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You may or may not be aware of the UK headlines today. Shevaun Pennington, a 12-year-old girl from Wigan, has run off to France with 31-year-old Toby Studebaker, a former US marine. Apparently the two of them met over the Internet, both pretended that they were in their late teens, and at least one of the two met with the other with thoughts of marriage and children on their minds.
Though it's sorely tempting to comment on the fact that, if a US marine can't tell the difference between a 12 year old girl and a 19 year old woman then what chance have they got distinguishing between an Iraqi civilian and an Iraqi guerilla, I'll leave that subject alone for now. I'll also tactfully avoid mentioning just how disappointed the two 'teenagers' must have been upon first seeing each other in the flesh;
"Gee, you look young for 19"
'Yeah, uh...I'm very petite. Um...you look old for your age. In fact, you look as old as my dad'
"Well...you've seen Dawson’s Creek; all teenagers look at least 21, right?"
'Well...I suppose so...fancy going to Paris?'
Instead I'd rather like to spend a bit of time looking at people's reactions to this story. After all, this is a story that has paedophilia at its centre by pretty much anyone's standards. So whilst the papers are, for once, acting with a certain amount of restraint in that the overwhelming tone of the reports is concern for Shevaun's safety, one would expect the general public to be horrified at this soldier for taking advantage of a naive young girl. One may expect the baying for his blood to begin shortly, and in earnest. One would be wrong.
Maybe it's the "If I don't laugh, I'll cry" defence kicking in, but the main reaction as near as I can tell is "Jesus, look at the STATE of her! I mean, Christ, is he so desperate to get laid that he'll take a statutory rape charge in order to have sex with a kid who looks like she would be improved by having a Siamese twin conjoined to her head?!" Maybe that's a trifle harsh (or maybe my friends and I have just got too vivid and unpleasant an imagination...), but nobody seems to be taking this particularly seriously at all. So why not? How come a man can get beaten up in this country for having the same name as a paedophile, but someone who travels over 3000 miles in order to have sex with a 12-year-old girl becomes the subject of bawdy contempt, if not jocular sympathy?
Well, as the full story of what has happened is not known, there's going to be a certain amount of unsubstantiated guesswork going on here, so bear with me. As I've mentioned, the picture of Shevaun that was released to the media is...well, it's less than flattering. The poor girl is not an oil painting, as many have commented on. Well here's a thing; she's only a child, so why the hell SHOULD she have to have model good looks? I rather though that the point here is that she shouldn't have to worry about whether or not she'll be seen as attractive to a 31 year old, yet we're sniggering and making derogatory comments about someone who is a victim in this situation. I don't get it; I mean, when Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were abducted and murdered, no-one was going "Yeah well, a couple of blondes in footy shirts...I mean, any man would, wouldn't they?".
She's just a child, and as such she shouldn't be expected to worry about how sexually attractive she is. Yet here she is, running off with a man whom she doubtless intends to have a sexual relationship with. So whose fault is that? Is it hers, for lying to a man and leading him on? Is it his for taking advantage of someone who is clearly just a kid? Or is it something more? Well, here is where the guesswork comes in; I would say it's about 1% the first explanation, 49% the second, and 50% something else entirely. If this girls photo has caused disbelieving mirth among all and sundry, it's doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to accept that she quite probably got an equal amount of grief at school. After all, we were all schoolkids once and I'm sure we can all recall the abuse heaped upon the ugly girl in our class, and all in the name of ensuring that whomever it was getting picked on, if it wasn't us then who cares? I know I never gave a damn, just so long as my peers weren't laughing at me.
Well, if we can understand that Shevaun was almost certainly on the receiving end of teasing and bullying about, among other things, her looks then why on earth are we so surprised that she's ran off with someone who most likely showered her with compliments and bolstered her ego by telling her how much he liked her? Again I must stress, this is no more than me guessing as to the circumstances, but it doesn't sound so unbelievable does it? Yes, Studebaker is pretty much without doubt a predatory paedophile and as such he richly deserves to have his testes nailed to the inside wall of a Tiger enclosure at the zoo. But what about the fact that she was driven part of the way into his arms? I'm not talking about the specific individuals who teased her, but the fact that (and you all knew this was coming...) society allows it.
