Another news rundown, you say? Well, it was never really my intention with this blog to do a running commentary on every article I read, but it works at the moment.
There was a lot that grabbed my attention today. I also realized that I check CNN compulsively when given the opportunity to see if anything earthshattering has happened and whether or not I’m missing it. Kind of twisted, n’est pas? One is prompted to wonder, how did all those non-internet-blessed people survive before the world wide web came along? More peacefully, I imagine.
- One-eyed gator pulls golfer into pond : I’m starting off on a positive note, so to speak. Prior to moving to Florida for a period of my life, I was equally fascinated and horrified by the fact that gators run rampant there; that they shuffled their way into the bottom of swimming pools, waiting for unsuspecting skinny dippers; that they wandered into communities and devoured pets. It only gets weirder when you’re actually there. No, most Floridians don’t encounter alligators in their every day lives as if they were some unbearable blight on human existence, but everyone has their stories and some of them are harrowing indeed - or just plain strange.
One of my mother’s co-workers hit an alligator that was crossing the road while driving home one evening. Apparently the gator, somewhat unfazed, slunk back into the golf course pond it had emerged from or continued on towards it’s original destination. We guess this because when my mother’s co-worker turned around to see if the gator was alright, it had already disappeared.
One of my own co-workers lived in one of the really swampy areas of Central Florida. He was about 80-90 years old, eccentric, and enjoyed playing upon the unsettling presence of the alligators to those who admitted an interest. He mentioned how at night, if you looked out from his house onto the swamp, you could see thousands of red beady little eyes staring back at you from the darkness. He was the one who was sent to deal with the rogue alligators at my place of employment. When they would approach people, which they did on a more regular basis than one would like to have guessed, he would smack them in the nose with a stick. Their noses are very sensitive. This would send them scurrying back into the wilderness.
What I liked best about the article mentioned above were these two facts. 1) There was actually a “Beware of Alligator” sign posted outside the sixth hole where the alligator resides and the man was attacked. As a non-Floridian, I was often baffled by how nonchalant native Floridians were when it came to swimming in gator infested waters. It didn’t bother them at all. Around the time I moved away, I remember, a little boy was killed by an alligator while swimming in one of these bodies of water. Everyone in his community was surprised. I myself was not so surprised. If anything I was surprised I didn’t hear about it happening more often.
The second thing I liked about the article was the quote at the end from the general manager of the golf course: “Unfortunately, that’s part of Florida,” course general manager Rod Parry said. “There’s wildlife in these ponds.” There sure are, Rod. The purity of that statement and the unabashed straight-forwardness of it made me laugh. When it comes to publicized gator attacks, you often hear a lot of hmming and hawing on the parts of officials and wildlife experts. This guy basically just said, ‘Yep. We got gators. And they periodically attack you. Gotta watch out for that.’
- Runaway confronts man who kept her as ‘puppet’ : The following quote is the actual opening paragraph of this article: A former school security guard accused of keeping a teenage runaway in his home for a decade and having sex with her pleaded guilty Tuesday, the opening day of his trial.
That strikes me as a pretty soft and cuddly way to refer to imprisonment, sexual abuse, and statutory rape. Seriously, who the hell is writing this opening? The way that initial paragraph is worded actually seems to try and downplay the criminality of what the man in question did. Later in the article, they mention how the victim described herself as being treated “like a puppet”, with her abuser exerting control over pretty much everything she did.
How different do these two statements sound? The real version: A former school security guard accused of keeping a teenage runaway in his home for a decade and having sex with her pleaded guilty Tuesday, the opening day of his trial. Now another: The former school security guard who sexually abused a teenage runaway and held her captive in his home for a decade pleaded guilty to several assault charges Tuesday. Strangely different, in my opinion. I have to wonder what made them go with the first statement.
- Boy, 7, kills 8-year-old cousin while playing with gun : Other than being really tragic, there was nothing unexpected I came across while reading this article until I found this quote from ‘a family friend’ of the boy who was killed: “I don’t have a clue where he got this gun, but just I hope that this is a wake-up call to all the young mothers in Boston: Guns and babies do not mix,” Watts said.
I’m not sure what the mother’s fault is, if any. What I am sure of is that the article states she was at home at the time of the shooting and that there were people “related to gangs” living in the family’s apartment.
Rather than issue a wake up call to all the young mothers out there who probably already know guns and babies aren’t a good combination, let’s issue a wake up call to all the boys and men who think they’re so fucking tough that they can’t travel anywhere without a loaded gun. It never seems to be enough to just kill each other. They have to take as many people out with them as they can. Which reminds me of my last news bit for the day.
- Wrestler Chris Benoit Kills His Wife Nancy and Son Daniel : Well, the WWE is notorious for wallowing in any gutter that might increase the company’s cash flow. I wouldn’t say they’re reaching new lows with this whole story, but I guess I would describe it as solidly fortifying the lows they’ve already established for themselves.
They ran a three-hour tribute to Benoit. They are disputing media speculation that steroids played a role in Benoit’s fatally aggressive behavior, despite the fact that steroids were already found in his home. Clearly his wife and child were taking them.
Chris Benoit is a murderer. He choked his family to death. The company he worked for is celebrating his life and making it pretty damn clear that the only tragedy they see in the situation is the embarrassment they’ll suffer from it. I expect this kind of thing from them, but what really makes me sick is that all the ‘fans’ of the WWE more than likely won’t give a damn either. Apparently it doesn’t matter how high profile, how wealthy, how anything you are; if you’re an abused wife or an abused child, the ones who have the ability to help you don’t care. Not even after you’re dead.
