Vanuatu

Profiling Crimes in Newspapers

Recently, there was an article in the national newspaper about attempted rape of an Australian volnuteer on another island of the country. No surprise that the event made front page, especially since the victim was white and female. However, for whatever reason, her father decided to make a statement similar to saying that only expats were invovled in such attacks, and that Ni-Van women never were on the receiving end of such unfortunate circumstances. But any body who has even the least bit of knowledge of the country, or of the world, knows that such events aren't unique; they happen all the time. The only reason you heard about this one was because the victim was white and didn't have social tabboos that prevented her from taking the story to the media; other's aren't priveleged enough to have the birth-advantage of a lighter skin *or* of not having to live with the afore-mentioned cultural restriction.

Needless to say, within the next 3 days, there was an incident in Vila about something similar. So, the two questions are this:

- While I realize the importance of media and making people aware of such incidents, how much of this flashy-news-making encourages copy-cats?

- To what degree do the racist/offensive things said by the victim in the article enrage other readers, esp. to the extent of taking "collective revenge"?

posted by faa-T @ 5:03 PM