Speaking as someone who, if you allow me a moment of uncharacteristic boastfulness, has raised the use of vitriol and bile to something like an art form, it may seems very strange that I'm bemoaning the fact that it was probably teasing that drove Shevaun into this deeply unpleasant situation. And I should clarify, I'm not expecting kids to stop belittling each any time soon; that’s just part of growing up. But I am expecting society as a whole to take a bit more interest in making young people feel valued. There have been enough foaming tabloid rants about what we should do to protect our children from paedophiles. Surely we should start a little closer to home, and try and arm our kids with a greater sense of self worth, so that the honeyed words of a sick b*****d won’t tempt them to throw away their childhood in exchange for underage sex and mental scarring.
Though it's sorely tempting to comment on the fact that, if a US marine can't tell the difference between a 12 year old girl and a 19 year old woman then what chance have they got distinguishing between an Iraqi civilian and an Iraqi guerilla, I'll leave that subject alone for now. I'll also tactfully avoid mentioning just how disappointed the two 'teenagers' must have been upon first seeing each other in the flesh;
"Gee, you look young for 19"
'Yeah, uh...I'm very petite. Um...you look old for your age. In fact, you look as old as my dad'
"Well...you've seen Dawson’s Creek; all teenagers look at least 21, right?"
'Well...I suppose so...fancy going to Paris?'
Instead I'd rather like to spend a bit of time looking at people's reactions to this story. After all, this is a story that has paedophilia at its centre by pretty much anyone's standards. So whilst the papers are, for once, acting with a certain amount of restraint in that the overwhelming tone of the reports is concern for Shevaun's safety, one would expect the general public to be horrified at this soldier for taking advantage of a naive young girl. One may expect the baying for his blood to begin shortly, and in earnest. One would be wrong.
Maybe it's the "If I don't laugh, I'll cry" defence kicking in, but the main reaction as near as I can tell is "Jesus, look at the STATE of her! I mean, Christ, is he so desperate to get laid that he'll take a statutory rape charge in order to have sex with a kid who looks like she would be improved by having a Siamese twin conjoined to her head?!" Maybe that's a trifle harsh (or maybe my friends and I have just got too vivid and unpleasant an imagination...), but nobody seems to be taking this particularly seriously at all. So why not? How come a man can get beaten up in this country for having the same name as a paedophile, but someone who travels over 3000 miles in order to have sex with a 12-year-old girl becomes the subject of bawdy contempt, if not jocular sympathy?
Well, as the full story of what has happened is not known, there's going to be a certain amount of unsubstantiated guesswork going on here, so bear with me. As I've mentioned, the picture of Shevaun that was released to the media is...well, it's less than flattering. The poor girl is not an oil painting, as many have commented on. Well here's a thing; she's only a child, so why the hell SHOULD she have to have model good looks? I rather though that the point here is that she shouldn't have to worry about whether or not she'll be seen as attractive to a 31 year old, yet we're sniggering and making derogatory comments about someone who is a victim in this situation. I don't get it; I mean, when Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were abducted and murdered, no-one was going "Yeah well, a couple of blondes in footy shirts...I mean, any man would, wouldn't they?".
She's just a child, and as such she shouldn't be expected to worry about how sexually attractive she is. Yet here she is, running off with a man whom she doubtless intends to have a sexual relationship with. So whose fault is that? Is it hers, for lying to a man and leading him on? Is it his for taking advantage of someone who is clearly just a kid? Or is it something more? Well, here is where the guesswork comes in; I would say it's about 1% the first explanation, 49% the second, and 50% something else entirely. If this girls photo has caused disbelieving mirth among all and sundry, it's doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to accept that she quite probably got an equal amount of grief at school. After all, we were all schoolkids once and I'm sure we can all recall the abuse heaped upon the ugly girl in our class, and all in the name of ensuring that whomever it was getting picked on, if it wasn't us then who cares? I know I never gave a damn, just so long as my peers weren't laughing at me.
Well, if we can understand that Shevaun was almost certainly on the receiving end of teasing and bullying about, among other things, her looks then why on earth are we so surprised that she's ran off with someone who most likely showered her with compliments and bolstered her ego by telling her how much he liked her? Again I must stress, this is no more than me guessing as to the circumstances, but it doesn't sound so unbelievable does it? Yes, Studebaker is pretty much without doubt a predatory paedophile and as such he richly deserves to have his testes nailed to the inside wall of a Tiger enclosure at the zoo. But what about the fact that she was driven part of the way into his arms? I'm not talking about the specific individuals who teased her, but the fact that (and you all knew this was coming...) society allows it.
