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What Drove Karr?
Todd Hartman at the Rocky Mountain News has more or less the only interesting story I've read in the Jonbenet-Karr story - an interview with Michael Tracey, the tireless media professor who corresponded with "december251996@yahoo.com."
The criticism started ramping up again Monday afternoon. Within a
couple hours of reports that charges wouldn't be filed against Karr,
Tracey said he already was hearing flak.He said he's prepared for the grief he'll take from pundits and talk radio hosts who have been bashing him all along.
"What's new?" he said. "It's nothing new."
Asked about KHOW radio talk-show host Peter Boyles, who has
skewered Tracey almost daily since news of the Karr arrest, Tracey
said, "Boyles is professionally and emotionally invested in the Ramseys
being guilty. There's nothing you can do about that. Nothing."
Tracey doesn't knock the mainstream media for covering the Karr arrest to death, which is refreshing - the only news more tiresome than the Karry story is the post-Karr media hairshirt festival.
|8.29.06 @ 10:21AM|#
Please tell me that reason hasn't stooped so low as to make some terrible pun off of this Loony-Toon's name...
|8.29.06 @ 10:35AM|#
The media should be embarrasssed, not because they covered Karr before there was proof that he did anything, but because they're still covering this stupid litttle case.
|8.29.06 @ 10:39AM|#
Haven't the Boulder voters had enough of the circus and the
outflow of their tax dollars?
At the very least, shouldn't Karr have been charged with
obstruction of justice or impeding an investigation? His false
confession cost the Boulder taxpayers tens of thousands $$ and Karr
should, at the very least, make them whole.
Timothy|8.29.06 @ 10:55AM|#
Well, it's good to know we can safely go back to speculating that it was her mom.
Xmas|8.29.06 @ 10:59AM|#
I, for one, am glad the whole Karr thing happened. For the Karr kurfluffle seems to have dramatically affected the price of gasoline across the nation. Per gallon gas prices have dropped 15 to 25 cents in the Northeast since Karr confessed to the murder of little JonBenet.
|8.29.06 @ 11:02AM|#
I would just like to observe that an uncoerced confession, from
a cooperative suspect, in a case where the authorities had nearly a
decade to gather evidence, turned out to be false, and it took a
couple weeks to really get to the bottom of it.
Would anybody like to draw any conclusions that might be relevant
to a hypothetical ticking time bomb?
|8.29.06 @ 11:06AM|#
Would anybody like to draw any conclusions that might be
relevant to a hypothetical ticking time bomb?
Those confessions will work, they always do for Jack Bauer. :P
|8.29.06 @ 11:08AM|#
It's not Karr fault they fell for it. It's the nature of
prosecution to not look at the whole story. They are concerned only
with what helps them indict and convict. There was NO reason to
believe his confession from day one.
With a little bit of investigation first, they would have realized
his story had way too many holes and not worth bringing him back to
the US.
When the story first appeared on H&R I said "Not a chance" that
this guy was guilty. I came to that conclusion by looking at some
of the evidence presented in the news and applying a little common
sense.
When I heard that the ransom demand was the exact amount of Mr.
Ramsey's Christmas bonus, I realized that the killer was close
enough to the Ramseys to know how much he received in his Christmas
bonus. Be it someone from Ramsey's employer, friends of Ramseys, or
someone at the bank, if the bonus was an actual check as apposed to
direct deposit. Karr was not that close to the Ramseys. They
couldn't determine if Karr was even in the state. Colorado should
have answered a few more questions before laying out the expense of
bringing him back.
If prosecutors were interested in truth first, this story would
have been over shortly after it started.
This is an embarrassment to Boulder and Colorado, they would be
better off letting it fade away.
|8.29.06 @ 11:10AM|#
It was obvious from day one that this nitwit was seeking
attention.
I look forward to the coming media coverage of the "flawed media
coverage" of the whole mess. Nothing is more entertaining than
watching the dingbats on cable TV analyze themselves as if they are
all uninvolved parties.
Remember after 9.11 when the media was going to be more serious and
attentive to real issues? I hope The Legs of Katie Courac bring on
a new Golden Age of journalism...
Warren|8.29.06 @ 11:15AM|#
Michael Tracey, the tireless media professor who
corresponded with "december251996@yahoo.com."
David, sometimes your sarcasm is too suBtle for me. I've scanned
this post twice and the only hint I found was here:
"Boyles is professionally and emotionally invested in the Ramseys
being guilty."
