and now for something completely different
Feb. 6th, 2012 07:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_swampA lot of people have posted on Facebook about Josh Powell killing himself and his two sons. For some reason this irritates me. Maybe I shouldn't write about it until I figure it out, but maybe (if anyone's still reading), you can help me do that.
First of all, yes, let me agree that the whole situation is horrible. The kids didn't deserve to die and the social worker will certainly be affected by this for quite a while. But! Aside from the drama of an explosion!, how much worse is it really than some of the things child welfare advocates see every day? The cynic in me suspects that none of it would be as big a story if the participants were people of color. Certainly the disappearance of a pretty white lady makes it a more compelling story in the eyes of the media. To me, it's sad but at this point, now that the damage is done? It's none of my business. It strikes the same voyeuristic note as the Casey Anthony case.
Perhaps the media attention this gets will help reform the foster system in a way that can benefit all foster kids, but probably it will just turn into a TV movie and we can all wring our hands and then go on with our days. I teach kids who are in foster care, who are homeless, who have been abused and neglected--and I don't think it's just 'cause they're not dead (in a dramatic way) that nobody seems to notice them. To be honest, some of them would probably rather be dead than in the situations they're in. So why is this case the one everyone's talking about? I don't think it's just because he blew up the house.
But please, if I'm missing something else here, I'm listening.
First of all, yes, let me agree that the whole situation is horrible. The kids didn't deserve to die and the social worker will certainly be affected by this for quite a while. But! Aside from the drama of an explosion!, how much worse is it really than some of the things child welfare advocates see every day? The cynic in me suspects that none of it would be as big a story if the participants were people of color. Certainly the disappearance of a pretty white lady makes it a more compelling story in the eyes of the media. To me, it's sad but at this point, now that the damage is done? It's none of my business. It strikes the same voyeuristic note as the Casey Anthony case.
Perhaps the media attention this gets will help reform the foster system in a way that can benefit all foster kids, but probably it will just turn into a TV movie and we can all wring our hands and then go on with our days. I teach kids who are in foster care, who are homeless, who have been abused and neglected--and I don't think it's just 'cause they're not dead (in a dramatic way) that nobody seems to notice them. To be honest, some of them would probably rather be dead than in the situations they're in. So why is this case the one everyone's talking about? I don't think it's just because he blew up the house.
But please, if I'm missing something else here, I'm listening.
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-08 05:57 am (UTC)But, what happened to THIS family and THOSE kids is truly horrific. They were attacked with an ax by their father (who almost certainly killed their mother two years ago) before they were lit on fire. They died of smoke inhalation. All while their state contracted social worker was locked outside unable to do anything to help. Not to mention the creepy whacked out child-porn watching paternal grandfather...
I'm not sure if the media coverage has been over the top or if this is the type of thing that we SHOULD pay attention to as a society. The crimes against children that we hear about at Childhaven everyday and try to treat with therapeutic care are truly unconscionable.
For my money - I'd rather people are outraged about child abuse and neglect than Kim Kardashian.