30 Jul 2012: Journalists Remain Calm
Meghann over at The Spokesman-Review writes about a guy who made the mistake of being placed in the same cell with accused girlfriend murderer Robbie W. Bishop. He was then strangled unconscious by Bishop, either late Friday night or early Friday morning. A corrections deputy removed both men from the cell.Meghann M. Cuniff's article and her blog overall show her to be a serious journalist (which may bode poorly for her in the long term). And I am not. Reading her work, I wonder how she remains calm. Just after this strangling story, there is the story of one man (Webb) who got pedophiles to rape children on a live webcam for him. One of the many men to do this was a Mr. Martin. Webb got 12 years in the jail; Martin 15. I can't read about such horrors without thinking that the justice system is all screwed up. For one, we know that Webb was involved in 75 child rapes and Martin only one. The fact that Webb got less time strikes me as obscene, not that I'm shedding a lot of tears.
More important is the fact that the federal mandatory minimum sentences for many drug crimes are far more harsh than the sentences meted out for what I think of as some of the vilest of crimes—child rape.[1] Meghann no doubt has similar thoughts, but she manages to put them aside for the greater good of reporting the news without comment. I, of course, am nothing but comment.
Returning to the choking story, I have a few questions:
- What was Ingram really in for? The article says a district court warrant, which I assume is a failure to appear, which I further assume was for something minor, which I define as "not murdering his girlfriend." Regardless, why is part of his punishment to be kept in a small cell with an accused psychopath?
- Once again, we have a case where our great and wise government has decided that we can't afford sufficient mental health treatment facilities. Whether it is Bishop in this story or Jared Lee Loughner, the Arizona gunman, it would seem that we have more than enough evidence that such fiscal restraint is at best short sighted.
- In most cases of jail fights, both people are put in solitary confinement. What do you want to bet Ingram is in there right now?
[1] Who knows how my words will be twisted, but I must say what I think. I do feel sorry for these monsters. I know that as minor and "normal" as my sex driver is, I have little control over it. It must be horrible to find children sexually attractive. And I assume that a lot of these people have worked hard to suppress their unfortunate desires. From another angle, the modern fascination with shaved pubic areas makes me think that our problem is bigger than the pedophiles in the newspapers.
Mike wrote:
Of course, I expect (unreasonably, as I have come to believe) those I care most for to put themselves in my shoes as a bupe and opioid user, let alone dope fiend. And I think it would be right to say that pedophilia is a rather a little ways farther down the fucked-up-social-pariah path than junky.
But of course the principle is the same. Empathy. Compassion. Thoughtfulness.
"From another angle, the modern fascination with shaved pubic areas makes me think that our problem is bigger than the pedophiles in the newspapers."
Lol, this my friend is only the TIP of the ice burg. I mean, despite my own sexual "deviance," which given the role of male heterosexual in Anglo-American culture isn't deviant at all, well, don't get what I lovingly refer to as the feminist in me started. After all, haven't you heard? Yup, I do have one of those shirts that says, "This is what a feminist looks like" written on it. The institution of marriage, body image, etc. etc. etc.
I should be getting ready to sleep and not thinking of such stimulating things... so I leave you with this, a great website full of great example related to this last point you've made: Sociological Images / http://thesocietypages.org/socimages
Oh, and, cause I'm still trying to desensitize you Dr H: (NSFW) http://usahitman.com/kdifez/