Irina Zaretska

BitconnectCarlos

There seems to be several different levels to this that contribute to the disturbing nature of the event:

1) The judges and DAs who let a 14-time offender roam the streets after letting him off time after time (he was on cashless bail.)
2) The murderer himself, who supposedly said, "got that white girl" after the stabbing.
3) The five (?) passengers on the bus - of the same "group" as the perpetrator - who didn't sufficiently help after the stabbing.

And then of course there's the footage, which I won't elaborate on, but we can all watch.

The left charges that the right is trying to incite racial hate with the news; the right charges that the left is trying to cover up a story because it doesn't fit "the narrative," leading them to push the story even harder. In any case, certainly a taboo topic that I hoped we could approach civilly on TPF.

Thoughts?

For discussion: How do you think the media should cover these events? Does the media have a responsibility to the public beyond reporting the events -- i.e., in preventing ugly/racist worldviews? This may result in the downplaying of certain stories and the highlighting of others.

RogueAI

↪BitconnectCarlos

Shades of Daniel Penny, the New Yorker who put a threatening homeless person in a chokehold and killed him. It ended in a mistrial. IMO, he never should have been tried. Too bad there wasn't a Daniel Penny on that train.

Regarding this case? It feeds into the narrative that leftists are soft on crime, which they tend to be, because leftists are better with nuance, and they have compassion for people with mental illnesses. Conservatives just want those people disappeared. The murderer in the story, though, should have been locked up before this and Democrats should be saying that.

BitconnectCarlos

↪RogueAI

The racial element is unavoidable. If the killer and victim were the same race, the story wouldn't be getting the same response. The murder crossed both race and gender lines. The footage was released for all to see, unlike in the Karmelo Anthony case. It seems like efforts have been made to suppress previous reports of the same type of crime. It's disconcerting. It tears at the very fabric of multicultural society, and the taboo is being challenged. I'm of a weird double mind about it.

RogueAI

↪BitconnectCarlos

It definitely reminded me of the old racist trope of the big black guy menacing the little white girl. I didn't see coverage of it in any of the leftist media I consume. It was all over right-wing media, but I don't fault them for that: it was a brutal murder caught on video. It was shocking and newsworthy. The liberal outlets should have carried it as well. There was a chance for Gavin Newsom to come out hard against crime

T Clark

For discussion: How do you think the media should cover these events? — BitconnectCarlos

This is simple. Murders are generally discussed as local news, which is appropriate. When you expand the discussion beyond that, you’ve already made a judgment that brings debates about social issues into the discussion, often inappropriately or unnecessarily - as you note, to make political points.

The whole process is flawed and biased.

jorndoe

Various media lit up with messages about Zarutska's murder at the time.
A noticeable amount were "tough on crime" type messages at first.
After a bit, messages pointed to a health system where the perpetrator, Brown, should have been picked up long ago and secured, received treatment.
(I don't think straightforward racism was prevalent, but maybe I missed it.)
Those seem to have been the main reactions.
Riding the news wave for a political agenda was seen; future prevention has fallen off the radar or has drowned in the noise.
Less sensationalist/charged coverage still relayed how awful it was.
So, society at large (including coverage) failed both Zarutska and Brown, and it shouldn't come as a surprise if it happens again.

Irina Zaretska

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