Aberrant Behavior

I'm no longer surprised when the cable outlets focus like a laser beam on missing white children. Particularly when the parent/spouse/sibling is under suspicion. There's a baby missing in Florida, and the mother is the chief/only suspect at this point, and the cable shows are devoting HOURS to this.

In a way, we have become such a voyeuristic society, and prefer to recieve our scandalous entertainment through the aberrant lives of others. This also makes sense with what the offerings are on television. The TeeVee is loaded with reality-based shows and other popular shows have included dramas where people fight for their survival without any technological advantages. Pure shit, in other words.

Back to the baby in Florida. Now, I'm not saying this doesn't merit some news coverage. It almost certainly does, particularly local coverage. News coverage can create awareness and generate information that might help solve the case.

But that's not what's happening. We're getting full-blown, minute by minute analysis of the case, complete with psychoanalysis of the mom, grandparents, siblings and neighbors. Jeepers, they're even broadcasting telephone conversations between the family members.

Some of this is creepy. Some of it is sad. Some of it is ugly. All in all, it says more about the viewers and the state of broadcast media than it does of this poor family.