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The first story was about the horrible, 'shocking' treatment people sometimes receive, such as a woman left to die on a hospital floor, a man who was hit-and-run and then ignored laying on the road in a daylit New York street, or the boy who was tipped out of his wheelchair and ordered to stand up to be searched.
As soon as I saw the segment advertised I made a bet with myself, that the people - person, since I only saw the first example advertised beforehand - would be white, and perhaps a member of some other socially sympathetic class. Because this sort of thing happens all the time and seeing it spoken about made me wonder what about this case was getting it airtime?
Far as I could tell I was right, all three individuals appeared (from grainy video footage) to be white. The first two were I believe classed as elderly, the last a teenaged or young adult male in a wheelchair, sets of person generally classed as helpless and to be pitied.
Point is cynicism about what it takes for media to notice a problem, and even so still regarded as isolated shocking incidents and how could this happen in the United States? My whole life I have seen problems talked about and people ask 'How could this happen here, in this nation of wonderfulness?' (and in case you are wondering, I mean Australia too and probably several other nations) and while I suppose many people find this nationalistic ethnocentrism charming and perhaps even spurring-to-action, it gets rather tiring seeing such things portrayed as shocking, surprising when they go on happening all the time and are not really very hidden and oh goodness the people involved generally have to be some form of acceptably pitiable to even be noticed.
The second story, the first words I heard were from a video interview: "At what point do you stop defending paedophiles?"
I imagine most people can tell this is a rather loaded question in the present society. As far as I could tell, the matter in question involved a man who had served fourteen years in prison for child sex abuse, had after release been accused of abusing a young girl and, I surmise, this story had been prompted by his recent release from prison relating to that matter.
I make this supposition because the man being interviewed pointed out that the man in question had served out his previous prison sentence, had in fact been in prison two and a half years for the more recent matter of the girl despite not having been convicted for it, and that the girl in question had in fact fingered someone else as the guilty party (presumably a factor in his release).
At this point the host interrupted to say "But he has a track record." Which apparently trumps such trivial details as evidence and who the victim accuses and whether he has actually been convicted for the crime in question. This hysteria troubles me, in the way people who have served their sentences are not then permitted to live their lives after, and convicted in public sentiment forever after. See this case, where based on what I heard it seemed the host was insisting this man must somehow be punished, be held in prison, be prevented from living his life despite the matter having been looked into legally and his having been released rather than convicted of it and there being someone else accused of the crime.
As soon as I saw the segment advertised I made a bet with myself, that the people - person, since I only saw the first example advertised beforehand - would be white, and perhaps a member of some other socially sympathetic class. Because this sort of thing happens all the time and seeing it spoken about made me wonder what about this case was getting it airtime?
Far as I could tell I was right, all three individuals appeared (from grainy video footage) to be white. The first two were I believe classed as elderly, the last a teenaged or young adult male in a wheelchair, sets of person generally classed as helpless and to be pitied.
Point is cynicism about what it takes for media to notice a problem, and even so still regarded as isolated shocking incidents and how could this happen in the United States? My whole life I have seen problems talked about and people ask 'How could this happen here, in this nation of wonderfulness?' (and in case you are wondering, I mean Australia too and probably several other nations) and while I suppose many people find this nationalistic ethnocentrism charming and perhaps even spurring-to-action, it gets rather tiring seeing such things portrayed as shocking, surprising when they go on happening all the time and are not really very hidden and oh goodness the people involved generally have to be some form of acceptably pitiable to even be noticed.
The second story, the first words I heard were from a video interview: "At what point do you stop defending paedophiles?"
I imagine most people can tell this is a rather loaded question in the present society. As far as I could tell, the matter in question involved a man who had served fourteen years in prison for child sex abuse, had after release been accused of abusing a young girl and, I surmise, this story had been prompted by his recent release from prison relating to that matter.
I make this supposition because the man being interviewed pointed out that the man in question had served out his previous prison sentence, had in fact been in prison two and a half years for the more recent matter of the girl despite not having been convicted for it, and that the girl in question had in fact fingered someone else as the guilty party (presumably a factor in his release).
At this point the host interrupted to say "But he has a track record." Which apparently trumps such trivial details as evidence and who the victim accuses and whether he has actually been convicted for the crime in question. This hysteria troubles me, in the way people who have served their sentences are not then permitted to live their lives after, and convicted in public sentiment forever after. See this case, where based on what I heard it seemed the host was insisting this man must somehow be punished, be held in prison, be prevented from living his life despite the matter having been looked into legally and his having been released rather than convicted of it and there being someone else accused of the crime.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-02 17:10 (UTC)From:It works, as an argument, because that emotional reaction is present in a lot of people, and it trumps reasoned analysis almost every time. You need to have an uncommon self-awareness or a very strong ability to analyze objectively in the face of emotion, to outthink an emotional response that strong.
I also share your reaction about the social classes involved. These "shocking treatments" mentioned in the first program are...well, pretty damned common. This isn't even news. It just doesn't seem to be worth remarking on when the victim isn't white and either affluent or seen as vulnerable...
*shakes her head*
no subject
Date: 2008-07-02 17:34 (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2008-07-03 00:02 (UTC)From:And yus, whenever they want to call attn to an "issue" they pick a white person and make it all about "look how horrible they have it, shouldn't you feel bad for them?" and then the issue will vanish again until they think it's gone enuf that they can bring it back to shock ppl. :\
And they always act as if these things are rare, but you should care about them b/c they are awful awful awful.. and it sets this thing up that a) it's rare, feel bad, move on b) ppl who suffer are in extreme pitiable states and therefore any ppl who are not in those states are not worth your notice c) there are no issues to understand and it doesn't matter what the ppl involved say, all that matters if that they're like you (white, middle class, etc etc) and they live in a way you wouldn't want to, so feel bad for them, they just want to be normal! and d) OMG CAN YOU BELIEVE IT IS HAPPENING HERE IN THE LAND OF AWESOMENESS!????? IT'S SHOCKING B/C OUR LAND IS SO AWESOME AND THE FACT THAT THIS SHOCKS YOU IS PROOF OF HOW AWESOME ARE LAND IS!!! HURRY UP AND FIX THE PROBLEM SO WE CAN BE BACK TO BEING PERFECT INSTEAD OF THIS SMALL TINY SMEAR.
>:\
And I'm tired of how ppl treat ex-cons esp if there is no evidence towards them in a situation like that, and it's still like "oh but.. the public will more easily swallow this!"
no subject
Date: 2008-07-03 00:02 (UTC)From: