We sure love obsessing over white women in distress

There is reason to question the motivation of the Media in covering these stories, but that should be possible without somehow suggesting that those whose plights do receive coverage are somehow not worthy of it.

Christian Longo married Mary Jane Baker in 1993 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They were both Jehovah's Witnesses and they remained in Michigan to work hard so they could afford to raise a family. By 2000, they had three children, a boy and two girls. Then Longo was caught and convicted of forging checks, and their fortunes went into a serious decline. They left the state in mid-2001 and went to Newport, Oregon, where Longo got a low-paying job at a Starbucks. He also got into trouble again. Then the family just disappeared.

On December 19, 2001, the body of the boy, Zachary, was pulled out of the water of Alsea Bay. They soon found Sadie Ann, the second oldest. A week later, Mary Jean and the baby were found by divers. Both had been strangled and tossed into the water. Family possessions were located in a nearby trash can.

Longo was located in Cancun, Mexico, but he had already fled. They found him in a grass hut in Tulum, trysting with a German woman.


Less than three months later, in March 2002, the community of McMinnville, just south of Portland, was shaken when a family of six was found shot dead in their home. Landscaping contractor Robert Bryant apparently shot his wife, Janet, and their four children before turning the shotgun on himself. The children were all found in their beds. From all reports, they had last been seen at school on February 22, and no one had thought much about them disappearing for more than ten days. Like the Longos, this family had belonged to the Jehovah's Witnesses faith, but reportedly had been shunned by their former community for conduct not in harmony with the religion's principles. (Flaccus reports it was because Bryant believed he had been anointed for a special purpose.)


Bryant was described as deeply religious, mild-mannered, and devoted to his family, so the massacre came as a surprise to many who knew them. He'd had plans to build a nice home and nothing appeared to be so terrible in his life as to inspire such an act. There were rumors that he feared that relatives who belonged to the church would sue for custody of his children, so perhaps he was protecting them from that. Bryant had also filed for bankruptcy the year before, but had rebuilt his business and was getting back on his feet. The day he shot everyone and used the same shotgun on himself was his and Janet's 17th wedding anniversary.

The sudden deaths remain a mystery.


Nine months later, Edward Morris, 37, killed his pregnant wife and three young children. A hunter found their bodies in Oregon's Tillamook State Forest. Morris' wife and two sons had been shot, his 8-year-old daughter stabbed 18 times. He had fled, but after an international manhunt, was caught not far away in Baker City, Oregon. He, too, had been on the brink of financial ruin. He, too, was deeply religious, but as an evangelical Christian. He so hated violence that he had home-schooled his children to keep them away from disruptions at school. He doted on them as the centerpiece of his life. He had filed for bankruptcy in 1993 for his roofing business, but had not quite recovered from it. He had worked at a series of jobs and was plagued with financial problems. During pre-trial evaluations, he said that he'd been plagued by the voices of demons and had struggled against them, but they had told him to kill.

Isn't this "profile" just about the same as the typical person killed by a serial killer?

Aren't they usually young, white, women too?

Finn d'Abuzz wrote:

There is reason to question the motivation of the Media in covering these stories, but that should be possible without somehow suggesting that those whose plights do receive coverage are somehow not worthy of it.

OK, I'll say the unpopular... They are not worthy of it. These stories are not of national interest and tend to create a distorted issue of our society and the risks we face everyday. I ended up with a conversation with some guy who was convinced that children are snatched out of cars when their parents aren't looking "everyday, right here in Wilmington!" I had to laugh. There has not been a case of a stranger doing a child abduction here in the fifteen years I have lived here. Are there isolated cases throughout the country? Sure. Should we take reasonable precautions for child safety? Sure. Should we live in fear of evil child stealers? I say no.

Back to white women in crisis. Should we teach our daughters to take reasonable precautions for their safety? Yes. Should we obsess about those that don't? No, or we would be obsessing all day long. Is domestic violence a tragedy that is enacted throughout our country and throughout the world everyday? Yes. Do I need to hear about it when in happens to a young, middle class, attractive white woman in a city far, far away? No, I can hear about it all I want by talking to people locally.

