Trashing the victim in a crime is nothing new; we’ve been doing it forever.
That doesn’t make it right.
Mood music:
http://youtu.be/MhfRUYUkq_0
After the Manson murders in 1969, for example, the newspapers were full of speculation about how the victims may have done themselves in by living a lifestyle that attracted dangerous people.
Today people are fixated on the case of Abigail Hernandez, a 15-year-old New Hampshire girl who recently returned home after being missing for several months. Nathaniel E. Kibby, 34, is now in jail, accused of holding her hostage for nine months.
On the surface, it seems like a simple case: A girl was kidnapped and, thankfully, she got home alive. Police made an arrest, and now the court proceedings begin.
The general public knows almost nothing about what really happened. But that doesn’t stop people from suddenly becoming experts. Listening to the radio during my work commutes this week, I’ve heard all manner of theories. The most popular theories:
- She was pregnant and went away for the duration to avoid public ridicule.
- She was off doing drugs with adult friends.
- Abigail and Kibby were a couple and she ran off to be with him.
What really happened? I have no idea, other than she was gone for nine months and recently returned home, and someone was arrested for allegedly kidnapping her.
Whatever happened behind the scenes, people need to chill out and stop slicing and dicing this kid’s life to bits. She is a teenager, a child.
Until the full truth comes out, people should stop trying to pass judgement.
We can better serve our communities and ourselves by dealing with our own private baggage instead of picking apart the motives of a kid.
Go home, rumor mongers. You’re either drunk or just assholes.
