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 Another
Casey Anthony Opinion
By Gail-Elaine
Tinker, M.S.
The Casey Anthony case caught my interest back in June 2008.
I must have been home sick or something because I had adequate
exposure to CNN's and Nancy Grace's detailed description and
speculation on every aspect of the befuddling situation. Night
after night Grace would sob about the enchanting missing child
and the family would woodenly work out their dynamics upon
one another through jailhouse surveillance, private investigators,
and attorneys. Incredulously, Leonard Padilla as a bounty
hunter- dressed in cowboy getup, would appear as guest on
Grace's show and I began to wonder if when the time came for
trial if this case would ever find an untainted jury pool.
I got well from whatever had me on so much TV back then, but
from time to time I'd check in with Nancy Grace. I wondered
why she referred to this as the "tot mom" case,
perhaps as to not to speak Ms. Anthony's name directly and
give her personal publicity? Honestly, I lost patience with
her by the time she shouted "It's time to unleash the
lawyers!" each evening, and flipped the channel. Still,
as a person and professional as committed to the "War
on Women and Children" as other HLN hosts, I could see
some value in the Nancy Grace format, as it created public
pressure for results where other news outlets were focusing
on world events and politics.
Fast forward to June 2011 to the actual trial of Casey Anthony;
it was a media spectacular, as most major trials these days.
However, even to those who had not kept up, the case hit a
nerve with the American public. After all, matricide (mother
killing own child) is a horrifying idea, up there with cannibalism,
and terrorism. The American public believes in women who die
protecting children, heck…via congress, they are poised to
take away a woman's right to choose whether she may abort
her own fetus, even in the case of rape, incest or danger
to her health. So this explains precisely why people are so
angry. I agree that beautiful 3 year olds are not disposable.
Let me ask some provocative questions: had Caylee Anthony
been Black or Hispanic, would her sweet two and a half year
old potential been just as precious? Had she been physically
or mentally challenged or disordered, would her death be as
much a crime? Had she been the product of incest from the
mother's father, brother, or uncles, would she be as much
a loss to America? Had this dead child been a hyperactive,
violent, unsocial, little boy, would America be sobbing? I
wonder.
Our social service system in the United States of America
is full of sweet, potentialed, children like Caylee Anthony,
born to parents unable to care for them, these children have
been saved from murder. However, they sit in group foster
situations, unadopted into permanent loving, forever homes.
No, their cases did not even make the 5pm news or the local
paper's blotter, but they exist, without Nancy Grace's sobs
or rants. One need only make application, be investigated
as a fit parent, complete training, and perhaps one could
make a real life contribution to a person's life and be enriched
forever by them. If you already have kids, are too busy, too
this or that, I understand. But this was how narcissistic
[see my blog article on narcissism] Casey appeared to feel.
Now you have some insight into her sad mind.
If you are angry at the system, if you are angry at the Anthony
family, if you think you would have gladly made a home for
Caylee instead of seeing her skull in a swamp; what if you
gave the same love to "LaDestiny" or "Terrence?"
If you want to make a difference, stop sending hate emails
and fuming long enough to send some spare change to organizations
that support the welfare of children. There have also been
constructive efforts in many states to construct "Caylee's
Law" to make it criminal not to report a child's absence
within an early amount of time. These are very useful measures,
so let your representative that you want these laws on the
books. Write them a polite email about it.
Let's talk about America again. The US has the greatest justice
system in the world. We have countries revolting worldwide;
foreign men fighting, women raped, and children dying for
a taste of democratic justice like ours. Our forefathers had
no means to envision trial outside the legal system, except
mob rule, such as the Salem witch trials, and they tried very
hard to put checks and balances to make sure these things
did not happen again. I contend that pre-trial publicity,
beyond standard news reporting is inflammatory. It is serving
to make outlandish trial by public option, polluting jury
pools, injuring the peer jury process, and I would like to
see it come to a stop. Case in point; an Anthony jury member
has quit her job and left her home due to public harassment,
this is NOT American behavior. No, this is a symptom of our
symptom breaking down.
The US press operates within its first amendment rights but
still obeys some conventions of human decency; for example,
not naming victims until relatives have been notified, not
photographing child victims, protecting sources, not naming
jurors in and active case, and so on. Why not self-police
to stop 3 years of speculation on a case not yet gone to trial?
There will be plenty of fodder during and after the trial,
why muck up the investigation with would-be fame whores, possible
crime scene tampering, national promotion of a person's guilt
- when in our judicial system we purport primary innocence.
Look, I am not saying Casey Anthony is an angel, but let's
say for a second YOUR kid got in trouble. Innocent or guilty,
would you want a national TV audience discussing every aspect
of your loved one's case for 3 years before the trial? Wouldn't
that bring every nutcase out of the woodwork to appear on
TV for 15 seconds of fame for free beers at their local bar?
No sir that would be my idea of nightmare.
Let's talk television exposure as moment. When your loved
one is missing, it is crucial to get all eyes out to find
them. When bad things are done to good people, it is good
to educate us on the 'how, why, and how not to have this happen
to you and yours.' I believe the news and human interest programs
and stations are doing this, and it is a good thing. John
Walsh of Fox's America's Most Wanted says "the show has
assisted in 1,149 captures since its premiere in 1988, an
average of one a week," via a Detroit News article.
I espouse a common criticism lobbed at the news media. Primarily
interested in ratings, sound-bites, and so on…they rarely
publicize efforts to find minority, unphotogentic, older,
victims. The big news is for the 'toddlers in tiaras' and
the 'Barbie doll' set. When an overweight Hispanic teen vanishes,
does she get the press that Natalie Holloway got? She is just
as treasured by her loved ones!
Lastly, I do believe there is a justice greater than that
of man's government. Casey Anthony was deemed innocent by
a jury of her peers. She has to live with herself, society,
and her higher power now. We all live in glass houses, so
to speak. The important thing is YOU and what you have taken
away from this social lesson and how it will improve your
human relations. That is the only way to honor a dead child,
to be a better person.
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| Gail-Elaine Tinker, M.S.
is a psychotherapist in private practice on the Lehigh Valley
PA. She was born in Philadelphia in May 1960, eldest of three
children. She was greatly interested in writing, language, theater
and music throughout her youth which opened opportunity such
as performance, travel, and academics. Gail-Elaine had planned
a career in teaching English but upon seeing the state of secondary
education in the 80s, she re-tooled her skills to become an
addictions counselor.
She was married and has a gifted son with
AS. She had a career in Art and entrepreneurial publishing
while raising him. Upon her divorce she furthered her credentials
with a Masters in Clinical Psychology and Master Levels in
Reiki training. Her goal is to change the stigma of mental
illness and facilitate positive solutions for her clients.
Gail-Elaine continues her work in trauma,
chronic pain, grief, and addictions in her general practice
of psychotherapy with art and somatic psychology. She serves
as Therapist, Consultant, Life Coach, Reiki Teacher, Advocate,
Community Speaker, Blogger [www.tinkerpsychotherapy.com],
and also as Features Contributor for PCM.
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