Drop Everything! White Girl Missing!!!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:14am

Once again the media has jumped all over the story of the pretty blonde white girl who is missing. Why does this continue to surprise me? Why this girl when thousands go missing every year?

[KelRel]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:18am

The run away bride wasn't blonde, Lacey Peterson wasn't blonde, lots of non blonde people go missing and the media jumps on it. I love you Sueleen but stop stirring up trouble. This is getting national attention because it happened overseas- stuff like this, in tourist spots always attracts attention. Authorities look for missing people every day, blonde or not.

Edit- Just to be safe I like having blonde hair (dark blonde, but still)

Updated On: 6/7/05 at 09:18 AM

[ConvinceMe2]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:19am

Do thousands go missing on trips to Aruba? While I know what you mean, I think this is different.

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:32am

This thread is so mean. So, because the girl is white and blonde, nobody should be looking for her Suellen? This thread should be deleted.

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:36am

good luck getting the mods to delete an offensive/innapropriate thread.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:44am

I don't believe that Sueleen's point is that no one should be looking for her, but rather that this demonstrates a media bias. Anyone who pays even minimal attention to what "cases" warrant a media blitz will most likely have to agree that when something bad happens to a pretty, slender, white girl (blonde or not, but preferably middle/upper class), it is used to sell papers and to pique interest in news reports. What's worse is that this poor, unfortunate girl is only a week or two away from being a cover girl on the Star, the Sun, and the Enquirer. Were the missing girl fat, ugly, or a young woman of color, her disappearance wouldn't receive the same level of attention.

[ConvinceMe2]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:48am

Well, lucky for her that she's slim and pretty, then.

[Over_the_Moon]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:48am

I, for one, agree with Sueleen.

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:51am

Precisely, Convince....

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:58am

I think Sueleen is trying to make a point: We focus on stories like this at the expense of the actual "News." I hate the "Missing girl" stories, I hate the sobbing relatives who parade their grief on national television (or worse, parlay it into a full-time job), I hate the stupid "What if?" speculation that seems to engross the cable shows....it's all pointless.

When I watched this coverage this weekend, I dreamed that the media had to put every item in context-- How many tourists are killed and where? Is this the first American to disappear in a foreign country? Does it happen every month? Every week? Every day? I recall the "Summer of the Sharks" in 2001 when every time you turned on the TV there was another shark Attack victim-- Shark attacks were so bad that it was the covers of all the news magazines! The only trouble with the story was, there were no more shark attacks than any other summer. Someone just realized that Shark Attacks drew ratings, so they reported them all.

That's how this stroy strikes me! Let's get everyone riled up! A TOURIST HAS GONE MISSING!!! Everyone who's going on vacation this summer will HAVE to find out what happened!!!!!

[DBillyP]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 10:22am

I am with Sueleen, and don't even get me started about the race issue and juries and the death penalty ...

[Corine2]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:15am

I think if I was missing many of you would throw a party.
LOL!

[Matthew Rask]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:30am

Aaaaaaaaand scene......

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:32am

Sueleen, keep fighting the good fight.

Look no further than the past winter's Tsunami coverage. I offended many people at this very site (and got hate PMs) by pointing out the unbalanced coverage of the missing white vacationing types vs. the indigenous people whose entire families were washed away. Tragedy is tragedy, but does anyone really think there ISN'T bias in such coverage?

[etoile]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 12:34pm

I just have to interject. Because one does not agree with a viewpoint, an opinion or a statement that does not constitute the post being mean, offensive or inappropriate.

To me the offensive and inappropriate threads are the type where one whines because they're bored at work rather than being thankful they have a fricken job.

[Plum]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 2:54pm

I'm with Sueleen. The media likes to leap on stories of little white girls who get abducted because for some reason they're under the impression that non-white, unattractive, or male children don't make as good a story. I guess they don't give off enough of the oh-so-necessary "adorable and helpless" vibe.

[jaded_october]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 3:02pm

i understand what suleen is saying, and it IS true.

but what joe said "I hate the sobbing relatives who parade their grief on national television (or worse, parlay it into a full-time job), I hate the stupid "What if?" speculation that seems to engross the cable shows....it's all pointless."

im sure if one of your dear relatives was kidnapped and you had no idea whether or not they were alive, you would do the same thing. they go on tv to get people to help look for them, and to make the country aware that there is someone missing.

that said, what i dont understand is why only some people with missing family get to go on tv and make a national broadcast about it, and others dont. people all over the world are feeling the same thing about their missing loved ones, why should only a few people be able to make a national announcement about it? thats what pisses me off.

[Plum]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 3:06pm

I don't blame families for trying to get as much attention as possible in cases like these, but I do blame cable news networks for their shameless exploitation of these situations for ratings. Why don't we just drop the pretense and make a 24-hour Kidnapping Channel?

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:00pm

If my daughter was missing, I'd do everything possible to get the word out... And I would be able to, too, because my daughter would fit the desired demographic. And that's what is not fair. I don't blame the families. I blame the media.

Really. Think about it. Name a murder victim/missing person WHOSE NAME YOU REMEMBER who *wasn't* slim, white and pretty.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 5:35pm

This place is really becoming such an experiment in social Darwinism.

I believe KelRel misread Sueleen's intention because she saw herself in the mention of blonde hair. And of course, the less said about Abba Rabbit's piling on, the better.

If Lacy and Runaway and Alabama Senior were not white, we wouldn't be hearing about them.

Updated On: 6/7/05 at 05:35 PM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 9:32pm

she's blonde
comes along the sidewalk
leave a trail of blue and black
up to you fighting back
steel chains
a noose of charms on our necks
i find out nothing when we talk and sit
blue hot passion and watch the set
easy to fall
part of your skull
starts to break away
cheaters walk
down the block
behind this evil street
she's a white girl
but i'm livin' with a white girl
she's a white girl
but i'm livin' with a white girl
nineteen
missin' her man for an old girl
drain every beer left over at home
listen to ghosts in the other room
why not
you're alone inside his keeping
i'll replace your drunk old man
sit in the parking lot and hold your hand
easy to fall
part of your skull
starts to break away
drunk and in love
out at a club
holding me outside
she's a white girl
but i'm livin' with a white girl
she's a white girl
but i'm livin' with a white girl

[orion59]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 10:11pm

Can I really throw some controversy in here? Yes, the media jumps all over the middle to upper middle class white girl who is missing and ignores the many poor girls and girls of color who get murdered or go missing every day across the country. Why does the media do this? To sell papers and magazines or get people to tune into their broadcasts. Missing black girls, latin girls or asian girls don't sell the same because it's not as inetresting. So, doesn't that put a large portion of the blame for this exploitation on the people buying the papers and watching the news? Isn't the media just conducting good busines by giving us exactly what we want?

I'm certainly not defending the media, may lighhtning strike me dead if I ever do but, you can't put 100% of the blame in one place. We want it, they feed it to us.

[kjklo]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 10:26pm

Isn't that assuming that there's a perfectly functioning correlation between supply and demand, as the free market cultists/ideologues claim?

[Plum]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:10pm

I disagree. Demand doesn't completely shape supply; it goes the other way around as well. That's why you suddenly find yourself wanting products you never needed before thanks to advertising. Also, it's worth remembering that most media executives are white. They're going to cover the stories that interest them; that's why the missing children they report on look like they could be their children.

[kjklo]

Posted: 6/7/05 at 11:22pm

Thanks, Plum. You actually put into words what I was just thinking but couldn't quite formulate.