[Kyrandian]

who doesnt feel the least bit sorry about this alabama girl gone missing?

If she was so smart, and so apt as the media has been harping for a week now.. wouldnt she know better than to get in a car with 3 strangers in a foreign country? 500,000 americans go to aurba annually, and there's almost never been an incident like this. She'd almost have to work at getting herself into trouble, yet somehow she has. Her parents should have given her the life skills to know better than do what she did. I love how the aunt is on the news downplaying the whole "left with 3 guys" thing-- even though now they've all said they had consensual sex with her that night (which i also believe-- notice the cops havent charged them with anything or detained them) I think she wanted some action from exotic guys (my guess is there werent a lot of black people in her opulent alabama suburb) to brag to her friends, and it got her killed. Maybe she was drunk, but i'll tell you one thing-- if i had a daughter one day, you can bet she'd know by WAY before her 18th birthday that getting PLASTERED in a foreign country is a bad bad idea if you arent in control of your body and aware of your surroundings.

And all the sickening interviews they conducted at her highschool where all the acne and glasses free members of the student body rave on and on about how great she was. Ask the captain of the chess team, or members of the AV club what they thought of natalee halloway and i guarantee you'll hear a different story.

[lumi]

Originally Posted by Kyrandian

who doesnt feel the least bit sorry about this alabama girl gone missing?

So you don't care if people get killed as long as they weren't smart?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Hey, a tragedy is a tragedy, no matter how stupid people can get. All I'm hoping for is that if she's still alive she's safe and will shortly be found. If she's dead I pray that she didn't die in any kind of pain.

That said, I agree that parents, family, and peers should watch out for each other. Train your kids to be streetsmart and wordly, this isn't centuries ago when people never travelled and were uneducated. Teach moderation. I personally would never deny my own kids (if I had kids) to live fully and on their own terms once they learn to be responsible for those terms, but I would also teach them to establish personal boundaries that others should never cross unless given permission by my kids.

Thousands of young people go missing every year, this girl's case is ultimately no different from others'. If anything, this should serve as a lesson for everyone to stay careful and alert, even when on holiday.

[Kyrandian]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

even when on holiday.

I completely agree trep. I say ESPECIALLY when on holiday.

[Kyrandian]

Originally Posted by Spider Crusoe

So you don't care if people get killed as long as they weren't smart?

No-- i dont care if people get killed if they have no sense of self-preservation. The rule of the jungle applies to humans as well. An elk who lets their young wander cant be surprised when a lion tears their throat out.

And like i said in my original post.. the media has been doing nothing but say how intelligent and capable she was.. but its all a big sham.

If she was LaToya Halloway from philadelphia, think we'd ever have heard of her? I vote no.

[lumi]

Originally Posted by Kyrandian

No-- i dont care if people get killed if they have no sense of self-preservation. The rule of the jungle applies to humans as well. An elk who lets their young wander cant be surprised when a lion tears their throat out.

I don't agree, because I have respect for athletes putting their lives on the line. There are skiers who ski lines that'll kill them if they make one fall. It's not the best thing to be doing if you want to live long, but the rewards you can get from taking risks can be good.

As for kids doing dumb things, well, they're kids. Some grew up in bad households and I can't blame them too much for it.

[lumi]

Originally Posted by Kyrandian

And like i said in my original post.. the media has been doing nothing but say how intelligent and capable she was.. but its all a big sham.

If she was LaToya Halloway from philadelphia, think we'd ever have heard of her? I vote no.

I agree that the media can be dumb.

[Kyrandian]

Originally Posted by Spider Crusoe

I don't agree, because I have respect for athletes putting their lives on the line. There are skiers who ski lines that'll kill them if they make one fall.

But athletes like that are putting themselves on the line to achieve something, to be the best, or to experience the thrill of accomplishing a difficult or dangerous thing. That's not the same as her taking shot upon shot of cuervo thinking that's a good plan.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Kyrandian

If she was LaToya Halloway from philadelphia, think we'd ever have heard of her? I vote no.

That's a very good insightful point. It reveals racial biases often inherent in media coverage. If 'LaToya Holoway' had been from a single parent, working class dysfunctional family who for some time relied on government assistance, not a blonde and blue eyed girl from a 'wholesome' whitebread American family, how newsworthy would that have been?

Like I said, this girl (I forget her name) is merely one of many, many incidents of missing people worldwide. Yet she gets full news coverage.

[fov]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Like I said, this girl (I forget her name) is merely one of many, many incidents of missing people worldwide. Yet she gets full news coverage.

It's Laci Peterson syndrome.

The girl may have put herself in a dumb situation, but she's a kid. Kids never think "it" can happen to them. (I'm not a kid anymore and I still don't think that way.) We who have never had something like this happen probably can't understand how easily what seems like a fine situation turns bad.

