In Florida this week, and across the nation, eyes turned not to the sky for a runaway balloon purportedly carrying a 6 year old boy. Instead, and once again, we held our collective breath to learn of the fate of an innocent child, seven year old Somer Thompson in this case, whose lifeless body was found in a Georgia landfill, far from home and those who loved her and were terrorized. This is a real tragedy, not a mock perversion of tragedy contrived for media attention. If indeed, the family of the 'so-called' ballon boy conspired to sensationalize, and in so doing, capitalize upon a frightening and terrifying circumstance, than I believe this to be an act of media-fueled domestic terrorism that preyed upon the fears of parents and all those who work with, care for and about children. How frightened so many of us were to hear that a helpless child might be rocketing through the skies aboard a runaway balloon headed toward inevitable death.
I feel badly for those among us who who worried for the fate of this little boy who was subsequently found to be hiding. I feel angry over the betrayal that was perpetrated by this family, and given credibility by a media consumed with story at the expense of fact. I am embarrassed that in a society where real horror is perpetrated on our smallest members on a daily basis, and in a world where poverty, hunger, disease and war take the lives of millions of children, that we have to contrive horror.
I grieve for the loss of Somer Thompson and cry for the pain of those whose lives she touched, and all like her who perish needlessly. And I revile the machinations of media, such a potentially powerful force for good, that would allow circus and folly to hold a nation hostage and benefit from this terrorism.
Perhaps this blogpost is too passionate and too personal, written more from the perspective of clnician and parent, than from that of a social sicentist. It is certainly not grounded in the solid scientific fact or theory that you have become accustomed to in my previous posts as well as those of my esteemed colleagues. Hopefully, they will help us to better understand the mentality of those who who prey upon their fellow citizen and the malignancy of amorality that eats away at our consumate body politic.
I don't believe reality TV, partiuclarly that which commodifies human suffering and exploits children is the culprit per se; however I do believe that it has been utilized in the service of terrorism...right here at home.
