Girl Gone

  So I will attempt to tread lightly here, in hopes of avoiding hypocrisy or appearing insensitive. On the contrary. I am very sensitive. And I will attempt to show just exactly how sensitive I am by discussing the case of Gabby Petito. 

Why is this such a big deal?

Okay, admittedly not a great start if I am trying to win the compassion ribbon here, but this is a story that has been at the forefront of American media for weeks now. So much so that MSNBC's Joy Reid found herself in trouble with a chunk of America that did not see eye to eye on her views surrounding Ms. Petito. Ms. Reid suggested that Ms. Petito was an example of the "Missing White Woman Syndrome." Interestingly, in a report from Faux News that discussed the news from the past week highlighting their indignation for this sentiment, the picture at the top of the article was not one of Gabby Petito or her disappeared boyfriend but rather a video of the horseback patrols used by border agents to round up Haitian immigrants. Apparently all the stock photos of Ms. Petito have been used up at this point and the outrage surrounding this story seems to be about equally split between that disappeared boyfriend and the members of the media who are trying to make the story of one missing and now confirmed dead woman as important as the suffering of a planet wracked with multiple catastrophes and political blunderings that seem worth reporting as news. 

Which is not to say that the death, now confirmed, of Gabby Petito is not news. If nothing else, her story brings into sharp focus the pain of so many who have and continue to lose loved ones to all manner of nefarious schemes and tragedy. The public's fascination with the "mystery" of her disappearance is emblematic of just how much we all need a puzzle that is simple to solve. Outside of Hollywood stories like Gone Girl, cases like this don't end up being as interesting as we might all hope. But as we as a nation watch the tale unravel in real time, we have a place to hang our hope, or our sense of justice, or perhaps spiteful revenge as we await the eventual discovery of the perpetrator and his motives. Maybe there will be a surprise. Maybe this will all be scooped up and turned into on of those Hollywood stories like Gone Girl. 

Or maybe we will remain distracted from climate change and COVID and the throngs of refugees fleeing murderous regimes across the globe. Gabby Petito's story keeps us all from having to focus on the remainder of the news. Which isn't very good right now. 

I thought that was pretty sensitive. Didn't you?