Mass Murder and Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
On January 8, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner shot eighteen people at a political gathering outside a supermarket near Tuscon, Arizona. Loughner, some kind of mental case, killed six of his victims. While spree killings of this nature are not uncommon--there were at least a dozen in 2011--this mass murder became big news because Loughner shot a congresswoman named Gabrielle Giffords. Shot in the head at close range, Giffords not only survived the wound, but made a remarkable recovery. Her husband, a recently retired astronaut, has already published a book about the incident.
In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, TV talk show hosts, news readers, and television correspondents launched a puerile campaign against "uncivil" political rhetoric laced with metaphores that call up images of violence. You know, murder inducing remarks like, "let's kill that piece of legislation," or this or that politician has a target on his back, or putting a rival politician in one's cross-hairs. Oh my, has it gotten that bad? No wonder America is such a violent country. It's the way we talk. We need to watch what we say, especially when we talk about politics and politicians.
A month or so after being scolded by vacuous communications department graduates with TV hair, we are, I'm relieved to say, back to rhetorical uncivility. Bills can still be dead on arrival, and politicians can still shoot themselves in the feet and hang themselves with their own ropes. When the great H. L. Menchen was asked how he would reform higher education, he said something like, "Burn down all the buildings and kill all the professors." Compared to the old days, we are not that uncivil.
Casey Anthony Murder Case
On July 15, 2008, Cindy Anthony, the mother of 22-year-old Casey Anthony, reported her 2-year-old granddaughter Caylee, missing. Cindy had not seen the little girl for 31 days. Caylee lived in her grandparents' Orlando, Florida home with her mother. In reporting the child missing, the grandmother said the trunk of her daughter's car smelled like it had contained a dead body. Casey Anthony, during the 31 days her daughter was missing, had been partying with friends. When confronted by the police, Casey said her daughter had been abducted by nanny who, as it turned out, didn't exist.
On October 2008, the authorities charged Casey Anthony with first-degree murder, and promised to seek the death penalty. Two months later, the child's skeletal remains were found in the woods near the Casey home. The little girl's nose and mouth had been duct-taped. The medical examiner ruled the death homicide.
Casey Anthony went on trial in May 2011. By now the case had become a media sensation with virtually all of the TV talking heads and their on-screen experts predicting a muder conviction. There hadn't been such TV true crime unanimity since the O. J. Simpson trial. The expert commentators ridiculed the defense attorney's theory that the baby had drowned in the family swimming pool on June 16, 2008. Clearly the jury would buy the prosecution's version of the death: the defendant had killed the child by administering chloroform, then duct-taping her nose and mouth.
On July 5, with millions of TV viewers sitting on the edges of their seats, the judge announced the jury's murder verdict: not guilty. For the next two weeks, TV's talking heads could talk of nothing else. How could this murderous mother walk free? What went wrong? Who blew the case? What will become of this woman?
The Casey Anthony case has slipped out of sight. But it won't take much to bring it back into the news, at least briefly. If Casey Anthony is arrested for DUI, makes an incriminating remark (think O. J. Simpson), or a witness comes out of the woodwork (Natalie Wood), the case will be newsworthy again.
UPDATE
Just after the first of the year, a video diary recorded last October by Casey Anthony surfaced on YouTube. In speaking to her computer three months after her murder acquittal, she said, "...things are starting to look up and things are starting to change in a good way...." Anthony never mentions Caylee in the four minute video, but talks about a dog "I've adopted and I love." This was her "first video diary" entry that she promised would be followed by many others. Her attorney assured reporters that Casey did not upload or release the video, and has no idea how it got on YouTube. (That's good enough for me.) She currently lives somewhere in Flordia.
The Jerry Sandusky Sex Molestation Case
The massive Penn State sex molestation scandal began on November 5 with the arrest of former coach Jerry Sandusky and two Penn State administrators. Sandusky, who left the university in 1998, stands accused of sexually molesting dozens of young boys between 1994 and 2009. The scandal has caused the firing of coach Joe Paterno, the face of Penn State football for decades. Since Sandusky's arrest, and revelations regarding his longtime relationships with boys associated with his youth program, authorities around the country have seen a spike in child abuse reporting. High profile coaches with other universities have been fired following similar allegations. The Jerry Sandusky story will be with us for awhile, and may also be one of the big crime stories for 2012.
