiracy or a general dislike by the media of non-whites, but because (purely IMHO) they have preconceptions that crimes like this don’t happen to well off white people, and so it is in their eyes newsworthy. The unstated and racially biased flip side of this preconception is that crimes like this do happen more often to the poor and the non-white, and that as common events they then are less newsworthy.
IMHO: A crime is a crime, no matter who the victim is. If it is tolerated (not reported widely and thus not pursued vigorously) in an area as an unfortunate part of the landscape, then it will flourish. To allow this is wrong whether one sees it as based on race, economics, politics, religion, or whatever.
Seriously, much like the shark headlines last year, the media is into the missing child thing right now. If good comes from it, it’s probably much better than the previous obsessions with Chandra Levy, Shark Attacks, ect…
Completely different circumstances. Black-on-black violence is so commonplace that it simply isn’t news. If the news media publicised every incident where blacks assaulted and killed each other, there would be no room for any other stories.
Rather than whining that the news media is “racist”, blacks should focus on the real problem: their own culture, which promotes violence, drugs, gang activity and promiscuity. The result? The number one cause of death for young blacks is…other young blacks.
This is not a good thing to think, Tarpal. There may be general facts to back up what you are saying, but they can be misleading. Socioeconomic factors, rather than race, most often divide us. This attitude, also, contributes to the notion that “white people” culture, as you might call it, is better. This is the kind of subconscious bias I was talking about.
If you are asking if I think that a culture which respects life, property and women, promotes social and personal responsibility, embraces education and values the family is “better” than one which does none of these, then shoot me, yes I do.
The point is, you shouldn’t attribute those negative (or positive) values to a culture based on race. It is based on socioeconomic factors. It is based on opportunity.
Your views are racist. Race is an often obvious trait, and you are looking at the “facts”, finding what you thought you might find, and calling it a conclusion. The truth is somewhere farther out, tarpal, and it may be harder to find, but it has the advantage of being correct.
Oooh, the “R” word! Call a white person the R word and they’re supposed to scurry away, right? Well, sorry. The race card has been overplayed so much that the R word has become impotent.
It isn’t “racist” to tell the truth, and the truth is that homicide is the number one cause of death for young blacks, at the hands of other young blacks. What IS racist is to blame it on whites.
I didn’t know, nor did I assume, that you are white. Your race is irrelevant. No one here is blaming anything on any race.
You are seeing what you want to see. You are classifying these things by race because that is what makes the most sense to you, even though it is much more accurate to classify by socioeconomic factors. I am guilty of this, too, even in this thread. All I am saying is, it is not a good way to think. You should try to resist that way of thinking, because not only does it not help anyone, it hurts people.
Oh silly me. Of course, it’s all WHITE people in those rap videos that permeate black culture. It’s all whites who are grabbing their crotches, telling others to kill cops, rape “Ho’s” (women), gun each other down and deal drugs. Gotta be a “playa” y’know. Those poor, poor blacks, having this violent garbage music shoved down their throats by evil whitey!
I’m sorry this thread got so off course. tarpal’s posts no longer deserve comment. I invite intelligent commentary on the OP to return, with my apologies.
It’s not as off course as you claim. The OP asked why a violent crime against a white girl is getting so much attention and the very first reply claimed it was becuse she is white.
Many posters opined that the reason was that the media was “racist”. I opined that the media is not racist, there is just so much more violent crime involving blacks that it is really not newsworthy anymore. Others argued that it is racist to say that, even though it’s true that black on black violence is the leading cause of death for blacks.
So why all the attention on the Smart case? Because it’s so unusual for this to happen in a white neighborhood. Why are similar crimes in black neighborhoods not splahsed all over the news? Because they’re too commonplace, and aren’t news.
Wrong. This is a myth. Homicide is about tenth on the list. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, even the flu beats out murder. Here are some stats from L.A., which I think we can agree is representative of urban America.
If what you say is true, then the fact that the media covers crime on whites, but does not cover crime on blacks, proves bias. Is it meant to be mean-spirited? No. But the OP asked “why” and you gave your reason. Because of race. That is bias. Bias based on race is racism.
On the other hand, I was just thinking of my post and the case and I think socioeconomic status had more to do with it than race (although, yes, the two can be linked). I was picturing a fat redheaded child with rosacea being abducted versus a black ballet student with a doctor as a father and a mother on the PTA, and I really do think the latter would be afforded a lot more coverage. As for the overreporting, well, that’s the news. Murder is completely overreported in the newspapers and on TV, even as the murder rate falls.
“In 1999, homicide was the leading cause of death among African-Americans 15 to 24 years of age—nearly nine out of 10 victims (88 percent) were shot and killed with firearms. Tallying up firearm homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings, the overall firearms death rate among African- Americans aged 15 to 24 was nearly three times higher (50.7 per 100,000) than the rate among all Americans aged 15 to 24 (18.0 per 100,000).”