Ken Schram: No end to cruel speculation
A young mom and her son are missing.
News organizations dutifully go over what little information is available.
That includes reports about her being a recovering alcoholic who is said to have fallen off the wagon.
It includes the array of tattoos she's gotten.
Her son has an unusual name and pictures show him with a Mohawk haircut.
There's convenience store video taken shortly before Shantina Smiley and her son disappeared that shows she purchased a bottle of wine.
And with the way the story is reported, people begin making assumptions.
The comments posted online on the newspaper, TV and radio reports show how quickly and harshly people begin to judge the missing woman and her 8-year-old son.
She named her kid after the devil writes one person.
Another speculates about how her tattoos tell us what kind of twisted lifestyle she must have been leading.
Maybe she was raising a little jihadist; she killed herself and her son in a drunken stupor.
There's no end to the shallow and cruel speculation of what might have happened to a young woman and her son.
I take that back.
The end will come when authorities find out what happened to them.
And at that point the cruel people will either say "See, I told you so."
Or they'll slink away when confronted with the type of person they really are.
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Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com.
News organizations dutifully go over what little information is available.
That includes reports about her being a recovering alcoholic who is said to have fallen off the wagon.
It includes the array of tattoos she's gotten.
Her son has an unusual name and pictures show him with a Mohawk haircut.
There's convenience store video taken shortly before Shantina Smiley and her son disappeared that shows she purchased a bottle of wine.
And with the way the story is reported, people begin making assumptions.
The comments posted online on the newspaper, TV and radio reports show how quickly and harshly people begin to judge the missing woman and her 8-year-old son.
She named her kid after the devil writes one person.
Another speculates about how her tattoos tell us what kind of twisted lifestyle she must have been leading.
Maybe she was raising a little jihadist; she killed herself and her son in a drunken stupor.
There's no end to the shallow and cruel speculation of what might have happened to a young woman and her son.
I take that back.
The end will come when authorities find out what happened to them.
And at that point the cruel people will either say "See, I told you so."
Or they'll slink away when confronted with the type of person they really are.
---
Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com.