Tracey is of course professionally and emotionally invested, nay
obsessed with the Ramseys being innocent.
There are no innocents involved with this case. Everyone, the
parents, the cops, the reporters, the public, everyone, is guilty
of scumbagatude to varying degrees. Michael Tracey, with his role
in the Karr business has moved toward the head of the line, second
only to the actual killer.
And yes I am totally embarrassed that I know this much about the
case. I have no interest, beyond a general interest to see killers
brought to justice, and am sick of seeing it splashed all
over.
Timothy|8.29.06 @ 11:17AM|#
I hope The Legs of Katie Courac [SIC] bring on a new Golden Age of journalism..The Doctored Legs of Katie Couric, you mean.
|8.29.06 @ 11:21AM|#
Incidentally, am I the only one who views the Huffington Post as an endless source of humor from self-important media types? Their excitement at being "bloggers" is almost palpable in their writing.
|8.29.06 @ 11:29AM|#
"I hope The Legs of Katie Courac [SIC] bring on a new Golden Age
of journalism..The Doctored Legs of Katie Couric, you mean."
I saw that Tim. How disapointing.
|8.29.06 @ 11:31AM|#
Nothing says "Trust me - I'm reporting impartially!" like a
blonde in a skirt sitting on a stool or behind a 9 inch high coffee
table.
If women were the prime consumer of Cable News then the anchors
would all look like Fabio or Brad Pitt. News is just another form
of entertainment now like sports and Hollywood. I've said it here
before but if experience and integrity was what really mattered
Candy Crowley would've been an anchor years ago.
|8.29.06 @ 11:44AM|#
The airfare theory sounds pretty good but I'm going with this
sicko was so consumed with the case he wanted his name synonymous
with Jon Bonet.
When you think Bonet, you think Karr.
I don't think it worked as he hoped.
but he did get airfare, whether or not it was free has yet to be
seen. They might be able to charge him for lying. That's a high
price for a plane ride.
|8.29.06 @ 11:49AM|#
As I understand it, the guy has already been sent to California
to face child porn charges. And he's under investigation in
Thailand for molestation charges. And if he manages to avoid
conviction on all of those charges, I have a hunch that Colorado
will find a way to charge him with making false statements, or
something along those lines.
One way or another, this guy is going to wind up in a lot of
trouble for something. I don't think it worked out quite as well as
he was hoping.
|8.29.06 @ 11:55AM|#
""As I understand it, the guy has already been sent to
California to face child porn charges. And he's under investigation
in Thailand for molestation charges."""
I wonder.
I think the Cali incident is closed. It was reported that he told
his parents he was going somewhere else when he was facing the
charges in CA.
I haven't seen anything about the Thailand investigation since the
start of this ordeal. They could have been hyped up to make him
look like a monster in the media.
|8.29.06 @ 11:57AM|#
More than anything, the Boulder prosecutor is living proof that any imbecile can become a lawyer.
|8.29.06 @ 11:57AM|#
They could have been hyped up to make him look like a
monster in the media.
I think his appearance does a good enough job of that.
Dan T.|8.29.06 @ 12:08PM|#
One of the more irritating aspects of this case is that it gives the "Perspective Police" a chance to point out that there are "much more important things we should be focused on" ad nauseum.
|8.29.06 @ 1:03PM|#
Bonet you can drive my Karr.
Yes, I'm gonna be a star.
Bonet you can drive my Karr,
and Bonet I love you.
Beat-beat, beat-beat, yeah!
|8.29.06 @ 1:36PM|#
I think Karr and Gary Glitter should get together and start a mod band. Karr definitely got that David Byrne/David Bowie thing going.
|8.29.06 @ 1:47PM|#
Seriously, this was a whole exercise of collective stupidity.
Whose bright idea was to give this creep that special "three-name
assassin" designation?
John Wilkes Booth
Lee Harvey Oswald
James Earl Ray
--- (loser fuck who killed Lennon, who I refuse to mention)
Now we got "John Mark Karr", the most pathetic "assassin" there
ever was.
Sheeple are so enamored by the sexy mystique of killers. They
glamorize them. Fucking sick.
|8.29.06 @ 2:03PM|#
MNG-
I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard that the "3 name"
thing is in part to protect innocent people with similar names. If
I happened to be named "John Karr" and they referred to this creep
without his middle name, that would suck. OTOH, if the media calls
him "John Mark Karr" then I can go around saying "No, I'm John
Bart Karr."
