For once, I applaud the media

An almost honest media report...

This is one of the closest things to honesty I've ever seen in a media report. It also begs one hell of a question...why don't we care about ALL missing kids? Is a parent's pain any greater when their straight A student goes missing? Is the mother of the promiscuous girl with bad grades any less devestated when her daughter's body is found brutalized and discarded?

Black, white, asian, latino...rich or impoverished...well groomed or grungy.  Does it matter? These parents in anguish are ALL humans in the worst kind of emotional pain. These kids, regardless of their greatness or their poor choices, are still fragile, vulnerable and are being victimized in droves by a barrage of sources.

If you don't believe what I am saying, look up the early news reports on Jessica Lunsford's disappearance. Her father was a very blue-collar kind of biker guy that lived in a mobile home, and the media was SO quick to speculate that he had some involvement, largely based on his appearance, his income level, and his hobbies. It truly sickened me to see this; Mr. Lunsford was what a lot of Americans would consider an "average Joe", just a guy making it day to day as best he could. But...he wasn't pretty enough for the media's liking, and so he endured some (what I can only assume were) pretty painful media reports before his little girl's body was found. If I recall, Mark Lunsford's father was also accused as well; I distinctly remember certain media loudmouths saying that Mr. Lunsford was at fault because he was out at a bar...seriously?  He left his daughter with her grandfather for fuck's sake. I've left my kids with a babysitter and gone out for a drink with friends too. Was Mark Lunsford a sterling, unreproachable human being? Probably not. That doesn't change the fact that a monster snatched this little girl right from her bedroom, held her captive for days, raped and savged her and then buried her alive, wrapped in trashbags. Perhaps if people hadn't been so busy judging the parents and grandparents, she may have been found while she was still alive.

And don't get me wrong, I understand *investigating* and *looking into* the relatives; it sadly needs to be done. However, the search for a child shouldn't be placed on hold while the relatives are being investigated.

It shouldn't be this way. It isn't right, and it sure as hell isn't fair, which is a value that Americans claim to value.