Speaking as someone who, if you allow me a moment of uncharacteristic boastfulness, has raised the use of vitriol and bile to something like an art form, it may seems very strange that I'm bemoaning the fact that it was probably teasing that drove Shevaun into this deeply unpleasant situation. And I should clarify, I'm not expecting kids to stop belittling each any time soon; that’s just part of growing up. But I am expecting society as a whole to take a bit more interest in making young people feel valued. There have been enough foaming tabloid rants about what we should do to protect our children from paedophiles. Surely we should start a little closer to home, and try and arm our kids with a greater sense of self worth, so that the honeyed words of a sick b*****d won’t tempt them to throw away their childhood in exchange for underage sex and mental scarring.
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The sagacious one wrote:
> Yeah, what's happened to the SARS pandemic that was going to slay us
> all? Not newsworthy anymore is it?
The human race kinda side stepped destruction that time...alternatively it's always handy when the source country - China - can force a total blackout of information and place hefty media restrictions, and cart people into isolation camps...
> Yeah, what's happened to the SARS pandemic that was going to slay us
> all? Not newsworthy anymore is it?
The human race kinda side stepped destruction that time...alternatively it's always handy when the source country - China - can force a total blackout of information and place hefty media restrictions, and cart people into isolation camps...
Practical Magic wrote:
>
> However it's nice to see the Liberal Light assume - apparently in the
> face of no evidence and certainly no court trial - that the guilty
> party is the guy and he is, to quote, "a sick b*****d".
>
> Ever thought of working as a police forensic computer scientist Light
> ? I feel you would be suitable.
~sigh~ As almost my entire conversation with Miserableman revolved around me pointing out that it was guesswork with no substantiation whatsoever, I'm surprised you thought this was worthy of a cheap shot.
Once more, you prove that you don't even read what is written, you just spout your loathsome attempts at self congratulatory mental masturbation, spurted out at climax with a momentary gasp of realisation just how f**king empty your life is, when the only way you can justify your own existence to yourself is by filling your cavernous skull with putrid doublethink and not even bothering to think about whether it may be true or not.
~deep breath~
I'm in a mood.
>
> However it's nice to see the Liberal Light assume - apparently in the
> face of no evidence and certainly no court trial - that the guilty
> party is the guy and he is, to quote, "a sick b*****d".
>
> Ever thought of working as a police forensic computer scientist Light
> ? I feel you would be suitable.
~sigh~ As almost my entire conversation with Miserableman revolved around me pointing out that it was guesswork with no substantiation whatsoever, I'm surprised you thought this was worthy of a cheap shot.
Once more, you prove that you don't even read what is written, you just spout your loathsome attempts at self congratulatory mental masturbation, spurted out at climax with a momentary gasp of realisation just how f**king empty your life is, when the only way you can justify your own existence to yourself is by filling your cavernous skull with putrid doublethink and not even bothering to think about whether it may be true or not.
~deep breath~
I'm in a mood.
Yeah, what's happened to the SARS pandemic that was going to slay us all? Not newsworthy anymore is it?
Practical Magic wrote:
1 - as Goatboy has hinted at - why does the media let this bash the
> Iraq situation out of the way ? In the BBC's case maybe it can be
> understood, but other sources ? It's stupid.
Distraction. Just as the media has concentrated on The BBC's "45 minute" angle and roundly ignored the rest of the findings of the enquiry, it's got everyone watching the left hand whilst the right does what it wants to.
Same as before the invasion, we had all manner of crap about Ricin and tanks to whip up fear and hatred of Arabs.
Just after the war "ended" with the toppling of the statue etc?
Beckham swaps the news for 2 weeks.
It's an age old tactic, displayed most adeptly by Campbell's ability to deflect every major mainstream media towards 1 tiny point in an enquiry that calls into question a lot of the evidence. As can be seen by The USA distancing itself from the Niger/Uranium claim.
Which, oddly, was the very report I linked to when we were discussing the "Gardening in Iraq" thread, where the guy gave his report stating that no uranium had been purchased since the previous war etc etc.
The info is out there, and slowly the mainstream media is picking it up on it.
