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Are people reacting more strongly to the Nichols case because of his race?

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senseandsensibility Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 09:54 PM
Original message
Are people reacting more strongly to the Nichols case because of his race?
It's an honest question, and please correct me if I'm wrong. I boycott the corporate media, and so I find that my perceptions are sometimes skewed.

However, it seems to me that Nichols is receiving more coverage, more outrage, and generally more attention than similarly violent criminals who are white.

Let's face it. Most mass murderers are white. And somehow I don't remember the average person being consumed by even, say, a Ted Bundy, who murdered many, many more people.
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ultraist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 09:58 PM
Response to Original message
1. No, I don't think so
The dude escaped, shot two deputies, a judge, a security guard and court reporter AND was on the lamb. That's pretty big news.

He's not a serial murderer in the traditional sense even though he murdered several people. He did not stalk out his vicitms like the typical serial murderer. I doubt the guy is a sociopath. I think he snapped.

The white nut that shot the judge's husband and mother got a lot of press too.
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mike_c Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:13 PM
Response to Reply #1
8. just for the record....
The "white nut" apparently didn't do it, if you're referring to the white supremicist who was awaiting sentencing.
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ultraist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:00 PM
Response to Reply #8
16. the white nut is the guy they arrested who had face cancer
and had been before that judge. She denied his claim against the hospital and he claims that brought on severe finacial duress and that's why he killed her relatives.

The KKK freak was cleared or they will be dismissing his case.
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mike_c Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:01 PM
Response to Reply #16
18. ok, I thought you meant the white nutball, not just the generic...
...white nut. :)
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seabeyond Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:00 PM
Response to Original message
2. i dont watch news either, and just asked husband about this
because i really dont know what is up. i didnt know what the catching him was about, figured had to do with initial crime. didnt realize he had escaped courtroom and hi jacked lots of vehicles and big to do. so with all that i can understand the escalated emotions, otherwise i was clueless myself
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sandnsea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:02 PM
Response to Original message
3. Judge was murdered
In court. That makes this case very very unusual. I'm sensitive to racism, but I don't think it's present at all in this case.

And the public was and is still consumed by Ted Bundy. Maybe you weren't alive at the time.
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senseandsensibility Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:04 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. Please.
Not alive at the time? Oh well, I'll take that as a compliment. Must be my youthful way of expressing myself.
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sandnsea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:08 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Please do
I just couldn't figure out why anybody would say Ted Bundy and all those murders weren't a big deal unless they weren't alive at the time. It was a HUGE deal. A judge being murdered in court is a pretty HUGE deal too.
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senseandsensibility Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:14 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. That was just my impression
I was a child at the time, but I do remember the case, and the coverage. Perhaps I wasn't as aware as an adult, but I lived on the west coast, where Bundy started his spree. I just don't recall the average person talking about it.
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sandnsea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:45 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. I was a teen-ager
And on the west coast, and maybe why I heard about rapists and murderers all the time.
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ultraist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:03 PM
Response to Reply #9
19. We didn't have 24-7 news back then either
How many times did they show Michael Jackson going into court in his pjs?

They always recycle the more sensational stories, OVER, and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again. It's pathetic.

There IS a lot of racism in how they portray criminals on the news but I don't think the overplay of this case is any worse than the Andrea Yates or Scott Peterson coverage we saw ad nauseum.
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carpetbagger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:04 PM
Response to Original message
4. No. It's just CNN's back yard.
Having all the journalism skills of a local station's news department, here's their big chance.
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billbuckhead Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:04 PM
Response to Original message
5. Nichols was a mad dog in the middle of Atlanta, but so was Mark Barton
In the short run the coverage seems equal. CNN is based in the ATL, that skews coverage, but a mad killing rapist lose in a 3 million metro media market has to galvanize coverage.
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GraysonDave Donating Member (94 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:53 PM
Response to Original message
11. I'll admit to bigotry
I hate cop killers.
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senseandsensibility Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:55 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. I hate all killers.
Welsome to DU.
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GraysonDave Donating Member (94 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:58 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. LOL, thanks
To answer your question, no, I don't think his race is driving the coverage. I think it's the standard cable news over hype.
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Longhorn79 Donating Member (222 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:59 PM
Response to Original message
14. At least one of the victims was black also.
(The female deputy who got shot through the mouth but is still alive). I don't think there is any racial persecution. Look at all the press the BTK freak is also getting.
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LisaL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:36 PM
Response to Reply #14
26. The deputy that was killed ( a male deputy) was also black.
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Stop_the_War Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 10:59 PM
Response to Original message
15. i don't even know anything about this nichols case...
maybe it's because I haven't been keeping up with the news...
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Stop_the_War Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:00 PM
Response to Original message
17. Another white mass murderer = Bush
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forgethell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:06 PM
Response to Original message
20. Doesn't really matter.
You can't overreact to something like that. The race of the perp is totally irrelevant.

