News

[prog]

Why is Google News not just the first but so far the only place I've heard anything about the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic? Granted, that means the story hasn't gotten enough NPR-play that I've noticed, but still, sheesh...

Also: Is there a non-cynical answer to the question about why the Elizabeth Smart story got big news, apparently starting with the girl's disappearance? It's certainly a happy thing to hear (and I'm made happier to hear that others are happy too), but I'd think that child kidnapping, and sometimes subsequent recovery, happens often enough around the country that a case involving otherwise unknown people shouldn't make national headlines. Of course, now it's interesting because there's a mutant religious nut involved and everyone loves to hear about that, but he didn't come into the story until just recently, right? (And I grant that I could be wrong about the Smart family being somehow famous before this... maybe I missed something.)

Comments

Re: re. Elizabeth Smart

[cramerica.livejournal.com]

well said cw
also such stories feed into the idealized innocence that we must impute to childhood,
as the more adult-erated we become individually and societally.

Maya Angelou said it pretty well too, albeit in different context:
"I was going to look like one of the sweet little white girls who were everybody's dream of what was right with the world."