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An example of “media frenzy” and vigilante justice – from the 19th-century<\/strong>\u2026 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 2014 movie Gone Girl<\/strong><\/em> explores the modern-day phenomenon of media frenzies, and how such frenzies can be manipulated by those who are apparently being<\/em> manipulated. \u00a0 (As a metaphor for the movie, picture a shark-attack victim turning the tables on the sharks…)<\/p>\n Which brings up Harry Truman, who didn\u2019t have much use for the reporters of his<\/em> day and age:<\/p>\n \u201cNewspapermen, and they\u2019re all a bunch of lazy cusses, once one of them writes something, the others rewrite it and rewrite it, and they keep right on doing it without ever stopping to find out if the first fellow was telling the truth or not.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Truman also told of plowing a field with a mule, and how that was the \u201cmost peaceful thing in the world.”\u00a0 It was something that gave old-time farmers plenty of time for thought, and made them such good voters and citizens.<\/p>\n But there was a danger, Truman added.\u00a0 He said \u201cthere\u2019s some danger that you may, like the fella said, get kicked in the head by a mule and end up believing everything you read in the papers<\/strong><\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 As updated for today, that could read, “believing all the news you see on TV.”<\/p>\n Some 20 years later – after President Truman had vented his feelings about the press – a brash young \u201cAFL\u201d quarterback named Joe Namath said pretty much the same thing.<\/p>\n Shortly after Namath signed with the Jets – for a then-record salary of $427,000 – a wise-guy New York reporter asked what he had majored in, down at the University of Alabama.\u00a0 \u201cBasket-weaving?<\/em><\/strong>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Joe answered, \u201cNo man, I majored in journalism.\u00a0 It was easier.\u201d<\/p>\n Then in 2014 came the movie Gone Girl<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 It’s a film that expresses pretty much the same feelings about \u201cmedia frenzies\u201d as Harry Truman and Joe Namath, only more<\/em> so.<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n I reviewed Gone Girl<\/em><\/strong> back in October, for another blog.\u00a0 I started with Wikipedia, which said the film \u201cexamines dishonesty, the media, the economy\u2019s effects on marriage, and appearances:”<\/p>\n On the day of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Affleck) returns home to find that his wife Amy (Pike), is missing.\u00a0 In the ensuing media frenzy<\/strong><\/em>, suspicions arise that Nick murdered her, and his awkward behavior is interpreted as characteristic of a sociopath<\/a>.\u00a0 (E.A.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n See Gone Girl (film) \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>.\u00a0 In other words, the character Nick Dunne – played by Ben Affleck – ended up being tried in and by the media.\u00a0 That media found him guilty, as so often happens these days.\u00a0 But as it turned out, the process<\/em> by which he was tried and convicted was \u201cinfected by the\u00a0politicized<\/a>, media-enabled \u2018cult of victimhood<\/a>.’\u201d\u00a0 (See the Rothman note below.)<\/p>\n As for the ending…\u00a0 Like I noted above: “picture a shark-attack victim turning the tables on the sharks.”\u00a0 And just as sharks have their<\/em> feeding frenzies, so too do today’s reporters; tabloid, TV or otherwise.\u00a0 As for the subtle difference between a media frenzy<\/strong> and a media circus<\/strong>, see Media Frenzy Global<\/a>, a company that specializes in \u201cfrenzy manipulation:\u201d<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re trying to pique interest, incite sales, stir the market, or fan the flames of controversy, one thing is certain \u2013 you need to cause a commotion.\u00a0 Of course, you want to remain cool and composed in the midst of the excitement\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 In other words, you want to harness<\/strong> the media frenzy\u2026 \u00a0\u00a0 We harness the media frenzy<\/strong> by controlling, managing and exploiting the media platforms\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n All of which provides an interesting commentary on modern life…<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Then too there’s the court of public opinion<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 As an example, the Wikipedia article cited the media frenzy – or “circus\u201c – surrounding the Duke lacrosse case<\/em>.\u00a0 “It has been said that the prosecutor<\/a> in the Duke lacrosse case<\/a> attempted to try the case in the court of public opinion by making unsupported allegations to the media..<\/p>\n The article also noted that in “the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case<\/a>, it was alleged that parties were using court pleadings<\/a> as press releases<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Which brings up the fact that there is<\/em> a genuine cause for concern these days, as explored by the movie Gone Girl<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0 (And yes \u2013 in case I\u2019m being too subtle \u2013 I am<\/strong><\/em> saying that such media frenzies and\/or circuses are indeed a form of modern-day vigilantism<\/strong><\/em>\u2026)<\/p>\n Which is being interpreted:\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason<\/em> we have things like the Sixth Amendment.