crime
America's Obsession With Crimes
By Daniel G. Jennings
America it seems is obsessed with sordid but spectacular crimes, the Lacy Peterson Case, the Kobe Bryant affair, the Robert Blake case and a dozen lesser dramas fill our TV screens and newspapers. Often crowding out more serious and more dramatic news stories like the war in Iraq, the crisis in North Korea and the war on terror.
Why are Americans so obsessed with kidnaps, murderers and other such crimes when our country and world face some of the greatest crises in history? Events far more dramatic than the crimes we see on the news.
The answer is a simple one, the cases the media focuses upon involve simple everyday crimes. Acts of one on one violence, everyday evils that we can all understand, deal with and relate to. The kidnaping and murder of a wife by her husband is something we can understand even if it horrifies us. Ditto for the rape or attempted rape of a pretty young woman by a famous basketball player in a hotel room.
These evils are personalized, localized and simple. They can be easily understood and easily contained and dealt with by the police and the courts. There's no chance of Scott Peterson or Kobe Bryant or any of their ilk harming average Americans.
This is in stark contrast to the monstrosities that lurk beyond America's shores. Take Bin Laden and his Al Queda a group of fanatics that hates America so much they want to kill Americans, they're willing to die so, worse they're clever enough to figure out how to use everyday objects to kill thousands of Americans. They brought down two of the biggest buildings in our biggest city and killed three thousand people in the process.
And we all know that Bin Laden is only the tip of the iceberg there are dozens of other terrorist groups and terrorist masterminds all dreaming of repeating or topping the atrocities of Sept. 11. Some of these groups, including Al Queada are trying to get their hands on chemical, biological and nuclear weaponry. We were already attacked with anthrax in fall of 2001.
If terrorism wasn't bad enough there's the so-called rogue states and their monstrous leaders. Saddam Hussein who is willing to turn his own nation into a battleground to keep himself in power. Kim Po Yi of North Korea who is willing to starve his own people to death rather than relinquish power. Not to mention the potential crisis in Africa where people are starving and human rights are a thing of the past .
Nor are terrorism and dictators the only manmade horrors we might face. There's the environmental crisis global warming which could trigger catastrophic climate changes and terrible disasters. The depletion of the oil reserves which could lead to a world wide energy crisis.
Compared to these crises the murders on TV seem tame and civilized. Perhaps that is why we're so obsessed with those cases. They have a tinge of nostalgia to them, they remind us of an earlier and simpler time when the main violence we had to worry about was the thug waiting to mug us in the alley. When we didn't have to worry about some fanatic fighting for a cause or a faith we barely understand plunging a plane into our city. Or a madman out of a James Bond movie setting off a nuclear bomb in your hometown.
There is a historical precedent to this obsession with crime. In the years before World War I, when Europe was moving towards self destruction, the British newspapers were filled with stories about murder and murderers. Murderers such as Dr. Crippen who had killed his wife and buried her in the basement. Then ran away to America with his mistress in tow disguised as a boy. Such grisly affairs kept the British public's minds off the naval arms raise, the growing military might of Germany and the tensions on the European continent.
So perhaps the obsession with crime is a typical human response to times that are as complex as they are frightening. Hopefully we can get over this obsession and start setting our minds to solving the world's problems or at least thinking about them.