Friday, June 10, 2005

Are we really equal?

Something is bothering me about the Natalee Holloway incident. (In case you aren't familiar, the girl who went missing in Aruba) I'm very disturbed by the way that our media is handling it. And while I've had my suspicions that it was because she's a affluent, white blonde haired girl.....Bill O'Reilly somewhat confirmed that on his show last night.
He said that his viewers haven't been as obsessed since Laci Peterson case. Well, Laci Peterson was 8 months pregnant, remember? So, time was definately of the essence.
What bothers me about the Holloway case & the same thing that bothered me about the Elizabeth Smart case is, I think if Natalee Holloway were a black/hispanic/asian/anything 'not white' honor roll student we never would've sent extra FBI agents to Aruba. There wouldn't be all this press about it.
If you remember, at the same time Elizabeth Smart was missing, so was a little black girl backeast. But she wasn't in the media until her parents expressed their outrage about the discrimination. And they were right on!
Bill O'Reilly said the thing that makes us obsess about Natalee is that she could be any of our daughters. Really? Are ALL of your viewers daughters blonde & affluent, Bill? She couldn't be my daughter, thats for sure!
First of all, I would NEVER allow my daughter to go on a senior trip to another state, muchless country, even with 40+ chaperones. Remember, this wasn't an educational trip, it was a celebration. I've never quite understood that. And I've never understood parents that buy 'but we aren't going to drink" line either. Then why are they going to a country where the legal drinking age is 18?????
Me saying this doesn't mean that I don't feel for her family & hope that she returns home soon & safely. But I'm saying I wish our media & law enforcement would also focus on the poor, minority missing children who stayed in their home country, AMERICA, and try to find them too. Is that asking too much?
It's the underpriveleged kids that most need the help of authorities because their relatives probably can't afford to hire any private detectives, etc.
Maybe if parents of those missing kids would dye their childrens hair blonde, they'd get more help.

posted by jane at 5:07 PM