What is missing white woman syndrome? Why are we doing this again?

[HomerJS]

Only a racist is going to complain when someone goes missing due to the victims race.

If someone did that I would agree with you

 

[Maxima1]

I don't even know where to begin with this.

Because I showed you reality.

https://thedailyaztec.com/91001/news/sdsupd-changes-policy-on-suspect-racial-descriptions/

U of Nebraska at Lincoln under fire for including race in campus crime alert

University of Nebraska at Lincoln is under fire by students who thought police should not have mentioned in a campuswide bulletin that two men accused of sexual assault were black, believing that it reinforced harmful stereotypes.

www.insidehighered.com

University will no longer describe suspects' race in public safety advisories, cites 'stereotypes': report

The University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) reportedly said that its public safety advisories would no longer identify a suspect's race so it could avoid perpetuating negative stereotypes.

www.foxnews.com

 

[HomerJS]

Because I showed you reality.

https://thedailyaztec.com/91001/news/sdsupd-changes-policy-on-suspect-racial-descriptions/

U of Nebraska at Lincoln under fire for including race in campus crime alert

University of Nebraska at Lincoln is under fire by students who thought police should not have mentioned in a campuswide bulletin that two men accused of sexual assault were black, believing that it reinforced harmful stereotypes.

www.insidehighered.com

University will no longer describe suspects' race in public safety advisories, cites 'stereotypes': report

The University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) reportedly said that its public safety advisories would no longer identify a suspect's race so it could avoid perpetuating negative stereotypes.

www.foxnews.com

So are you saying the story of the missing Asian woman didn't national publicity because a black guy did it or an Asian guy did it?

 

[Vic]

In liberal media, the ideal victim in police shootings is black for obvious reasons. Why is it that they don't report these minority cases then? I can give you something to think about: Do you really want them covering missing Native Americans or black people anyway? It's usually within race. I think they'd rather bury how shitty the rez is and don't want to make black men look bad.



Uh, what? Where does that come from?

If the reason you're okay with the police murdering citizens isn't because of the victim's race, then that would mean that you're just okay with the police murdering citizens in general.
Which would be even fucking worse. Think about that the next time you chant back the blue and comply or die.

 

[Vic]

I don't even know where to begin with this.

I was amused by how he tried to frame a narrative that the media's recurring portrayal of black men as criminals being gunned down by the police was the fault of the liberal media trying not to make the black man look bad.

 

[mindless1]

Maybe because main suspect is a white male. Everyone loves to hate the Great White Male. lol.

 

[Vic]

Maybe because main suspect is a white male. Everyone loves to hate the Great White Male. lol.

As a white male, I disagree. Stop playing the victim.

 

[HurleyBird]

Gabby Petito is a trifecta for the media: white, female, attractive. That makes her the ideal victim. Ideal meaning the kind of victim they think will be a draw for views and clicks. It isn't just the white and female part though. If she had been fat or unattractive, we wouldn't have heard about the case. We can probably also add "young" to that list as well.

It should be mentioned that the ideal victim when the perpetrator is a police officer is a black person. Because the racial controversy sells.

There are racial politics involved in how the media selects its victims for coverage. Not that the media is necessarily pushing such politics. It's what they perceive as the public's interests. Because in the end, the media is a for profit business.

Rather than blame the media entirely, we should ask ourselves why we as a culture are interested in victims which fit certain stereotypes and narratives. Because the media is really just providing supply to meet our demand. And we shouldn't expect anything different from corporate media.

Great post. I think in some ways it goes in both directions and there's positive feedback. Media both goes to what they think will sell, and also conditions us to respond to those things by giving them more emphasis.

In regard to the "missing white woman" phenomenon, I feel that there's an element of race here, but it probably isn't the only element, and certainly isn't as heavily weighted as it would have been even 20 years ago.

You hit the nail on the head that, if Gabby hadn't been young and attractive, she wouldn't have gotten such attention. I think class is another element, where the bias is towards victims higher up on the socio-economic ladder. In this context, of the 50 missing black girls Homer mentions, I wonder what proportion are young, attractive, and higher class? You need at least the first two to have a chance of media attention.

As a thought experiment, if you replace Gabby with someone who looks like Zendaya, do you still get the media feeding frenzy? My gut says you do. The hypothetical where I think it's less likely to get media attention, even with our Zendaya lookalike, is when you also change the race of the boyfriend to black. Not because of white vilification or anything, but because it seems like the media (and culture at large) doesn't seem to care much about black-on-black (or indigenous-on-indigenous, etc.) anything. The thought experiment where you make the boyfriend black but not the victim is the one I'm less sure on. Not very long ago that would have made the media more likely to cover the story. Today, I don't know.

 

[Maxima1]

So are you saying the story of the missing Asian woman didn't national publicity because a black guy did it or an Asian guy did it?

i think it's one factor for why those don't materialize nationally, but there are others.

If the reason you're okay with the police murdering citizens isn't because of the victim's race, then that would mean that you're just okay with the police murdering citizens in general.
Which would be even fucking worse. Think about the next time you chant back the blue and comply or die.

i just said liberal media does it for obvious reasons. To spell it out: identity politics. A handful each year are unarmed and aren't trying to harm the officer or someone, yet the media makes this issue much bigger than "the economic". Nothing about being okay with police murdering people. lol

I was amused by how he tried to frame a narrative that the media's recurring portrayal of black men as criminals being gunned down by the police was the fault of the liberal media trying not to make the black man look bad.