With all the things that really need attention in the press, I don't think these cases are worthy of coverage in comparison. Local coverage, maybe. National coverage, no.

I suspect that these fathers own murder their children are as much motivated by the idea of ownership as anything else. Not unrelated to the idea that "no one can take care of them as well as I can" but more along the lines of "I don't want anyone else to take care of them."

As for the original argument, I think that Finn was being more than a little coy...

Damsel, from demoiselle, from Old French dameisele, from Latin domina, simply means a young lady. As such, it has nothing to do with peasants, so, technically, Jessica Lynch was never a damsel.

engineer wrote:

Finn d'Abuzz wrote:

There is reason to question the motivation of the Media in covering these stories, but that should be possible without somehow suggesting that those whose plights do receive coverage are somehow not worthy of it.

OK, I'll say the unpopular... They are not worthy of it. These stories are not of national interest and tend to create a distorted issue of our society and the risks we face everyday. I ended up with a conversation with some guy who was convinced that children are snatched out of cars when their parents aren't looking "everyday, right here in Wilmington!" I had to laugh. There has not been a case of a stranger doing a child abduction here in the fifteen years I have lived here. Are there isolated cases throughout the country? Sure. Should we take reasonable precautions for child safety? Sure. Should we live in fear of evil child stealers? I say no.

Back to white women in crisis. Should we teach our daughters to take reasonable precautions for their safety? Yes. Should we obsess about those that don't? No, or we would be obsessing all day long. Is domestic violence a tragedy that is enacted throughout our country and throughout the world everyday? Yes. Do I need to hear about it when in happens to a young, middle class, attractive white woman in a city far, far away? No, I can hear about it all I want by talking to people locally.

With all the things that really need attention in the press, I don't think these cases are worthy of coverage in comparison. Local coverage, maybe. National coverage, no.

There is quite a difference between asserting that the extensive and sensational coverage these stories tend to attract is of questionable value to the viewing public and contending that the victims are not worthy of media attention.

The disappearance of an American woman in a foreign land (particularly a place touted as an island paradise for tourists) is newsworthy. The speculation that the story would never have received similar attention if it involved a black woman or a man is just that, but even if that were to be the case, it doesn't make a story of a white woman and foul pay unnewsworthy.

The News has never been solely about revealing political corruption or patient abuse in mental hospitals. It is not only an unreasonable requirement that stories featured in the News be those that impact thousands of people as opposed to those that impact the few, it demonstrates a callous disregard for the plight of individuals and an inability to understand how the plight of individuals can deeply affect thousands.

I will agree that the nature of the news coverage is disagreeable and sometimes even offensive, but to somehow lay that at the doorstep of the victims being covered is misplacing the blame.

Maybe she was, and maybe she wasn't technically. But the author, Robinson, named her specifically. I propose she was as much a damsel as Joan of Arc ever was. Wasn't she technically a peasant also?

CG--

I was linking the elderly murder/suicides with the younger men who slaughter their wives and children.

Princes rescue virgins--and then deflower them.

princesspupule wrote:

Maybe she was, and maybe she wasn't technically. But the author, Robinson, named her specifically. I propose she was as much a damsel as Joan of Arc ever was. Wasn't she technically a peasant also?

First, to clear things up for you, that was wry humor, and not intended as being serious. One could contend that La Pucelle was a member of the petite bourgeoisie rather than a peasant, but that would still not have made her a damsel, if one were to stick to the aristocratic concept of a young lady. But who cares? As i said, the comment on Jessica Lynch was simply wry humor, or intended to be. Please be assured that when i indulge something as pedantically silly as that was, it is not meant to be a serious comment.

There is quite a difference between asserting that the extensive and sensational coverage these stories tend to attract is of questionable value to the viewing public and contending that the victims are not worthy of media attention.

The disappearance of an American woman in a foreign land (particularly a place touted as an island paradise for tourists) is newsworthy. The speculation that the story would never have received similar attention if it involved a black woman or a man is just that, but even if that were to be the case, it doesn't make a story of a white woman and foul pay unnewsworthy.

...

I will agree that the nature of the news coverage is disagreeable and sometimes even offensive, but to somehow lay that at the doorstep of the victims being covered is misplacing the blame.