On January 8, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner shot eighteen people at a political gathering outside a supermarket near Tuscon, Arizona. Loughner, some kind of mental case, killed six of his victims. While spree killings of this nature are not uncommon--there were at least a dozen in 2011--this mass murder became big news because Loughner shot a congresswoman named Gabrielle Giffords. Shot in the head at close range, Giffords not only survived the wound, but made a remarkable recovery. Her husband, a recently retired astronaut, has already published a book about the incident.
In the immediate aftermath of the shootings, TV talk show hosts, news readers, and television correspondents launched a puerile campaign against "uncivil" political rhetoric laced with metaphores that call up images of violence. You know, murder inducing remarks like, "let's kill that piece of legislation," or this or that politician has a target on his back, or putting a rival politician in one's cross-hairs. Oh my, has it gotten that bad? No wonder America is such a violent country. It's the way we talk. We need to watch what we say, especially when we talk about politics and politicians.
A month or so after being scolded by vacuous communications department graduates with TV hair, we are, I'm relieved to say, back to rhetorical uncivility. Bills can still be dead on arrival, and politicians can still shoot themselves in the feet and hang themselves with their own ropes. When the great H. L. Menchen was asked how he would reform higher education, he said something like, "Burn down all the buildings and kill all the professors." Compared to the old days, we are not that uncivil.
Casey Anthony Murder Case
On July 15, 2008, Cindy Anthony, the mother of 22-year-old Casey Anthony, reported her 2-year-old granddaughter Caylee, missing. Cindy had not seen the little girl for 31 days. Caylee lived in her grandparents' Orlando, Florida home with her mother. In reporting the child missing, the grandmother said the trunk of her daughter's car smelled like it had contained a dead body. Casey Anthony, during the 31 days her daughter was missing, had been partying with friends. When confronted by the police, Casey said her daughter had been abducted by nanny who, as it turned out, didn't exist.
On October 2008, the authorities charged Casey Anthony with first-degree murder, and promised to seek the death penalty. Two months later, the child's skeletal remains were found in the woods near the Casey home. The little girl's nose and mouth had been duct-taped. The medical examiner ruled the death homicide.
Casey Anthony went on trial in May 2011. By now the case had become a media sensation with virtually all of the TV talking heads and their on-screen experts predicting a muder conviction. There hadn't been such TV true crime unanimity since the O. J. Simpson trial. The expert commentators ridiculed the defense attorney's theory that the baby had drowned in the family swimming pool on June 16, 2008. Clearly the jury would buy the prosecution's version of the death: the defendant had killed the child by administering chloroform, then duct-taping her nose and mouth.
On July 5, with millions of TV viewers sitting on the edges of their seats, the judge announced the jury's murder verdict: not guilty. For the next two weeks, TV's talking heads could talk of nothing else. How could this murderous mother walk free? What went wrong? Who blew the case? What will become of this woman?
The Casey Anthony case has slipped out of sight. But it won't take much to bring it back into the news, at least briefly. If Casey Anthony is arrested for DUI, makes an incriminating remark (think O. J. Simpson), or a witness comes out of the woodwork (Natalie Wood), the case will be newsworthy again.
UPDATE
Just after the first of the year, a video diary recorded last October by Casey Anthony surfaced on YouTube. In speaking to her computer three months after her murder acquittal, she said, "...things are starting to look up and things are starting to change in a good way...." Anthony never mentions Caylee in the four minute video, but talks about a dog "I've adopted and I love." This was her "first video diary" entry that she promised would be followed by many others. Her attorney assured reporters that Casey did not upload or release the video, and has no idea how it got on YouTube. (That's good enough for me.) She currently lives somewhere in Flordia.
The Jerry Sandusky Sex Molestation Case
The massive Penn State sex molestation scandal began on November 5 with the arrest of former coach Jerry Sandusky and two Penn State administrators. Sandusky, who left the university in 1998, stands accused of sexually molesting dozens of young boys between 1994 and 2009. The scandal has caused the firing of coach Joe Paterno, the face of Penn State football for decades. Since Sandusky's arrest, and revelations regarding his longtime relationships with boys associated with his youth program, authorities around the country have seen a spike in child abuse reporting. High profile coaches with other universities have been fired following similar allegations. The Jerry Sandusky story will be with us for awhile, and may also be one of the big crime stories for 2012.
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