Does anyone else find the recent Elizabeth Smart activity a little creepy?

[phillybri]

First thing, I'm not saying it's bad she's home or calling anything about the situation into question. BUT...

That being said, my wife and I have both been supremely creeped out by the way this whole thing has gone down. Her father seems to like the spotlight a little too much. She hasn't even been home for a year and now there's going to be interviews, a book, and a movie. I mean a freaking movie!?!?? Only 7 months since she came home???

I may be crazy, but if I had a daughter abducted, I wouldn't want to continually remind her or my family of it by allowing all this media coverage.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031021/ap_on_en_tv/tv_smart_interview_9

Anyone else a little weirded out?

[Girlfriday]

1. I couldn't agree more

It's insane and obscene! :puke:

[mainegreen]

2. Not as creepy as the Made For TV Jessica Lynch movie

Barf Gag Shiver!

[E_Zapata]

3. And I sure the hell wouldn't be living in the HOUSE

where she was abducted from.

We would have moved to a completely different state and environment.

They are in the same house. Can you imagine?

Would you stay in the same house if, say, someone you loved was brutally murdered there?

And Oprah is doing the First and only in-house interview (display) there. Gosh, Oprah has done so much for our country this year. What a gal!

All this stuff coming up about Elizabeth is clearly just more media cloaking of REALITY!

[bearfartinthewoods]

17. maybe with the money from the movie, they can afford to move? eom

[number six]

4. Aah...The soft green resonance of money!

There isn't one personal tragedy that someone couldn't make a big pile of cash out of. There's also a weird fear-culture edge to it which keeps it in the media. Fear sells!

[niyad]

5. from the beginning, I have found this whole story just a bit too weird

and not-quite-believable. way too many holes in the stories, and now all this publicity? hmmmmmmm

[PopSixSquish]

6. I Think That There are Two Ways to Look at This

In our media-saturated culture, you can either try to get the story out in a positive way or you can let the speculation go on.

Maybe the family is just trying to make sure that what really happened gets told instead of having the "Saving Jessica Lynch" treatment?

But, it does seem a little soon.

[skypilot]

11. I don't think that what REALLY happened...

...ever gets told in made-for-TV movies. Or in any "based on a true story" movies for that matter.

[Rose Siding]

12. I suspect they are taking their cues from Elizabeth

Hopefully with the guidance of a counselor. They were very protective of the younger sister during the investigation. That was a responsible approach so I don't suspect their motives.

After reading a few thousand heartfelt letters from well wishers across the country, they may feel that sharing the story is not only cathartic for Elizabeth but a way to give back to the massive support they rec'd. It may also be a way to make her feel less afraid- as though she has nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

In the article she said `I feel triumphant.' I don't think it is unhealthy to share that. It is probably very empowering. It's more important for her than the public to get rid of the creepy feeling.

[NicoleM]

7. Yes.

I saw a clip of the upcoming Oprah show on ABC this morning. They were in the bedroom, discussing who was sleeping where at the time. It is just creepy. Her parents need to let the poor girl get on with her life! She shouldn't have to relive this to satisfy the morbid curiosity of the American public.

[Frangible]

8. Her parents are greedy imo

And using her to get a quick buck.

[CWebster]

9. More of the same trend

Creeping insinuation of sexual scandal of the gutter variety imposed on women. The dumbing down portrays men as macho militant thugs and women as vacant blonde bimbos.

[jokerman93]

10. This kind of exploitation

is porn-lite. It sells. All the prurient stuff happens off screen but it's all there baby.

I put this Elizebeth Smart thing in the same category as the morbid fascination that was encouraged around the Jon-Binet (sp?) murder a few years ago.

Another innocent pretty, blond, white christian child -- taken from her bed.

We're in the sewer with this current media culture.

Enough said. It's all such hypocracy.

[Clete]

13. Another helpless American female

being exploited by the very people who should be protecting her.

[cally]

14. She was found because

of all the publicity about her case. Maybe they just want to get her story out so she can move on.

I do find it very strange that they still live in that house.

[thebeaglehaslanded]

15. She is yesterday's news. Does anyone really care now that she's back?

[alexwcovington]

16. It was sick and twisted to begin with

Out of hundreds of kids that are missing every day... this one gets attention why?

Because she's from Utah and her parents are rich.

Not that this is a new trend in media reporting. They've been overblowing these types of cases since the Lindbergh baby.

[jmm]

18. I would be more sympathetic to the parents

if this story was still in the news because then they might want to set the story straight but to wait until Elizabeth has become yesterday's news and to revive the headlines seems very odd to me. Why when people are finally forgetting her name and she can start trying to lead a "normal" teenage life is she being trust back into the spotlight?

[mermaid]

19. Because Ed Smart

is a greedy bastard!!
And tragedy sells. It's creepy.

You know something, though? I'm betting is Elizabeth Smart were a little black girl, none of this hype would be happening. It has a lot to do with the fact that she is a pretty WHITE, blond girl.

She is what would have happened too Jon Benet Ramsey, had she lived.

Anyone else notice Elizabeth Smart these days is looking like a Gwyneth Paltrow clone?

No accident, I'm sure. She is being primed to be a movie star or something. What a hell of a way to get there, though...huh?

[niyad]

20. during the whole chandra levy thing (remember her?) it was pointed

out that some 90,000 people are listed as missing in this country. whoever heard of the rest of them?

the comments about the blonde, white person are so true. when the massive hunt and media hue and cry were on for laci patterson, there was a reporter in the same area missing-- who just happened to be black. did we hear one word about her? of course not.

this whole thing has a most peculiar aroma

[Brian Sweat]

21. Money, Money, Money, Money, Money, Money, Mon

If you haven't got it, it isn't any fun.

[MojoKrunch]

22. I recall finding that Mormon community response to her

ordeal almost as bizarre as the abduction itself.
One minister talked about how she was "magically"(my word) a virgin again because that was the way the church saw her... as if her being seduced/raped and brainwashed by this guy never happened.
There was a point when I questioned just who was doing the brainwashing here... the abductor or her friends and family.

I get the feeling that this little girl isn't terribly bright(so easily manipulated) and that she's going to have some expensive counseling bills later in life.

Mojo

[xxqqqzme]

23. serious skin crawling

every time I hear yet another ad for the interview...movie....comic book....'baseball cards'....????