MWW, MPGs and the People Who Love Them

There's actually a name for it now. Did you know that? (Saw it in Wikipedia, so it must be true.)

MWWS--the Missing White Women Syndrome, alternately known as the Missing Pretty Girl Syndrome, refers of course to the disproportionate amount of news coverage--not only but most particularly broadcast news coverage--given to missing/presumed dead white females of varying ages, that is if they're Caucasian, upper or middle-class, and button-cute little ones, like Britain's Maddie McCann (The new Jon-Benet, or so the tabloids and ratings-hungry MSM have no doubt fervently hoped) and Orlando, Fla. toddler Caylee Anthony; or slender, model-pretty teens and twenty-somethings like--oh, well, the choice is wide. There've been so many over just the last few years.

Natalee Holloway. Laci Peterson. Chandra Levy. Plus Amber, Amy, Tiffany, Tyler, Blair, Bree, Bitsy--oh, you know what I mean: A bunch of other names less nationally known but all reliably Cute and Caucasian. And let's don't forget stunning Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart, one of the very lucky few found alive (and apparently reasonably well) who, upon learning that her kidnapping ordeal was going to be dramatized in a cable-TV movie, reportedly petitioned her parents to let her play herself. Mr. and Mrs. Smart--or their PR reps--wisely turned her down.

Meanwhile, the family and friends of black females such as Syracuse U. student April Gregory, NY student Romona Moore and twenty-somethings Tamika Huston and Latoyia Figueroa were faced with something like polite indifference from police and/or local and national media, even as both law enforcement and press were aggressively investigating the disappearances of white girls at the same time. The African-American women were young and pretty, too--and Ms. Figueroa was even five months pregnant when she vanished--but not enough, apparently, to be considered worthy by the MSM who seem prepared to allow serious time and resources only for the kind of victims readers and audiences--presumably white readers and audiences--would more easily "relate to" (read: "give a damn about").

This discriminatory practice--sorry, discretionary inclination--has become so prevalent that network dramas like CBS's Without a Trace, and by now probably one or several of the Law and Order series, have devoted storylines to it.

Accordingly, if your minority, poor or working class, single-parented, possibly drug-addicted lesbian daughter--or (gay or straight, but especially gay) son--goes missing with foul play suspected, gather your friends and neighbors, post the flyers, and do your best--and best of luck--because you won't get much meaningful assistance from the powers that be. Even if police and local media take an interest it will likely be only momentary, a perfunctory mention at most. Come on, be fair: there are soooo many minority young getting snuffed or going missing these days who can reasonably be expected to keep track?

And the next Maddie or Natalie could be just around the corner, after all...