And by concerning itself with the safe return of a girl - a total non-story - we have forgotten all about the enquiry into the dossiers and I've seen very little coverage anywhere of the UK citizens due for jury-less military tribunal after being held for 18 months in Camp X-Ray.
Distraction, smoke and mirrors
1 - as Goatboy has hinted at - why does the media let this bash the
> Iraq situation out of the way ? In the BBC's case maybe it can be
> understood, but other sources ? It's stupid.
Distraction. Just as the media has concentrated on The BBC's "45 minute" angle and roundly ignored the rest of the findings of the enquiry, it's got everyone watching the left hand whilst the right does what it wants to.
Same as before the invasion, we had all manner of crap about Ricin and tanks to whip up fear and hatred of Arabs.
Just after the war "ended" with the toppling of the statue etc?
Beckham swaps the news for 2 weeks.
It's an age old tactic, displayed most adeptly by Campbell's ability to deflect every major mainstream media towards 1 tiny point in an enquiry that calls into question a lot of the evidence. As can be seen by The USA distancing itself from the Niger/Uranium claim.
Which, oddly, was the very report I linked to when we were discussing the "Gardening in Iraq" thread, where the guy gave his report stating that no uranium had been purchased since the previous war etc etc.
The info is out there, and slowly the mainstream media is picking it up on it.
And by concerning itself with the safe return of a girl - a total non-story - we have forgotten all about the enquiry into the dossiers and I've seen very little coverage anywhere of the UK citizens due for jury-less military tribunal after being held for 18 months in Camp X-Ray.
Distraction, smoke and mirrors
Why does anyone actually care about this?
You might as well fill the papers with stories like 'child decides to leave home' or something.
You might as well fill the papers with stories like 'child decides to leave home' or something.
Two other things I have difficulty with regarding this.
1 - as Goatboy has hinted at - why does the media let this bash the Iraq situation out of the way ? In the BBC's case maybe it can be understood, but other sources ? It's stupid.
2 - Why is no one the least bit concerned that this girl made herself 6-7 years older and - knowing the guy's age - formed a relationship with him, and that SHE did that. Technically I'd say that, if any charges are ever brought, this is entrapment.
Oh, and one more, this was their first face to face meeting, but hadn't either of them heard of sending photographs to each other, by post or online ?
1 - as Goatboy has hinted at - why does the media let this bash the Iraq situation out of the way ? In the BBC's case maybe it can be understood, but other sources ? It's stupid.
2 - Why is no one the least bit concerned that this girl made herself 6-7 years older and - knowing the guy's age - formed a relationship with him, and that SHE did that. Technically I'd say that, if any charges are ever brought, this is entrapment.
Oh, and one more, this was their first face to face meeting, but hadn't either of them heard of sending photographs to each other, by post or online ?
The guy is being made out as the guilty party in this because child pornography has been found on a computer he used, and also it's highly likely that he knew her real age. The pretence that nobody knew about his little fetish was kept up so that he'd be more forthcoming.
Goatboy wrote:
> Toby Studebaker's brother and sister in-law:
> "Ma kin done runned off and met a feemale on that thur
> innerweb"
> "Ah thank is the devil!"
> "Fetch me ma banjo woman, there's some pickin' and a strummin' to
> be done"
> "Sure thang pa!"
A did sen ma Stink Hounds afta him but he got clevur and got on one of them there magic flyin machines.
> Toby Studebaker's brother and sister in-law:
> "Ma kin done runned off and met a feemale on that thur
> innerweb"
> "Ah thank is the devil!"
> "Fetch me ma banjo woman, there's some pickin' and a strummin' to
> be done"
> "Sure thang pa!"
A did sen ma Stink Hounds afta him but he got clevur and got on one of them there magic flyin machines.
Why?
Because currently there is a committe investigating the validity of the grounds on which we went to war.
Alistair Campbell tried to deflect attention by whipping up a war with the BBC.
People still asked questions.
So now we're all reading about this instead.
This weekend will be something else.
It's all smoke and mirrors.
Because currently there is a committe investigating the validity of the grounds on which we went to war.
Alistair Campbell tried to deflect attention by whipping up a war with the BBC.
People still asked questions.
So now we're all reading about this instead.
This weekend will be something else.
It's all smoke and mirrors.
Probably because of the incredible youing age of the girl. Or because she was a munter.
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