Its just a theory, and its rooted purely in conjecture, but its also the best lead available so far, which raises a worthwhile question: Why have so many in the press, the national TV media in particular, been reluctant to pursue it?
Surely its not just that the stories are unsubstantiated. That, after all, never kept the media from investigating claims of Nicole Brown Simpsons drug use, the basis of O.J. defenders absurd charge that drug lords were "the real killer."
For their part, the van Dams have yet to deny the innuendos categorically. Asked about the alleged swinging on a San Diego TV station, Mrs. van Dam replied that "rumors are rumors," and "they have absolutely nothing to do with this investigation." Newsweek, one of few national media outlets thats questioned the van Dams telling of events, quotes their spokeswoman, Sara Fraunces, as issuing the classic non-denial denial: The van Dams "do not lead a perfect lifestyle," she said, but thats immaterial to the matter at hand.
Fraunces no doubt chose her words carefully. In the last 35 years, the term "lifestyle" has become not only the code word for any sort of sexual deviance, but also the quick way to claim a certain immunity from inconvenient questioning about it. This is the same logic Bill Clinton and his defenders used to rationalize perjury and lying to the American public, because it was "just about sex." For Gary Condit, it justified denying his affair to Washington police. His lifestyle took precedence over their duty to find Chandra Levy, dead or alive.
Like the "right to privacy" (a term invoked almost exclusively in sexual matters), the "lifestyle" claim is an appeal to the sexual revolution and its promise of an uninhibited sex life free of all responsibilities and moral judgment. It supersedes even laws, justice, or, in the case of Danielle van Dam and others, human life. To many of the reporters covering the van Dam story, the couples right to privacy similarly transcends the need for a complete and thorough investigation of their daughters disappearance.
But the couples "personal life" is a legitimate subject of inquiry, and not just for investigators. With their appeals to the press and calls for volunteers to help look for Danielle, the van Dams have made the investigation into their daughters kidnapping a very public affair. Privacy concerns should keep neither police nor reporters from pursuing all viable leadscertainly not when theres a chance Danielle may still be alive.
It may be, as Mrs. van Dam claims, that Danielles abduction has nothing to do with her parents sexual predilections, but at this point, theres no way for the van Dams to know that for sure. If they are lying about that Friday nights events, then their credibility on all matters must be called into doubt. And even if they are telling the truth about that night, but they hosted sex parties in their home on others, that could yield a long list of potential suspectspeople with unhealthy sexual behaviors who know the lay of the house.
The fetishization of "privacy" shouldnt keep the van Dams from being forthright, or preclude the press from doing its job. The life of a little girl is at stake.
They only need to be forthright to the police. They have no obligation to you or the ratings mad press. The life of a little girl is at stake.
The only little girl in this case that I know about is already dead. What are you talking about??