Friday, July 01, 2005
Natalie Holloway...
If I were the family of Natalie Holloway, I would do all I could to find my daughter. That said, why is the American public subjected to around the clock coverage? Is her life more valuable than the fourteen year old Latino kid who died last night riding his bike? It's amazing how cynical the news cycle is and how they play up the sensational stories for all they are worth. Not just in the present day, but for all time.
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17 comments:
Of course her life is more valuable. She is blonde, blue-eyed (I think), and had a very promising future. The "stereotypical" city kid who disappears or is murdered under "suspicious" circumstances is black, or brown, brown-eyed, and "probably could have" made something of his/her life if given the chance, or saved by some Great White Hope. Mainstream America will always identify with a kid who looks more like the "average American child" than with a so-called "minority" child. Didn't you know?
Amazing isn't it?
hum i don't want to be cynical, but let's be serious for a damn minute , how is a minority kid supposed to look like ? is n't he supposed to look like his african cousin? , it is not the media who decided that an average black kids image don't sell it is the community that is busy showing the exotic look.
I think you misconstrued her comment. She was being ironic and pointing out how the media determines who is relevant. And since most news rooms are predominately white, they automatically attribute our youth with not being "mainstream and wholesome" American kids. When in reality, they are as American as these white kids they always profile.
WHY MUST PEOPLE INSIST ON TURNING THIS INTO A "RACE" ISSUE. THIS IS A MISSING PERSON. REGARDLESS OF RACE, CREED, SEX, RELIGION, ETC. HER PARENTS ARE DOING EVERYTHING WITHING THEIR POWER TO FIND THEIR CHILD, WHETHER IT BE THE MEDIA (TELEVISION, INTERNET, RADIO, ETC.). IF IT WERE YOUR CHILD, WOULDN'T YOU? THIS BULL SHIT ABOUT HER LIFE IS MORE VALUABLE BECAUSE SHE IS BLOND HAIR AND BLUE EYED MAKES ME WANT TO PUKE. THERE ARE MISSING PERSONS ON CNN REGARDLESS OF RACE ALL THE TIME. DO YOU WATCH NANCY GRACE... 8PM... SHE REPORTS ALL RACES, ALL SEXES...WHITE, AFRICAN AMERICAN, LATINO. THE PUBLICITY HAS CAME FROM THE FACT THAT THE PARENTS ARE DESPERATE AND THE FACT THAT ARUBA IS A VACATION SPOT. THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN VERY OFTEN IN ARUBA SO IT BECAME A BIG STORY. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BLOND HAIR AND BLUE EYES... FOR CRYING OUT LOUD HAVE SOME COMPASSION. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD TODAY.
No, that doesn't wash. As a former reporter, I DO know that the media picks and chooses who it wants to cover, and a lot of times that has to do with who get the ratings. White women, or damsels in distress, get ratings. As tragic as it is, there's absolutely nothing special about Natalie Holloway. Absolutely nothing. She was an American on vacation who was killed. That story should have been covered by her local news agency and then perhaps followed up if there were new developments. But a NATIONAL news story? No. And if you make decisions to cover missing, murdered, ordinary white women as being something newsworthy, then you must make the observation that missing, murdered, ordinary, black/Latinas are unnewsworthy. You can poo-poo the idea that race has nothing to do with it, and for a lot of people, it makes them more comfortable. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what is covered and what is not. And a Nancy Grace doesn't match the combined coverage of every cable network in the country.
I think it is unfortunate that there is discrepancies in the media reporting but I am just as glad that at least there is as much coverage as there is because it makes people realize that these things do happen everywhere and no matter who you are you have to be careful and aware that yu may be in danger and not even know it.
Hopefully in the future there will be a better balance of these stories.
Lawrence,
I think you are an absolute racist moron. If it were your child, you would do just as the Holloway's are doing.
I wouldn't buy anything you write because you are exactly what is wrong with society today.
Well, since you're anonymous, I doubt that I'd really miss getting a book sale from you. Would ya think? Thanks for stopping by.
I would like to add that i also think that it is very clear that you are a racist. I believe that this story is on the news because it is an odd story that does not happen in aruba often. Maybe you should take some time and vist the island and see what it is like an you wil have an insight to all of this. NOT TO MENTION NOT ONE PERSON KNOWS WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THIS GIRL AND IT IS A SAD AND SCARY THING. You need to open your mind up to things and not be a sick twisted racist freak!!!!!!