Because something positive for them (death of minority by the big bad white cop) could never outweigh the negative for them (...and they DO try to downplay the criminality).

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Whaddaya bet this story won't get the clicks?

Body Found in Illinois River Identified as Missing Graduate Student

Jelani Day was last seen in Bloomington, Illinois, on August 24 on surveillance footage.

www.newsweek.com

 

[HurleyBird]

Whaddaya bet this story won't get the clicks?

I would be very surprised. Even setting race aside, the missing person is a grown up man. When has that ever gotten much traction?

 

[hal2kilo]

A phrase coined by the late Gwen Ifill. Unbalanced nationwide media coverage when a perceived pretty white girl goes missing. We went through the same thing with the unending coverage of Natalee Holloway and Laci Peterson.

Meanwhile we've had no national coverage of the following...
Over 50 Black girls missing from New York, New Jersey, report finds (yahoo.com)

Missing Hawaiian girl
Fears for missing Hawaii girl, 6, whose adoptive parents last saw her in bed four nights ago | The Independent

Missing Asian woman
Who is Lauren Cho? Missing Woman's Media Coverage Compared to Gabby Petito Sparks Debate (msn.com)

Missing native american woman
FBI offers $10,000 reward for information on the disappearance of Native American woman - CNN

Want to know what this country cares about? See the unending coverage of Gabby Petito and thousands of Haitians on the border in Texas.

As soon as this story broke, I said to myself, poor missing black girls (women).

 

[esquared]

As soon as this story broke, I said to myself, poor missing black girls (women).

I agree. I was thinking the same thing a couple days later. Had this blogger been an African American
would there have been the coverage it would have deserved? I don't think so.

 

[esquared]

Maybe this will help get the attention that it deserves.

Gabby Petito case draws renewed attention to missing Arizona geologist Daniel Robinson

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gabby-petito-case-draws-renewed-162053208.html

 

[shortylickens]

OH SHIT!

I was literally going to post a thread exactly like this, but then I got lazy and also thought it would just irritate people.

 

[Vic]

i think it's one factor for why those don't materialize nationally, but there are others.



i just said liberal media does it for obvious reasons. To spell it out: identity politics. A handful each year are unarmed and aren't trying to harm the officer or someone, yet the media makes this issue much bigger than "the economic". Nothing about being okay with police murdering people. lol

Because something positive for them (death of minority by the big bad white cop) could never outweigh the negative for them (...and they DO try to downplay the criminality).

Identity politics is a phrase some people use derogatively when they don't want a particular identity to be discussed or considered. Usually the same people who will claim (without a trace of irony) that being an identity such as a Christian white male makes them a victim.

 

[shortylickens]

Only a racist is going to complain when someone goes missing due to the victims race.

thats nice and not at all what the subject is about but you go ahead and spew ignorance. In 2021 you will have literally millions of people supporting you, I promise.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I was annoyed by it after the first day. I kept thinking of one in NY or Boston area, college student, same type of circumstances, but involving Niagara Falls..


Saniyya Dennis

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

That one was Buffalo, but there was another from NY or Boston. I think I got them confused.

 

[mindless1]

As a white male, I disagree. Stop playing the victim.

Apparently you don't watch TV (or get out) much as it is not I, but rather many other vocal sources looking to make the white male the victim through less than subtle suggestions of discrimination and white privilege, from people who aren't being discriminated against, rather those living above the curve.

 

[Commodus]

Uh, what? Where does that come from?

Just the obsession with a young, pretty woman. I'm being hyperbolic, but part of the missing pretty white girl trope is the "pretty" part — on top of other discrimination, the media has historically devoted less coverage to plainer-looking girls. Like a missing girl isn't worth saving if you don't find her attractive.

 

[Vic]

Apparently you don't watch TV (or get out) much as it is not I, but rather many other vocal sources looking to make the white male the victim through less than subtle suggestions of discrimination and white privilege, from people who aren't being discriminated against, rather those living above the curve.

I'm somehow confident that there would be fewer discussions regarding 'white privilege' if less white people celebrated clearly unjust extrajudicial executions of non-whites as 'law and order,' or assumed that their identity as a white male just naturally made them superior ("above the curve") to non-whites.
But please don't let me interfere in YOUR identity politics.

 

[shortylickens]

Just the obsession with a young, pretty woman. I'm being hyperbolic, but part of the missing pretty white girl trope is the "pretty" part — on top of other discrimination, the media has historically devoted less coverage to plainer-looking girls. Like a missing girl isn't worth saving if you don't find her attractive.

Several articles I read on the subject claim the media goes with whatever they think the general public will want to see more of, which is typically pretty white girls. Remember, the news doesnt give a fuck about you. They care about ad revenue.

Jon Benet Ramsey is likely the premier example. She got better ratings than the final episode of MASH.

 

[cytg111]

True most of the time but, quite often, they try to manipulate and control our focus as well. Sometimes hard to tell which it it.

What? Some Soros guy controlling the media directing a narrative? Like that?

 

[mindless1]

I'm somehow confident that there would be fewer discussions regarding 'white privilege' if less white people celebrated clearly unjust extrajudicial executions of non-whites as 'law and order,' or assumed that their identity as a white male just naturally made them superior ("above the curve") to non-whites.
But please don't let me interfere in YOUR identity politics.

Who celebrated? Whatever trash presented that as truth, had to be biased. Or do you not recognize that a focus on someone doing something egregious is not representative of the larger population?

Trying to suggest that's my "identity politics" is just more trash talk. There have been more white people shot to death by police in the US in the past 5 years than any other race.