I really have to wonder about the parents of Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck. It's well established that the press is not allowed, for example, to release the identities of juvenile defendants. And I'm quite sure that in the case of victims, CBS, CNN, FOX News, or whoever are not allowed to air the faces of juveniles without their parents' consent. Sure their names might have been released, but no ethical journalistic enterprise should be plastering the boys' mugs everywhere without signed releases from the parents. And if the parents signed these releases, I'm left with a question: what the hell is wrong with these people?
10 years from now, Hornbeck is going to be out with his friends at a club, or on a date in a restaurant, and some yahoo is going to come up to him and say, "Hey, weren't you that kid who got kidnapped by that Devlin guy? So was he fucking you, or were you just camping buddies?" Or worse, people will just alternate between trying to stare at him and trying not to meet his eyes. This shit is going to dog this kid his whole life.
So about the parents: Were they just not thinking ahead, or was the money from future appearances and potential book deals just too good? And if this is indicative of the kind of parents they are, maybe there's a reason the Hornbeck, in the four years he was with Devlin, didn't try to escape...
EDITED TO ADD a mea culpa: of course the parents and law enforcement would have plastered their likenesses everywhere while they were missing, but now that they're home -- parading them around on Oprah? Huge .jpgs of their faces on millions of Web sites? I just hope the boys end up seeing their fair share of all this income...
I Hate To Be The One To Say This
1.18.2007
Ore : 8:18 AM
Ore : 8:18 AM
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Comments for I Hate To Be The One To Say This
It appears to be counter to the instincts of Americans to say "no, I don't want to be on TV". They will talk about their neighbors, the death of a loved one, their horrific experience, etc. etc. I would be like: "Get off my lawn!" But I'm pissy like that...
- Posted at 7:26 AM | By
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