A Click Off

Dead babies can't take care of themselves
Dead babies can't take things off the shelf
Well we didn't want you anyway
Lalala-la, lalala-la, la la la
--Dead Babies, Alice Cooper

My possessions are causing me suspicion
but there's no proof
in the paper today
tales of war and of waste
but you turn right over to the T.V. page
--Don't Dream it's Over, Crowded House

You’re missing that one final screw
You’re simply not in the pink my dear
To be honest you haven’t got a clue
--I'm Going Slightly Mad, Queen

They only hit until you cry
And after that you don't ask why
You just don't argue anymore
--Luka, Suzanne Vega
_____________________

Over the past several days Lisa has had the misfortune to be exposed to what passes for news today -- Caylee mania.

People she did not know implored her on the day of the not guilty verdict, "Did you hear?", as though this decision were something that would jostle the sun and the moon (Casey Anthony and the Court of Public Opinion). For three years Caylee's sad story has provided fodder for those who would declaim against the forces of dissolution in the U.S.: Justice must be served for little Caylee, and that means mother Casey must go down.

Yet justice worked as it must; the prosecution did not present an airtight case. The whole lot of the Anthony's are defectives -- misfits and liars -- and it is very hard to disentangle a bag of snakes. CNN promises 24-hour coverage Sunday, July 17th, when Casey Anthony is released, just so we may release a bit more bile.

Observers gathered outside of the Orlando courthouse daily to score one of the 50 tickets in. A psychologist was on air to minister to the viewer's grief ("over time, the sadness and anger will fade"); it is reported that a lightning strike at Caylee memorial "could be a sign from the angels", and there is a Broward County resto who won't serve the bad Caylee jurors. All of this was gotten in 20 minutes of CNN "news". We really are a fried chicken short of a church picnic.

More to the point: Why is the nation transfixed by tales of blond babies murders? Remember the Jon Benet Ramsey furore in the 1990's? Jon Benet was the six-year-old blond beauty pageant "star" who riveted the nation in her death. How about Madeleine McCann, blond British child reportedly kidnapped in Portugal? But what about the other 2,000 kids killed annually in the U.S.? Well, they don't meet the photogenic bar for one reason or another.

Poor children fall through the cracks of supervising agencies with appalling regularity, but they don't permeate our collective mindset; just more statistics. Welfare workers are swamped with bloated caseloads, but no new taxes (the lesson of GHWB has not been lost.)

Do we care about the black toddler baked in an oven this March in Mississippi (that's how they do in Mississippi), or the Asian baby fried in a microwave that month in L.A.? How about Alexis (Lexie) Glover, found dead in a frigid D.C. creek, repeatedly failed by the child services system? Or Banita Jacks, who killed her four daughters because they were "demon-possessed"? Or 7-year-old with cystic fibrosis Charles Poertner, found dead last December in horrific circumstances, or Danieal Kelley, and so many, many more.

The answer is, No, because they are not pretty little blond babies. We are hypocritical dunderheads.

[cross-posted @ BigBrassBlog]