{"id":3125,"date":"2002-08-06T18:04:11","date_gmt":"2002-08-06T23:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=3125"},"modified":"2002-08-06T18:04:11","modified_gmt":"2002-08-06T23:04:11","slug":"all_the_news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/08\/06\/all_the_news.html","title":{"rendered":"All the News …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two observations on news and the national consciousness (and conscience).<\/p>\n

First, there’s been a huge amount of coverage of late regarding child abductions (and usually, though joyfully not always, murder).<\/p>\n

Margie observed (and I’m not sure where she got the stat, so if anyone has anything that confirms or denies it, let me know) that in reality, the number of child abductions of this sort have not substantially increased. It’s just the media’s coverage has increased, either reflecting public interest or generating it or, to be charitable, both.<\/p>\n

We saw this last summer, too. Only then it was shark attacks — and, as we now know<\/a>, the frenzy of shark attacks wasn’t anything, statistically, to worry about.<\/p>\n

In 1999, about 203,900 children in the United States were abducted by family members seeking to interfere with a parent’s custodial rights, according to the guidebook produced by the Justice Department and several other federal agencies.
\nAt least 98 percent of those children were returned home; none of them were killed, the guidebook said.
\nIn the same year, about 58,200 children in America were abducted by non-family members, often in connection with another crime. According to the guidebook, 115 of those were the most dangerous types of abductions _ those perpetrated by strangers where the child was kept overnight, held for ransom or killed.
\nForty percent of those children were killed.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, we now have to have a National Conference <\/a>to try and allay the fears of the populace about this “wave of horrible violence.” . Even though the number of kids kidnapped and killed by Homicidal Maniacs is the merest trifle of the number killed by, say, kids not being buckled up in the car.<\/p>\n

On a vaguely related note, we’re rapidly heading toward the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. And I am, already, tired of hearing about what sounds like it will be an orgy of Memorials, Commemorative Events, Grave Recollections, and, yes, a National Day of Media Mourning. Hell, even advertisers are trying to decide whether they can (or should) run TV ads that day, during what promises to be 24 hours of Profound Programming.<\/p>\n

Yes, 9-11 was terrible. Yes, we must never forget. Yes, it’s an appropriate day to pause and reflect.<\/p>\n

But let’s get real, folks. It’s been a year. Donning the sackcloth and ashes ignores everything that’s happened since — and what may happen soon.<\/p>\n

I would feel better if I didn’t really have the sense that it’s the Media that’s generating a lot of this, with an eye toward showing that they are, indeed, Possessors of Gravitas and so forth. I can even hear Dan Rather mouthing Weighty Profundities on This Somber Occasion. The horror …<\/p>\n

(Even worse, I can see the Purposefully Planned Celebrations of the Indominatable American Spirit, complete with a scattering of rose petals and a release of doves. Yeesh.)<\/p>\n

My own plans for 11 September? I plan on popping a good action flick into the DVD player and having a nice, mindless, escapeful Wednesday night. Bond, maybe. Or Roughnecks<\/i>. Or True Lies<\/i>. I don’t need to be reminded of the Profound Sadness of September 11th, or of the Determined Resolve of These United States. <\/p>\n

Certainly not by the Media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two observations on news and the national consciousness (and conscience). First, there’s been a huge amount of coverage of late regarding child abductions (and usually, though joyfully not always, murder)….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fourth-estate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2166,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/02\/26\/doing_the_math.html","url_meta":{"origin":3125,"position":0},"title":"Doing the math","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 26-Feb-02 1:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"My sainted wife, Margie, is a biostatistician. That's good, because while I have always admired the statistical arts, I'm darned bad at them, and Margie's good at pointing out where...","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28492,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/09\/the-only-celebrity-news-you-are-likely-to-see-me-posting-about.html","url_meta":{"origin":3125,"position":1},"title":"The only celebrity news you are likely to see me posting about","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Jul-12 11:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm frankly appalled by the amount of coverage that the TomKat (ugh) divorce and settlement have generated. \u00a0I mean, really, people?On the other hand, there's that whole Tom Cruise oddity thing (Is he gay? Why has he been divorced by his three wives when they turned 33? Zany Scientology! And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136694,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/08\/yeah-maybe-something-actionable-next-time-hmmmm.html","url_meta":{"origin":3125,"position":2},"title":"Yeah, maybe something actionable next time, hmmmm?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 8-Jun-18 5:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm fine with acting against child abductions. I'm just distinctly unsure what value this particular show-interrupting emergency warning message adds. Am I supposed to peer out the window, anywhere in Colorado, looking for a child abduction? Is there a particular child who has been abducted, or are children being snatched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180607_192441.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180607_192441.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180607_192441.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30833,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/24\/because-joe-miklosi-hates-children-especially-yours.html","url_meta":{"origin":3125,"position":3},"title":"“Because Joe Miklosi HATES CHILDREN … especially YOURS!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 24-Oct-12 6:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Um ... not really. This has been a hotly contested race for the 6th Congressional District in Colorado. It's been a traditionally very safe Republican district (Tom Tancredo was the Representative from here for several terms), and Mike Coffman has been pretty comfortable as the incumbent. \u00a0Except that we just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137074,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/07\/dealing-with-the-misogyny-of-ancient-art.html","url_meta":{"origin":3125,"position":4},"title":"Dealing with the misogyny of ancient art","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 7-Sep-18 9:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"I think this article makes an interesting and positive case for addressing the misogyny and violence against women that's frequently depicted in ancient art (the examples given being from Greece).[1] Abductions and rapes and attacks -- how do we deal with the abusive treatment in an era when simply talking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/greek-art-gropw.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10067,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/09\/11\/remember_remember_11_sept.html","url_meta":{"origin":3125,"position":5},"title":"Remember, remember, 11 September …","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 11-Sep-06 9:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I feel like I should say something about the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. Flipping through the TV, skimming through the radio, leafing through the paper ... there's so...","rel":"","context":"In "9-11"","block_context":{"text":"9-11","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/9-11"},"img":{"alt_text":"911-wtc-crash2.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/911-wtc-crash2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}