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Late Night: For John Mark Karr

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 08:50:24 PM EST
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Give me a ticket for an airplane,
Ain't got time to take a fast train.....

The Boxtops singing The Letter, 1967.

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    Late Night: For John Mark Karr | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 09:23:13 PM EST
    even better, new at skippy, the gene pitney classic: the ballad of cable network news, or, the man who killed jonbenet ramsey . .

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#2)
    by Sumner on Sat Aug 19, 2006 at 11:39:57 PM EST
    Rigorous Intuition has about the most tabloid-like account I have yet read in this media feeding frenzy. Now wanna-be types would have us believe that the garrote was some form of sexual-asphyxia that went wrong. Yet the garrote is said to have been tightened so savagely and embedded so deeply into the flesh of JonBenet's neck, that it was not immediately visible. Garroting is a technique of murder usually reserved to use by professional killers. This theory defies credibility. A nylon stocking, scarf or belt, maybe, a garrote - not likely. Owing to the sexual repression in America, many people simply have an insatiable appetite for pathological sexual news events like this. It is their opportunity to pique their sexual curiosity in a manner that they otherwise can't address. Some have said that JonBenet was the most beautiful girl they ever saw (pictures, video), probably because she is the only young girl they ever saw bedecked in thousands of dollars worth of make-up and finery. How many can name a single other young beauty pageant contestant or model so young as was she?

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 12:21:14 AM EST
    There were dozens, just in Boulder. They took classes. One of the reasons the pictures seem so strange is that you always see Jonbenet by herself. If you saw all of the little girls in the pageants together, she wouldn't seem so different, just prettier. If I had a daughter instead of a son, I'm sure I would not have put her in a pageant. It's not my thing. Mothers tend to share things they know about with their kids. Patsy Ramsey had been a beauty queen. She also had cancer. She wanted to share special time with her daughter, doing things that brought them closer, in case she succumbed to the disease early. Pageantry was what she knew. She shared it with her daughter. Making the costumes, teaching her to sing and dance, to win pageants, that was their special thing. I don't think it's right to criticize Patsy or the other mothers. Just because the activity is not one that means something to you or to me, doesn't make it wrong. The criticism should be directed at the media, which isolated the pix of Jonbenet from the other kids dressed and performing similar routines, and to the voyeuristic public, which has become so fascinated by the photos. To each his own. When I see photos and videos of dog owners incessantly grooming their pets and then trotting them out in a dog show, not being a pet owner, I think it's similar to and just as silly as child beauty pageants. But it's also not my place to criticize it.

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#4)
    by roxtar on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 03:23:33 AM EST
    Uh, you might wanna re-think that analogy. As one who raises and shows dogs, I am compelled to point out that (a), even the goofy people who clip their Poodles and topknot their Shi-tzus are doing nothing more than decorating dogs; and (b) dogs are not people, resulting in little danger that all the preening and primping will result in an adult who believes that her self worth depends on makeup, costumes, and batting their eyes at authority figures. In the highly unlikely event that either of my stepkids tarted up one of my grand-daughters and taught her to cock her hip and wink at a table full of old men, I'd have to re-think my position on grandparental custody rights.

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#5)
    by roy on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 07:24:07 AM EST
    Isn't this a bit glib? We're talking about either a murderous child molester or a desperately sick man who's stirred up a world of trouble with a false confession. Not a traveller rushing home to loved ones.

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 09:08:23 AM EST
    I think he's more likely to be the sick man who stirred up the world with a false confession. I think that it's unfortunate for him as well. He probably belongs in a mental institution. He may have had some sort of crush on her and wanted a connection to her. Through saying he killed her, he made a connection with her. I wrote more in my blog. My blog article

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sumner on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 03:12:57 PM EST
    I am reminded of Fred Waitzkin's (Joe Mantegna) response to his son's teacher (Laura Linney) in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993). She compares young Josh Waitzkin's (Max Pomeranc) prodigy genius at chess to being proficient at the card game "penuchle". Show dogs as a hobby, vs shaping the most glamorous beauty when she is only age six, are not even close analogies. (although one can hardly blame someone for repeating that, as the analogy has been circulated before.) The mysogyny of other's comments referring to such a prodigy as a "tart" or "lascivious" betrays a social conditioning. (Such conditioning is probably nearly impossible to transcend, even if the misogynist wanted to). "[Female] Children are to be marginalized. That's that." (Czarcasm). JonBenet's exceptional beauty represented a form of power over everybody, not just "dirty old men". It was that that so many evidently found threatening. In 1996 there were numerous outspoken advocates for the death of anyone advocating or participating in the "sexualization of children". Some are no longer as vocal now, but they have left numerous document trails. In that same year, we are told there were some 2,000 murders of children. That number seems awfully suspicious of being a mythical number. The dynamics at play in this tragedy sure seem to closely resemble the rage resulting from severe sexual repression and even similar to the "honor killings" of other societies. Although, in this case, probably not necessarily by a family member.

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 03:44:58 PM EST
    Should the potential for harm resulting from these pagents not be recognised as something quite different than that which can be found in other childhood pursuits. For the most part, pursuits undertaken by children, success is measured by the degree of achievment, as in sports etc. The pagent however, success is judged by what you are, it is the child itself that is being judged. "I did not win, therefore I am....." And how many kids enter into this category; all of them except the winner. I do understand that the kids do various routines when judged.

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#9)
    by Sumner on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 05:02:23 PM EST
    Geert Hofstede addresses some of this. I am reminded of Abby Miller (Kirsten Prout), in Elektra (2005) as "The Treasure". She is so fine and such a prodigy the forces of good and evil clash in attempts to overcome those sworn to protect her. Was the JonBenet murder a sex crime, or a ransom attempt? The whole bizarre nature of the incongruous evidence has me still baffled. But I do know that the hysteria fomented re kids and abstinence and/or danger of "sexual predators" has been sold the same way as was the war in Iraq. I generally vouchsafe child modeling, child beauty pageants, child acting and child stardom. "Sport", on the other hand, I contend derives from Greek mythology; Portunus --> [S]port(unus).
    "Portunus, the son of Athamas and Ino. Athamas being about to slay him and Ino, they leaped into the sea, where they became sea Divinities"
    Hence, I take "sport" to mean a physical endeavor in which one potentially risks injury or death.

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 05:36:25 PM EST
    Sumner. Since following your link to the "shivs" I have made a point to read all your comments, I have to say you are a thinking mans writer, so different, crack on.

    Re: Late Night: For John Mark Karr (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Aug 22, 2006 at 03:29:02 PM EST
    JEM: DO you recall the Colorado FBI ( CBI) computer crimes unit asking the national news to request help from the public as to indentify a very certain AOL moniker who posted on web sites, and so on on the Internet? It happened right before September 11, 2001 ( just prior to 9-11) Was that moniker DAXIS?

    Late Night: For John Mark Karr | 11 comments (11 topical)