You can (and probably should) just remove these comments. Chalk it up to a personal miscommunication between Tracey and myself. No need for any of it to be public. I apologize for making it so.

If your commenters have some concerns about what they say and where, that’s fine – come read the post and go back and discuss it on the forum. That happens just about every day, in fact, and we’d never complain about it. We own our intellectual property, but we don’t own what people have to say about it or where they discuss it.

Also, IMO Tracey is preaching to the choir with what I can guess about the hardcore audience of this blog. He isn’t saying a whole lot that would surprise anyone here, so there’s really nothing to debate. There may be some debate about the facts of the case, but that’s not what this series is about. All we can do is occasionally pat him on the back.

It’s funny in the usual messed up South Park way, and is not kind.

Second, I think many dropped the Ramsey case because it’s conclusion was monumentally inconclusive. “But, I could swear it was the mother,” many thought. Then Karr says he did it, but he didn’t. Or did he?

The public drifted away in pursuit of another such case that could be wrapped up neatly. Yet that seldom happens. They still don’t know for sure what happened to Laci Peterson.

Tracey’s explication is an indictment of American (and for that matter, much of the rest of the world’s) journalism. But I wouldn’t write it off as just another expose of how the pop-news-media works. What is compelling is the methodical, empirical detail with which Tracey lays out the story. It goes deeper than a critique of the popular press’s obsession with Britney or Paris because it seeks to reveal the structures within our culture that have created such conditions — the character of the media audience that has relinquished citizenship for the consumption of spectacle.

It is important that we understand how these sorts of media narratives come to be, if we are to address and challenge the conditions of their creation, and by implication, the significance of journalism for democracy. If we do not wish to pursue the latter, whether we are cynical or merely fatigued, then we get what we deserve. And some people, like the Ramseys, get what they do not deserve, indeed the ruination of their lives.

I believe my forum, scheduled to close soon, would have enjoyed the discussion and they would have had plenty to say about what he wrote.

Mame, a member of my forum who is also a peripheral character in this story, copied the first part of this series to my forum. Before the discussion got started, I got an email from Tracey chastising me for copying the article. I had not, but did as he demanded and immediately removed it.

The discussion was quashed on my forum.

Understand, many Ramsey case followers have found their screen names used on unprotected forums. Most tend to stay on one or two areas where their names are registered and password protected. Otherwise they find themselves posting things they would NEVER say.

You know many are reading and I hope the series continues. But if you really want comments and discussion, I suggest you lift the ban on unedited discussion elsewhere. JMO

She deserved better and no doubt a lot of people made a lot of money out of her savage killing.

It’s said, I know, but I remember when it was happening that I kept thinking, why is this getting so much hype? It was like the homicide version of Brittney Spears displaying her hoochie coochie for all to see. Sadly, shit like this happens every day. Why is this one case getting so much press? Would it get so much press if the kid that got killed was poor and black? It’s the same thing I’m thinking now with the horribly tragic case in the news today about a triple homicide involving Hudson’s family. Would THAT case get so much hype if everyone involved wasn’t related to an Oscar winning actress and American Idol contestant? Maybe, but I kinda doubt it.

Back to Slammy’s post. The way I see it, there are three overlapping reasons why no one is commenting:

1) people didn’t care then and they don’t care now
2) people already know this is the way the pop-news-media works and feel that there’s not a damned thing they can do about it
3) people already know that this is the way the pop-news-media works and don’t really care or actively encourages the behavior

I’m afraid I’m somewhere in the middle of reasons 1 and 2. In the end, there’s not a whole lot to say.

In my opinion, your “Letters From Afghanistan” series was one of the best pieces I’ve ever read in a blog, any blog.

Jeff