I also would not consider buying anything you write i think only people that are dementided like you would buy your book.
Who are you to decided who is important and who is not.This girls life was important to her family friends ect... This a human being we are talking about not some animal. What if this was your child missing and not know what has happend to her not knowing what pain she has indured or even if she is dead or alive. You are an insensitve pig who im sure has no life or friends or family!!!!
your probly in your little shit whole of an apartment with your two cats and no life.I can pretty much tell yu are not a white person that is angry with the world i would suggest getting so serious help because the would is not racial anymore freak!!!!
If you had been speaking English, perhaps I could have understood your post. However, since you didn't, I can excuse you for not complete understanding my original post where I said I had no problem with the Holloway family grieving and looking for their daughter. However, the world IS "racial" and there are disparities in who gets noticed and who doesn't. The media decides who is valuable and who isn't, and consistently, young, pretty, white women are the most valuable and get the most national coverage. That's a fact. And by the way, I hate cats.
Whenever people use words like "black, white or blue" I know that they truly don't understand and like to avoid race whenever possible. LaToyia Figueroa was only covered when the media was CRITICIZED for not covering minorities. Still, the coverage was not saturated like the Holloway case.
According to the USA Today:
"FBI statistics show that men are slightly more likely than women to be reported as missing, and that blacks make up a disproportionately large segment of the victims. As of May 1, there were 25,389 men in the FBI's database of active missing persons cases, and 22,200 cases of women. Blacks accounted for 13,860 cases, vs. 29,383 whites."
Seen any wall to wall coverage of any black men lately? Suuurrreee, race doesn't matter.
In order to understand what words to use, you have to realize that "color" words are legitimate. We use them in every part of our society to describe and explain a myriad of problems. So why would we suddenly stop using them now? Assuming you're white, you never have to acknowledge your race because being white is the norm and everything else is "other". So there's no need to distinguish between an "Irish-American" or "German-American" because the whiteness is what binds you in American society. Those on the outside are grouped as "minorities" because of the very fact that we are NOT white.
Individual characteristic do matter when it comes to ignoring a whole segment of society, whether subtly or overtly. If I told you that there was a hurricane that hit the South, and the media only focused on the impact of the hurricane on those in Boston, you would think something was askew. You would point to the people in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi and say that's where the story should be focused. But if the media responded by continuing to only cover Boston, then you'd want to figure out why. And perhaps you'd find out that the people making decisions about where to cover the hurricane were all from Boston. That would be disturbing.
In most Americans race to leave racism behind as a thing of the past, they do the same thing that the racist do, they don't acknowledge the presence of racism. That is just as destructive as the person who makes detrimental decisions based on race.
I am a parent and I want to make sure that if something happened to my little black boy, that his life would be as valuable in the eyes of the media as some little white girl. And right now, all of the facts point to the argument that it isn't.
Don't look at their stories. Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are 30%-40% black. The media HAS to cover their stories. They are unavoidable. However, watch the NEGATIVE stories and see how there is a lack of plurality in who is covered. The face of looting will be a "black" face, even though there could be thousands of white people looting through the area. But the black faces will be on the screen constantly, distorting who is looting. But I doubt you actually understand the media or how race actually plays a part in creating perceptions. Perhaps I could suggest a few books?
I believe that it is an unfortunate event what has happened (or not happened) in the Natalee Holloway case, her parents are trying their best to get closure and find out the truth of what happened to their child, there is no fault in that and people should respect their will for trying. however i am the first one to conclude that the media is picky on which stories they make into "national stories" and which are not so important. It does appear that the media focuses on the white family rather than give the same attention to every missing persons. Ex: The Lacy Peterson case. that has received an outstanding amount of attention, yes it was a bad thing, but im sure that that kind of thing has happened times before. But in closing, my point is that the holloways are not at fault here, they are doing what any concerned parent would do, if anyone is at fault it is the media,but that is an argument or case that can be made if and when this teenager is found.
The holloway case made national attention because her parents were outspoken and demanded the autorities do someting. This is a case of the squeeky wheel getting the oil. It is to bad that most victims parents or survivors dont shout from the roof tops when the authorities don't preform as expected. Race was not a factor in this case, determend parents were, and any one that thinks it was race should discard their own rascism for a while and open their eyes to reality, Manuel Costa
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