Was Natalee Holloway Abducted by Aliens?
By: Robert Crane
If the article title upsets you, good! It is supposed to! There is hope that I am not alone. If it doesn’t disturb you and you are actually hoping to learn something or you happen to be one of those “alien abduction” types, stop reading now. In fact, stop reading period!
The title really does demonstrate an insensitivity bordering on just plain nastiness. Probably more insensitive than the nightly barrage of angles and discoveries and “what you need to know” pile of crap the mass media served up for months on end about Natalee’s disappearance. Maybe a bit more upsetting than Dr. Phil’s recent claim to have “sensitive information” (which he can’t reveal of course) that leads him to believe Natalee is a sex slave in Mexico. I suppose the title is more disturbing than anything Nancy Grace, Sean Hannity, Matt Drudge, Larry King, Geraldo Rivera and the rest have ever proclaimed.
So why the viciousness? It’s quite simple. I’m really angry. I thought the shameless hype of this god awful Holloway nightmare was finally receding from the high-def, front-and-center cable ‘news’ shows to the back pages of supermarket tabloids. But like so many other things, I was wrong! I just heard Rita Cosby’s thirty second commercial of her nightly MSNBC show shamelessly claiming a “surprising announcement” resulting from an exclusive interview (interviewee not revealed) that might change the way one thinks about the Halloway case. Her raspy declaration put me over the edge.
Let me make this crystal clear. The Natalee Holloway case is a terrible, terrible personal tragedy. So too, Terri Schiavo’s interminable vegetative state was a sad, sad family tragedy. Remember Nicole Simpson, Ron Goldman, Jon Bonet, Chandra Levy? Personal family tragedies of the most dreadful kind. The list goes on and on. They are all grievous stories whose consequences on their respective families are unimaginable to me.
And other than making these tragic stories public in an effort to help investigators or generate awareness, they are all private matters for the families, friends and loved ones.
It would be one thing if such terrible events encouraged the same media to pursue public discourse on bettering laws or improving social/criminal systems or increasing awareness or inspecting our values or developing more effective investigation techniques, but they only give lip service; serious follow-up is seldom the case. In its stead we get a night full of self-serving, self-promoting, primetime wannabe detectives; each with their usual line-up of lackeys, all spewing a clue here, a twist there, a suspect everywhere.
Even more disturbing than the shoddy TV personality detective work, I find those ‘exclusive’ interviews with tormented family members to be the lowest form of ‘journalism’ there is. Just as troubling is the public’s insatiable fascination in the private torment of others. The two ills create a vicious cycle of deeper and deeper sensational slop, feeding this engine of reporting that acts like an addictive narcotic, pleasuring the itch of a communal voyeuristic rash.
That’s not to say some real good ideas haven’t sprouted from the worst of the worst atrocities. There are many: “America’s Most Wanted”, “Amber Alert”, “Megan’s Law” and many other great solutions resulting from horrible crimes. But in each case, it was the hard work of individuals, long after the cameras and talking heads moved on to the next heartbreaker, who turned those intentions into realities; not the nightly “news” celebs who bowed to ‘sweeps’ and Neilson.
I really don’t offer any solutions. Well, yes I do: stop the blatant sensationalism! But that isn’t going to happen anytime soon given the public’s thirst and the media’s aim to please. I just wonder what happened to traditional ethics like personal dignity and respect for individual privacy; noble qualities that seem kicked aside in the grab for “you heard it here first”.
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. But I’m sick of the useless sensational ‘hooks’ and empty reporting at the expense of someone’s private tragedy. Who needs the National Enquirer when you have CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, CNN and all their cable siblings?
Anyway, I have emailed Rita Cosby these thoughts. Maybe she can explain to me why my anger is unwarranted and misdirected. I’d welcome that.
This article was written by humorist Robert Crane who occasionally finds zero humor in certain nonsense. For lighter stuff visit his popular website at:
http://www.cranelegs.com