I have 100% sympathy for her family and friends, but there is something that makes me uneasy that there is so much in the news about her.

There are tons of people that go missing everyday, but why is her case so much more important?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/community-hold-clue-find-missing-university-iowa-student/story?id=56908088

The first week or so, there was hardly any news coverage. Early on would have been the best time for broadcasting her disappearance, yes?

I think it is because she is missing from Iowa. This is not a normal thing in the middle of Iowa. People go missing in large cities without this much coverage because it is not as unusual.

Just as tragic, just not as unusual.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2018 01:23PM by sbg.

If it were my daughter I'd want to know.

The more publicity the better.

Amen.

Agreed...although pretty white girls seem to get better coverage which is somewhat depressing.

No, it is a lot depressing. A missing person who is not a pretty white girl is just as missing.

I remember reading I guess 3 years ago, when the young sister RM went missing in Provo that there were lots of Hispanic people and church members who thought the Provo Police didn’t look for her very hard because she was Hispanic. I don’t remember who said that or where I read it, but it’s always kind of stuck with me and I thought about it again when they found her remains in May this year.

Did the law enforcement not search or put as much effort into the search because of who she was, Hispanic, non US Citizen etc.? Probably never know that nor who was responsible for her death.

I was thinking of white girls I think are pretty - my daughters.

I cannot imagine the pain of family members of her or any missing person. Wish i couldhelp.

For better or for worse, I think "pretty white girl" does have a lot to do with it. There was a period back in the early aughts when it bordered on being an annual national event:
2002-3 Elizabeth Smart of Utah
2003 Dru Sjodin of North Dakota
2005 Natalee Holloway of Mississippi.

I don't think they don't deserve the attention, but lots of other people do deserve more attention.

I half wonder if 9/11 attacks made the US as a nation more susceptible to "damsel in distress" stories right then, as a way of sublimating/redirecting the horror of the WTC attacks. I suspect most of us still remember all three of those names. Something was going on with the national psyche then.

Perhaps there is something going on now too, so we are getting another "damsel in distress" story. I more than suspect that the #MeToo movement is a direct result of outrage by women about Trump getting elected in spite of the pu**ygate tape. I think a whole bunch of women were just pushed over the edge and had their "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more" moment. We are too close to the moment to analyze what is going on in the American psyche right now, but 15 years from now, we should have a better idea what is happening now.