Saturday, November 05, 2005

A Witness to Murder

Did anyone happen to catch Dateline last night?

If so, did your throat constrict, your jaw clench, your stomach jump, heave, slide from your abdominal cavity and ooze down your leg?

Never have I felt so weird while watching a television show, never. It was a feeling of disgust, embarrassment, righteousness, sadness and hardcore disbelief. As I watched one obviously disturbed individual remove his clothing and enter the home of a supposed young boy, twelve pack of beer in hand, all atremble with the hopes of engaging in a sexual tryst with a minor, I swear my bowls loosened just a little bit.

And the rabbi? Oy! No, this can’t be happening, this can’t be…

Did you see, as I did, the face of hopelessness, of true and naked terror on that man?

When he realized that he would be featured nationwide, exposed for the sick fuck he is, his body actually surrendered in a way I’d never seen before -- it was utterly horrific the way his arms flew up, almost as if warding off a physical blow, the way he staggered over to the camera crew, to Chris Hansen , and disturbingly pleaded like a child would -- his whole persona changed from a cocky, horny monster man into that of a little boy.

They all became frightened children, all of them, the doctor, the teacher, the naval officer. Some collapsed, some ran, some just sat there, heads hung low, and admitted defeat. It was the most sickening hour of television viewing I‘ve ever experienced, not only because of the obvious reasons, of being witness to depravity in the making, but by witnessing the destruction of the human spirit. As much as I loathe those men and wish nothing but misery for them, there was a tiny piece of my heart that felt extremely sad for them…Not an empathetic sadness, no sympathy from me, thank you very much, but a deep, nauseating sadness for any vestiges of humanity left in their dangerous minds. I am not a sadist, and watching another human being crumble, no matter how despicable his actions, is not my idea of a good time.

I thought about their wives, children, mothers and fathers, sisters, brothers…I couldn’t help but feel the pain those innocents must’ve felt while watching this nightmare unfold. Good Christ, how will they deal with the knowledge that life as they knew it would never be same again? How will they survive their neighbors’ whispers, the hate mail, the loss of personal faith? Oh, and the anger I felt is indescribable, just total rage toward those men for choosing a life of deviance over the safety and well-being of their wives and children, for putting themselves in a situation that would cause irreparable damage to those who love them.

Those men murdered their families last night by publicly humiliating them, spitting on their very existence, and Dateline, I’m sorry to say, was an accomplice to those murders. Yes, it made for “good” TV, and yes, I know that Dateline’s report was a public service tenfold, but did the producers and journalists ever stop to think about the hundreds of silent spiritual deaths their report would cause? I know that I certainly did, and that, unfortunately, overshadowed any righteous joy I may have felt -- those men sacrificed their own souls and the lives of their families in the name of perversion, but Dateline, despite all good intentions, helped dig the graves.

7 Comments:

At 1:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I didn't watch it but a friend of mine had watched it and mentioned it. Your observations in regards to the family of these men is on target and I always wonder how the families are faring after this kind of stuff is aired.

The children of these perverts have to wonder if life as they've always perceived it to be is now, nothing more than a lie. Deep down in their gut will always be the nagging fear that they may have inherited some dark perverted gene that may emerge to haunt them.

Then there's the wive's of these men. Can you imagine the humiliation of having everyone know that your spouse, the love of your life, prefers sex with children or young boys?

Sick, sick, sick. So sad for the family that is betrayed by the sexual perversion of a family member.

 
At 11:34 AM, Blogger W. Olivia said...

Hey hon. I didn't watch the report, simply because I'd seen clips on The Today Show (they aired the bit with the Rabbi) and I was horrified enough to know there's NO way I'd get through the whole thing without throwing up or calling you and crying my ass off.

I noticed how resigned the Rabbi looked--he admitted he was there for 'nothing good' and it was the look in his face, part resignation, part...I don't know, as if he was almost relieved to have finally been caught that got to me. Yes, he is sick scum and deserves to have his testicles chopped off and minced into little bits...but he's also sick and he probably has a family that's now devestated by him having signed the release that gave Dateline the ability to air this. It's worse than having bloated corpses shoved in my face during the Katrina crisis...this was a planned, premeditated assault by the media. They want to be hero's, but they also want to be hero's with very high ratings and it makes my gorge rise.

So I ate chocolate cake and read instead.

 
At 12:13 PM, Blogger Myfanwy Collins said...

I didn't see this particular show but have seen one with this watch dog group before and, yeah, it's hard to watch on so many levels.

 
At 12:19 PM, Blogger Ms. Lori said...

Well said, Jeni, and brava, Ms. Olivia -- it's bad enough that those pervs actually exist, but to watch what was, ostensibly, the ruination of many lives just turned my guts. I wish Dateline had blurred the faces of those men, and not announced their names on national television. The report wouldn't have been as compelling, I admit, but I think it still would've been almost as effective, certainly more humane, regarding the families involved.

 
At 12:23 PM, Blogger Ms. Lori said...

Myfanwy, I give a standing ovation to Perverted Justice. They are true heroes, imo. Too bad Dateline used them for their own sensational purposes.

 
At 12:56 PM, Blogger Justice said...

I'm torn on this. It is sad for those families whether the perv was busted on national television or by police. In the former, everyone knows now, and that has to be painful. At the same time, I am so sick of seeing news reports of little kids getting raped and killed by already convicted child predators. So I am also relieved that people are finally standing up and saying we have had enough; if the judicial system cannot handle this problem, then we will. So while I do sympathize with the children and wives of these perverts, I have a hard time being angry with Dateline. We need a shake up, a wake up.

 
At 6:59 PM, Blogger Ms. Lori said...

Jas and Justice -- it's the families I'm concerned with, not the pervo bastards. In a perfect world, pigwhore shits like that wouldn't marry or procreate. Well, in a perfect world, they wouldn't exist at all. But anyway.

The ones that are busted will get their due
(not a harsh enough cost for their horrible deeds, unfortunately), and their families will, of course, suffer. I only wish the families of the men on Dateline didn't have to suffer twofold.

What I would like to see happen is a mandatory life sentence for every single child molester -- they can't be rehabilitated, just as a snake can't stop eating mice. They re-offend the minute they get let out. Many times, they will kill their victims in order to prevent witnesses. The ones that do murder should fry. Or be skinned alive, then put into a large cauldron of boiling water, and as they scream in unimaginable agony, fire ants should be dropped into their gaping mouths, scorpions put into their ears, and a heaping bucketload of fresh elephant shit dumped all over their boiled, bitten and stung corpses.

 

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