By the way, Ted Bundy was not a mass murderer. He was a serial killer. There is a vast difference in psychology, motivation, etc.

Ted was sexually motivated. This guy seems to have been angry and desperate.
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senseandsensibility Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:09 PM
Response to Reply #20
21. The motivations are very differemt
but equally horrible.
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forgethell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:20 PM
Response to Reply #21
22. True words.
Although, I think the agony of a young woman, who probably knew she was going to die for maybe several hours, is worse than someone who has thirty seconds of panic before being blown away.

I know this isn't a popular view on DU, but both make me wish for something worse than the death penalty.
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LisaL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:36 PM
Response to Reply #20
25. I believe Nichols could be called a spree killer.
As for being desperate, well, he didn't kill the judge because he wanted to escape. He escaped from the deputy, then went to the courtroom to
kill the judge.
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forgethell Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-13-05 12:27 AM
Response to Reply #25
27. Yes, I think
that would be a more precise description. Thank you. However, I do believe that he was desperate, maybe not to get away so much as to take some people with him. When he did get away, he had time to reconsider somewhat, as evidenced by his surrender instead of going out in a pile of bodies. At least, that's my reading of the situation. But I'm no expert, just someone with an opinion.
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psychopomp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:26 PM
Response to Original message
23. I think the color of his skin had a lot to do with the reaction
Edited on Sat Mar-12-05 11:29 PM by psychopomp
It is something that runs deep down in the American psyche and cannot be ruled out. The mobilization would have been the same had the shooter been a white man but the undercurrents of rage and hate would not have been in evidence. Same goes for the Jackson trial.

Just my observations from half a world away.

On edit, I am just glad that they got him, since his freedom would have meant less freedom for every black man in GA...every black man would have been scrutinized and watched, whether shopping or driving around, etc.
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ultraist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-13-05 12:34 AM
Response to Reply #23
28. I do agree there is a certain "archetype" of black males in the US psyche
Edited on Sun Mar-13-05 12:35 AM by ultraist
And maybe it did play a part. My initial reaction was that it didn't but I wouldn't rule out our opinion either.

I think Jackson is getting the attention much due to his celebrity status too though. The guy did some really bizaree things to earn the name, Whacko Jacko, and this plays right into it. I'm not sure about the police dept that has been hunting him down though. Would they have pursued a white man this vigorously? MOST child molesters aren't even charged.
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SF Bay Area Dem Donating Member (394 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-12-05 11:31 PM
Response to Original message
24. No I think it is because of the crime...
... that this got so much coverage...again it has all of the violence and drama that Americans crave...
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jayctravis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-13-05 12:37 AM
Response to Original message
29. One thing I will say...
With all this media frenzy over trials and punishment; Peterson, Martha, Michael, and now the judge-killer dragnet, it must make the Administration sweat seeing how every bit of it is dissected for the viewing public.

Bush stirring up people with Social Security isn't going to make things comfortable for Lay when the Enron stuff happens.
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senseandsensibility Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-13-05 12:41 AM
Response to Reply #29
30. Enron?
Gee, I'd almost forgotten that, just like the corporate media wants us to. Do you honestly think they'll cover that like they cover these other trials?
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justoneworld Donating Member (14 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-13-05 12:47 AM
Response to Original message
31. I might agree with you on most others..
But this was a crazy case, all race issues aside. I mean he gunned down a judge in the court room. Couldnt have made a better media frenzy story than that in hollywood.
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