What Matters to Us: Crimes Against Children - Why Is This Prime Time Viewing?

I believe it is called “morbid curiosity” – the compulsion to get all the details around horrifying incidents.  I understand this and also know some people are drawn to the most frightening, disturbing tales even though they know these images will haunt them in the night.  What I can’t understand is the media’s need for turning tragedy into circus.  To quote poet Tony Hoagland, from his poem “Fire,"

“… death is something that always has to be enclosed
by an elaborate set of explanations
it is an ancient litigation,
this turning of horror into stories,
and it is a lonely piece of work,
trying to turn the stories back into horror
but somebody has to do it”

I guess horror sells, and what is more horrible than the sexual abuse of children or a mother killing her own child.  First we are made familiar with the face of the missing child, and that is good. We should be familiar with children. We should all want to find them and shelter them from harm.  Images of missing children began appearing on milk cartons decades ago.  It was a bold move, associating one’s product with the scariest thing on earth. But it was a service to the community in a small pre-Internet way.  This week alone we have been inundated with details and images involving extreme cruelty to children with the promise of more to come. There is a countdown on the frequent commercial for the first and only personal interview with Jaycee Dugard, kidnapped at age 11 and held hostage in horrible conditions for 18 years. Yes, we want to know how one lives through that, if she sees her abductor’s features in the eyes of the children she was forced to bear. We want to understand why she didn’t tell anyone or try to escape. We find it almost impossible to apply that experience, that extreme, inhuman experience to our own families.  The whole thing brings on a visceral reaction.

Now there is competition  – the new "Trial of the Century” – with the onslaught of special news bulletins, talk show conjecture about whether or not Casey Anthony, a young mother, killed her beautiful 2 year old (and we know that face, noted that beauty when the missing fliers went up, ached for her family). Whether this woman killed this child is what the courtroom will decide.  I have avoided the stories after having seen that child’s face the first time.

These criminal actions of the worst kind are awful in and of themselves. The fact that we have to recognize that children cannot be protected 24 hours a day from those who might hurt them, these are the thoughts that can cause panic attacks  and sleepless nights, not only in parents, but children as well. The scariest of horror movies have little to do with rubbery monsters and lots to do with the idea that the ones who are supposed to love you could hurt you.

But horror draws attention, if it’s not your own horror.  I may even find myself watching while my stomach turn in knots, like feeling compelled to glance at a car wreck.  I just wish they could cut the Big Countdown, logos, theme songs that seem to accompany every terrible loss. Who ever came up with that idea?  Branding a horrible crime.  Someone in marketing had to dream that one up.  September 11 was wrapped in flags and music with enough images of planes flying into buildings repeatedly to create mass, worldwide PTSD in adults and children alike. Horrible things happen, and if we are extremely lucky they don’t happen to people we love, or even people we know. They are a part of life, and as such we should know about them, but it is how the story is told that makes the point, leaves the lasting impression.  I’d vote for less drama, less sideshow quality and more focus on resiliency. 

Human beings can live through so much it boggles the mind. The daily news tells the story of loss, however, there are few stories of living through, thriving in spite of tragedy.  If we stopped anyone who has lived through genocide, loss of a child, abuse, each would have his or her own riveting story.  For many people it is the turning point in their lives.  Some teach from what they’ve learned, some change laws, some struggle silently in the night.  It is private, and each person’s loss is as important as the next.  What we learn from these life-shattering lessons accompanies us through our lives and informs our decision-making and sense of trust.  Most don’t get their own TV specials, don’t get labeled, and don’t become notorious.  For the victims who find themselves the darlings of the media, they are introduced to a new kind of imprisonment, now that they are finally free but unable to go anywhere without questions and cameras as part of their landscape 

For those who commit these unthinkable crimes, they are awarded their new status of criminal-of-the-week, year or century.  They finally get the attention they were somehow not getting enough of up until this point. It all feels backwards and incredibly insensitive to these children who were real people in the lives of others before they became entertainment.

Do you agree with the way media covers particularly heinous stories?  Do you think it accomplishes anything positive or desensitizes us to these kinds of crimes?