What?
|8.29.06 @ 2:20PM|#
t:
Since when does the media give a rat's ass about smearing an
innocent person's name? Geez, and you rib me for my faith in
certain collectives ;)
Nope, methinks the "3 name" thing is simple glamorization. It sells
newspapers, magazines, books, etc. The irony is that it is exactly
this kind of nonsense that drew Karr out from under his rock.
|8.29.06 @ 2:34PM|#
Since when does the media give a rat's ass about smearing an
innocent person's name? Geez, and you rib me for my faith in
certain collectives ;)
Oh, come on, we're both just naive conspiracy theorists. Remember
those people looking at us funny in the restaurant?
Seriously, though, that's a fair point. Maybe protecting the
innocent isn't terribly high on the list of priorities. Still, I
think that glamorization might not be quite the right word.
Fascination with evil might be a better word. It's like how in
horror movies you want to look away but you can't. That which
scares us also fascinates us. Doesn't mean we exactly admire it,
but we want to know all about it.
|8.29.06 @ 2:56PM|#
t:
To flesh things out more, I consider "glamorization" in this
situation to involve a very, very base fascination with human
suffering. People crave titillation in this form to distract them
from their own pointless existence.
And yeah, cynicism itself can be a bit of a crock, but the thing
is, when you're a cynic, people rarely disappoint you...
|8.29.06 @ 2:58PM|#
"--- (loser fuck who killed Lennon, who I refuse to
mention)"
And the man who took his life, he said, he said, "I just shot John
Lennon!" He said, "I just shot John Lennon!" What a sad and sorry,
sickening sight, what a sad and sorry, sickening night.
|8.29.06 @ 3:21PM|#
"Since when does the media give a rat's ass about smearing an
innocent person's name?" - MNG
Since they don't want to get sued for mis-identification. At least,
that's where the "full ID" convention originated...
Sheesh, over-paranoid much?
|8.29.06 @ 3:36PM|#
John Wilkes Booth
Lee Harvey Oswald
James Earl Ray
--- (loser fuck who killed Lennon, who I refuse to
mention)
Let's not forget John David Stutts.
|8.29.06 @ 6:30PM|#
Unbelievably, I got an e-mail from the "Move On" people, wanting
me to sign a petition to let the media know I wanted the coverage
of Karr stopped. Since when do PACS go around telling the media not
to cover stories? And what makes Move On think a petition will
influence the media? Last time I checked, the media looks to
ratings and sales to determine what stories they will cover.
As for Karr, it seemed obvious early on that he is a just wanna-be
killer. I find that pretty fascinating in itself.
|8.29.06 @ 7:12PM|#
It;s a crying shame - if Karr went to trial, Alan Dershowitz
would spring to defend him, which would set Jon Benet's forebear,
Stephen Vincent Benet a spinning in his grave.
The underground commotion might arouse Daniel Webster , who has
been laying low since his energetic defense of the devil to object
to the proceedings, whereupon CBS could offer him a contract as a
netork anchor , sparing us Miss Couric
Garth|8.29.06 @ 7:30PM|#
Now you know why I never use my middle name.
Seriously: anyone here consider that this guy might have been so
obsessed with the case that he actually believes he did it?
Me neither, but I suppose it is possible.
|8.29.06 @ 8:00PM|#
I believe John Wilkes Booth had used his full name during his acting career, but I don't know about the others.
|8.29.06 @ 8:03PM|#
Perhaps media saturation can induce something of an anonymous Stockholm Syndrome in certain personalities. I can imagine someone in an identity crisis so affected coming to think of himself as the killer. ...all lost in the supermarket tabloids, so to speak.
|8.29.06 @ 8:47PM|#
Haven't the Boulder voters had enough of the circus and the
outflow of their tax dollars?
Not for any reason, it seems.
|8.30.06 @ 7:38AM|#
rob: Yeah, I'm paranoid, but that's besides the point.
Let's say a person named John Shagnasty bombed a busload of nuns.
Explain to me how other John Shagnasties can sue a newspaper for
only using a first and last name (and this is assuming that the
newspaper got the name right).
David: It is too painful for me to mention John David Stutts. I
will never, ever forget that night. I can still hear that yell "Mr.
Wheat!!" echoing in my head.
|8.30.06 @ 10:01AM|#
I want to help find the real killer. I have a lot of experiance
looking for the real killer. Has anyone checked golf courses?
OJ Simpson
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