Trident murder? Hmm, the police might want to take a look at this guy:

Institutionally racist, sexist, homophobic... take your pick, the Sun's got it all. They take dead aim at their preferred readership- the racist, sexist, homophobes of our fair nation who seemingly number high enough to make the Sun (et al) so successful. I couldn't help but laugh bitterly as they accused Abu Hamza of inciting racial hatred, when the whole newspaper industry is much more accomplished at perpetrating this.

This is true of the media in the US too. Hundreds of kids go missing every day, but the moment it's a blonde haired, blue eyed white girl...

Of those hundreds of kids who go missing each day...how many of them disappear under suspicious curcumstances, with ominous overtones, while on a school-sponsored, international fieldtrip?

Of those cases where there are suspects...how many of the suspects are the children of high-profile members of a foreign judicial system?

At exactly the same time of this case, a young girl went missing in Pennsylvania, she was young, attractive and most importantly went missing in this country, where she might have been found. There was no attention paid in the mass media because she was black. Period.

The main suspect being the son of a judge wasn't discovered until the media frenzy was well underway, you know. You don't remember the two security guards who had their names slandered by the press before they were exonerated? Wonder what race they were?

[Edited on Jan 27, 2006 by PointBlank]

Same thing happens in this country whenever a pretty young white girl is kidnapped.

Right. There was a reporter who got wind of an attractive missing child in Pennsylvania...but shelved the idea when he found out she was black.

OR:

Maybe a black reporter covered the story and when she brought the story to her editor...the editor laughed and said "Simmons...what are you crazy? We can't run this story...She's BLACK for God's sake"

Do I think there's a certain degree of racism in virtually every aspect of life...yes, probably. However, your assertion that the story wasn't run with the same zeal as the Holloway story ONLY because the missing girl was black...fucking ludicrous. I find that line of thinking almost as despicable as overt racism.

Yeah, If you think that's how racism happens, then I guess it wasn't racist. I also don't think there's much reasoning with you.

Name the last high-profile case of kidnapping where the victim was black.

There's no reasoning with me because I don't suffer the same degree of white guilt that you do?

To be honest...I can't remember the last high-profile kidnapping case other than Natalee Holloway...regardless of the race of the victim. I only remember her because it was so recent...and plastered everywhere.

...and as far as the national media in the US not covering African-American children...do a little search for Raymond & Vanessa Jackson....then look up Fahim Williams. Granted, those are cases of abuse & murder respectively...not kidnapping, but they're not getting swept under the rug in exchange for higher-profile "white" cases as you would have me believe.

[Edited on Jan 27, 2006 by Cash]

Ludicrous? Look around: When a white girl is kidnapped, the media pays attention. When it's a black girl, they don't. Explain that. Not all racism is "overt" but this is one example where it is pretty damned overt. And I fail to see how accusing the media is anywhere near as damaging and offensive as outright racism is and has been historically.

It's this attitude that people have where accusations of racism become "almost as bad as" being a racist that is most disturbing.

Yes, a case where the girl was abandoned, no one noticed she was missing for 16 fucking months, and wound up dead. But still, not as much attention as Elizabeth Smart, who was gone for nine months.

Look, no one sits down and says "we're not going to run this story because the girl is black." But that's not how institutionalized racism works. If you want to keep lobbing insults like "white guilt" at me, then fine. Go ahead. Heaven forbid anyone should actually look at the facts and see that *gasp* there is a lot of racism in the American press.

Two words: Laci Peterson