Tuesday, June 7, 2005

ALCOHOL-FREE SPRING BREAK? ISN'T THAT AN OXYMORON?

You've got to appreciate the sheer naivete of this missing kid's relatives. We're talking about an 18 year old straight-A student from Alabama who just graduated from high school, who is celebrating before she puts her nose to the grindstone once again to being her pre-med studies. She's on spring break in Aruba, and was last seen attending a concert, followed by eating and dancing at a Carlos n' Charlie's bar and restaurant . . . and they don't think ALCOHOL WAS INVOLVED?

It was not clear if Holloway had been drinking the night of her disappearance, though her relatives say she does not party much, is achievement-oriented and a straight-A student who had earned a full scholarship to study a premedical course at the University of Alabama.

Are you kidding me? Where these "relatives" ever kids themselves? Did they go to school? Don't they know it's impossible for straight white people to dance without consuming some sort of alcoholic beverage? For the most part, they're saying all the right things to the press (well, except for one uncle who calls her "naive"), and I'm sure the kid is an outstanding student. But she wasn't on a Caribbean island to study. If you did a survey, I'd say that consuming alcohol would be the #1 reason underage kids go to another country for spring break! No, I'm sure she was going to Carlos n' Charlie's for the fine cuisine, and to have a few laughs over some Pepsi n' grenadines. Please. As soon as you walk into that place they're literally pouring shots down your throat, I'm not even exaggerating. You give them a couple bucks, tip your head back, and they mix the thing right in your mouth. But I'm sure none of that was going on.

Just so you understand, I'm not making light of this situation, especially since it's been a week and she hasn't turned up and I'm thinking this can only end badly. But the sheer ignorance of that statement really stood out.

3 comments:

Kris said...

What I would like to know is how is this front-page news? Just as you are not downplaying the situation, neither am I, but i do not see this as national news. It's like to crazy bitch that ran away in GA...Why's this national news? A teenager went to Aruba, and disappeared. how many people disappear in the world, in the States, shit in Alabama every week and don't make it on CNN etc. It baffles me why this is so huge in the news. I have CNN headlines on my yahoo page, and it's always one of the top 5 stories, for the past week. Are you telling me that one of the 5 biggest news stories of the WHOLE DAMN WORLD today was that the judge kept the two guys in prison? "If it bleeds it leads" has never been truer (more true?).

Jeff K said...

I think more than reporting the news, these channels and websites have decided to use the credo "let's warn you about the evil around the world being done to Americans, no matter how insignificant". Take a look at the AP headlines today: #1 is Aruba, #2 is Michael Jackson, and #3 is the exploding Hispanic population in the US. That last one is subtle, but I read between the lines. So in other words we should all be afraid of leaving the country for any reason, and instead should be staying home and spending our money at Wal*Mart.

Speaking of this Aruba story, while at the bar I saw an interview with the kid's stepdad Jug Twitty and they used one of those crappy, choppy, pixilated video uplinks usually reserved for interviews with people in Fallujah or on the moon. Great, that was really necessary. I can only assume the accompanying audio was just as good, like a typical cell phone call that makes you sound like you're at the bottom of a quarry while being punched in the throat.
Anyway, I don't really have a point here, I just wanted to say "Jug Twitty".

Jeff K said...

This story makes an interesting point about a possible racial bias in the media (Spotlight skips cases of missing minorities), a phenomenon that one Something Awful writer dubbed "WWotM", or "White Woman of the Moment".