Anyone here read the Lovely Bones? The first chapter is one of the saddest and most shocking things I've ever read - not because of what happens, but because of how easy it would have been for it not to have happened. The (smart) girl "puts herself" in that situation, too... doesn't mean she deserves the outcome.

[SoccerDude28]

I totally agree with you guys, I don't understand why the media decides that one missing person is more important than another. I would like to see once a black missing woman shown in the media at this scale.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Kyrandian

No-- i dont care if people get killed if they have no sense of self-preservation. The rule of the jungle applies to humans as well.

I though that's what civilisation was all about : not having the rule of the jungle applied to us.
Nobody deserves to die, and I find it quite stupid to say otherwise.

That said, I agree about the media part (globally, I mean, because I haven't heard about this particular case).

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I feel sorry for her. But her alleged stupidity does have repurcussions on her family and friends.

[Kyrandian]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

her alleged stupidity does have repurcussions on her family and friends.

And the dutch marines looking for her... and the aruba department of tourism... and the viewers of the united states media (we're the only country who instigates 2 wars then talks about pretty kidnapped white girls on our 3 24-hour news networks)... the aruba police department...

[mszv]

There's a difference between saying you don't like the media hype and saying someone deserves to die because they did a dumb thing.

That sends a chill down my spine, literally. It's so cold, and so heartless. I'm hoping that the person who said that, on this forum - that they were young and thoughtless and just didn't have enough years behind them to think about what was going on. It's also true that everyone, no matter how smart or "street savvy" does something stupid at one time or another. So - it's OK if they die for it? I'll bet the person who said that did something stupid at one time, or someone they love very very dearly, their parents perhaps, their siblings, a lover, did something stupid. So, if you or someone you love does something stupid, it's OK if they die for it, and the rest of us should feel that it's OK?

That's not the kind of world I want to live in. If this person is serious, that's not the kind of person I ever want to be associated with. Fortunately, the simple act of living can sometimes make you change your mind on opinions like that.

[Sage]

Natalee Halloway is from Mountain Brook, which although technically it's own city, is a suburb of Birmingham and is just over the mountain from where I live. At one point in the early 90s, Mountain Brook had the second highest average per household income in the US, and those people live in their own insular little world. They pride themselves on their lack of street smarts because in their minds, bad things simply don't happen to their kind of people.
It's a shame that Natalee disappeared under dubious circumstances while in Aruba, but she did make bad choice after bad choice with her own safety, and I'm sure she was thinking "I'm a Mountain Brook Princess, so nothing bad could possibly happen to me. That icky stuff only happens to nasty poor people." the entire time.
I do hope she is found alive soon.

ScottMate

[Kyrandian]

I'm 23 years old. I travelled to paris by myself when i was 12 to stay with a family who's son had stayed with our family a year previously. I knew by that age to be very careful. In several subsequent overseas trips, even at age 22, i was fully conscious that i am a visitor in a place not my home, and while i would occasionally become intoxicated, i never did so to the point where i made a decision that endangered my life. I never said 'she deserves to die', i said i don't feel sorry for her, and that the media hype surrounding her is bullshit. It is my right not to feel sorry for someone, and thrifty got it right; she thought the whole world was like her secluded white bred world, and paid the price for it.

Why doesnt 'survival of the fittest' apply to the human race anymore? Are we really that far removed from our neandrethal ancestors?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by mszv

There's a difference between saying you don't like the media hype and saying someone deserves to die because they did a dumb thing...

No one ever said she deserved to die because she was stupid. However, it can entail less sympathy, arguably deserved. The world today is very, VERY small and far less forgiving, and everyone shares the responsibility to be aware of potential dangers anywhere, anytime. It's tragic things like this happen, but many of them could have been prevented.

I'd modify Kyrandsie's proverb and instead say: Survival of the most intelligent and streesmart. Which fundamentally means the same thing but is more telling of our times.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by Kyrandian

Why doesnt 'survival of the fittest' apply to the human race anymore? Are we really that far removed from our neandrethal ancestors?

Yes, we are. That's the all point of all these useless things like laws, peace and morals.
I love how you consider a few millenium of evolution worth squat.

[Once A Villain]

The only thing I've read that bothers me is all this "kid" talk. The girl was 18 years old, let's not treat this as if she's some sort of stupid infant. As if she has no responsibility here... She doesn't deserve to die, of course not, but she did a stupid thing... Hopefully she's ok. But if she isn't, she is partly to blame. I hate to say that, but it's just the truth. If you are walking down the street minding your own business and someone runs up and stabs you, that's different. But when you get into a car with three complete strangers (in ANY country)...well...it's not all that surprising that she's missing.