<\/p>\n That constitutional provision is supposed to guarantee that a person accused of a crime can only be convicted after a public trial \u201cby an impartial jury \u2026 and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.\u201d\u00a0 See Bill of Rights Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n And by the way, these aren\u2019t \u201cnew-fangled pointy-headed liberal\u201d legal protections.\u00a0 They go back to Bible times and the Apostle Paul and beyond<\/em>.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a good reason for this Biblical<\/em> protection:\u00a0 In way too many cases \u201cthe crowd\u201d \u2013 or today\u2019s media \u2013 just gets it all wrong.<\/p>\n On the other hand, some people in that “crowd” might have their own agenda, hidden or otherwise.\u00a0 (And they might even be using things like Media Frenzy Global<\/a>, noted above.)<\/p>\n In Paul’s case, that came in the form of certain “rabble rousers,” starting at Acts 21:28<\/a>.\u00a0 Then in Acts 23:12<\/a>, these same rabble-rousers wanted to take the law into their own hands<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 (They didn’t trust “Roman justice.”)\u00a0 There followed a dramatic midnight ride to Caesarea, where the authorities took Paul to save him from a potential lynching<\/a>.\u00a0 Finally came a trial before the Roman governor Festus, after the former governor Felix had passed the buck<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n Festus discussed Paul\u2019s case with the king.\u00a0 He said: \u201cThere is a man here whom [former Roman governor] Felix left as a prisoner.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned.\u00a0\u00a0 I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges<\/strong>.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n See Acts 25:14-16, emphasis added.\u00a0 All of which is another way of saying Gone Girl<\/em><\/strong> is a thought-provoking movie well worth seeing.\u00a0 That is, provided<\/em> that you are in the mood to explore some deep and unsettling questions about “coupledom,” as well as the potential underlying suspicion that such being-a-couple “necessarily entails victimization.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A still from Gone Girl<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 (Note the \u201caskew\u201d angle…)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The upper image is courtesy of Vigilante \u2013 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a>, with the full caption, \u201cA lynching carried out by the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance<\/a> of 1856.\u201d\u00a0 The article added:<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cVigilante justice\u201d is rationalized by the idea that adequate legal mechanisms for criminal punishment are either nonexistent or insufficient.\u00a0 Vigilantes typically see the government as ineffective in enforcing the law; such individuals often claim to justify their actions as a fulfillment of the wishes of the community\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 In a number of cases, vigilantism has involved targets with mistaken identities<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The lower image is courtesy of What \u201cGone Girl<\/b>\u201d Is Really About<\/a><\/em>, a review in The New Yorker<\/strong>, dated October 8, by Joshua Rothman, which includes this telling tidbit:<\/em><\/p>\n [W]e\u2019re\u00a0fascinated with stories of victimhood<\/a> \u2013 and \u2026 especially in tabloid, cable-news culture, we endow victims with specialness, sanctity, and celebrity.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGone Girl\u201d asks whether genuine expressions of sympathy or solidarity with victims can ever happen without being infected by the\u00a0politicized<\/a>, media-enabled \u201ccult of victimhood<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rothman\u2019s review compared the movie with \u201cwhat I heard\u201d about the book version, and concluded that what\u2019s best about the movie is that it \u201cgets at what is unsettling about coupledom [i.e., marriage or \u201cserious relationships\u201d] : our suspicion that, in some fundamental sense, it necessarily entails victimization.\u201d\u00a0 See also Gone Girl<\/b> (film<\/b>) \u2013 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n As for the \u201caskew\u201dcamera angle, that seems to symbolize the them of \u201cmedia frenzy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The Harry Truman quote on reporters is courtesy of\u00a0Plain Speaking[:]\u00a0 An oral biography of Harry S. Truman<\/strong>, by Merle Miller, Berkley Publishing NY (1973), at page 251.\u00a0\u00a0 The \u201cfield-mule\u201d quote is at page 258. The Namath quote is courtesy of famous alabama football quotes \u2013 Angelfire<\/a>.\u00a0 See also Joe Namath<\/b> \u2013 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a>, which noted that when Namath signed with the Jets, the NFL and AFL were separate leagues, engaged in a \u201cbidding war\u201d for college players.<\/em><\/p>\n
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