Posted on 02/27/2012 3:25:04 AM PST by abb
The American public loves stories. It loves stories better than explicated truth, because stories entertain better. Ask Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Ask the Hofstra lads. And when the media gets something wrong, don't expect apologies or hand-wringing; there's just a rush to get on with the next story; because the truth would require so much explanation it would bore people and lose the audience.
Now we have a murder committed in Virginia. Alcohol played a part. But too many people enjoy alcohol to focus on that; and besides, the media wouldn't want to come across as prudes. The defendant was a student -- but that's too broad a category to be meaningful. How about describing him as a lacrosse player? That suits. It reads better that way. The story has more of a tabloid flavor.
"Virginia Lacrosse Murder Trial goes to jury"-- Reuters "UVA Lacrosse Murder Trial: Guilty Verdict" -- ABC "UVA Lacrosse Murder" -- CBS "The Lacrosse Murder ..." -- TIME essay
It brings up associations in our minds created by the very same press a couple of years ago -- lacrosse, Duke, rape -- something like that. The public doesn't have long memories; facts become blurry.
So it's the lacrosse murder. And we love our stereotypes -- neat categories that preclude the necessity for us to do any hard thinking.
When the Duke players were first accused (falsely), the media had a field day telling us how the wealthy white prep-school graduates had wantonly abused and then raped a poor working woman of color. There was no in-between to this fable, no degree of uncertainty, not even the slightest space between pure good and pure evil in the accounting of spoiled males sunk in depravity and their innocent (and very politically correct) victim.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
ping
In writing fiction, an author has to keep the reader from being sidetracked. Peripheral characters and plots must be discarded.
This principle is true not only of fiction, but of any effective writing. Historians, for instance, must decide which of the available facts are and are not important to the story they're telling.
Nice.
Thanks abb!
Point well made in the article. I eagerly await when an article or newscast about corruption by a Democrat begins with the word “Democrat,” or when an account of a screw up by a member of the media begins with the word “reporter,” or the words “news anchor.”
Too many of the consumers of our nation's news narrative willingly allow themselves to be molded like clay.
They want the popular moral of every story to be clearly spelled out for them, so they can have strong opinions without the bother of facts.
I followed the Duke lacrosse story closely, but I learned some facts in this article I had never heard before.
I’ve lost touch with the story; last I heard was that the boys were suing the university and everyone else involved. Are they driving Lamborghinis yet?
It's not about a monetary settlement. It's about seeing that the truth of Duke University and Durham's efforts to lynch innocent people be brought to light.
“I’ve lost touch with the story; last I heard was that the boys were suing the university and everyone else involved. Are they driving Lamborghinis yet?”
The presiding judge, James Beaty, has IMHO done everything possible to spike inquiry.
He permitted Nifong to assert he had $180 million in liabilities (presumably from possible future law suit settlements) at the same time he was claiming before the court that he was immune to any legal judgments. His bankruptcy proceedings delayed the taking of testimony for 10 months.
He decided that Duke hospital’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)—whose sole task is to collect evidence in a rape allegation—was not liable to persons accused of rape if she did her job badly. (If she lied, too bad.)
He ruled that since the lacrosse players were not of African descent, they could not sue for violation of their civil rights since the applicable civil rights laws were only written for African-Americans (even though the laws refer specifically to “every person” and “every citizen”). (If you’re Asian, white, Native-American, or anything else, too bad.)
He delayed for three years deciding whether or not the players had even stated sufficient grounds to continue with their case—although a single photo of Nifong demonstrating a choke hold before TV cameras (the choke hold never happened) was enough to show they
had grounds for a case to proceed.
Powerful figures in the NC establishment have to be protected. Hence, the circus goes on...
Thanks for the update CF. Wow, I thought this had concluded.
I haven’t followed the ordeal closely for the last couple of years. Thanks for the update.
I can’t believe what a crooked system of justice we have. It was bad enough before, but now this. Pathetic.
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
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