Has the Casey Anthony case inspired the worst in us?

This post is the third in a series I’ve written about the three separate questions asked in Friday editions of the Orlando Sentinel in print and on-line. The questions are posed each Friday and published the following Friday. It continues that way week after week. As I’ve said before, the three questions usually tackle issues related to international, national and local affairs, but are not always related to only those topics. In this past Friday’s newspaper, one of the questions concerned the Casey Anthony case and I am happy to report that the majority of responses were pretty much the way I have seen it, especially here in the Orlando market. No disrespect to anyone’s television personality or what and who they are outside their jobs, but I’m getting a little bit annoyed by repetitive TV journalists who find shocking and breaking news every single day to keep their stations’ ratings high.

One of the questions was of no importance to anyone outside Orlando since it dealt with sparing police and firefighters’ layoffs. The second question pertained to America’s issue with health care and whether the federal government should reform it or not. 45.8% said yes and 54.2% said no. Bear in mind that the majority of people responding live in the state of Florida, central Florida in particular, although everyone, everywhere, is encouraged to participate each week.

The third question was one that’s been on my mind for some time and I’ve written opinions in the past on blog posts and comments.  Although the results may come as a surprise to some, here in The City Beautiful and surrounding communities, it’s exactly what we expected, I’m sure. Granted, I write plenty of articles about this case, but I don’t sensationalize it, I don’t keep reconstituting the same news and I don’t make a dime off of this story. Following are the question, the percentages and some of the readers’ responses. You can make your own conclusion and voice an opinion. You can also read the rest of the comments made on-line HERE.

Has the Casey Anthony case inspired the worst in the media and community?

YES: 82%

NO: 18%

Here are some of the responses given by viewers. None have been edited:

Worst in the Anthonys

The Anthony case has inspired the worst in the Anthony family as well. Things would not have turned so vicious if the family hadn’t joined in on the unbelievable lies. The media were called in initially by the Anthonys with their stories. Naturally, the other side was heard as well. That’s fair game, I say.

rachael4 Howey-in-the-Hills (from the Web)

It’s about goodness

I think the many posts on this forum expressing love for a 2 1/2 -year-old child who none of us ever met are testimony to the goodness of people … A lot of what is blamed on the media is really the playing out of Florida’s Sunshine Law and the throngs who buy papers or tune in when the Caylee murder is the topic. Morbid curiosity? Perhaps, but more likely the empathetic feelings for a little girl who was … never allowed to live her life.

pamk Mount Dora (from the Web)

Opposite is true

It is quite the opposite. The frenzied media and public were, at first, too aggressive. The Anthonys brought this all on themselves. They start off telling (some) truths, and then begin the lies, the cover-ups, the refusal to take lie-detector tests … It then became a whole different monster.

candi st cloud Merritt Island (from the Web)

Here are more opinions from Friday Back Talk on-line:

KatNZKeys

Too bad the OS could’nt list ALL of us…….

grace

no I dont think so this family is suffering so much also, they are human beings with a very trouble daughter and a big loss we must know also the worst in families to learn to take care of our children

June

I agree with the summation of the question, but it is only human nature to be curious. The Anthony’s put much of this on themselves, and we shouild not be blaming the media for the Anthony’s string of lies, revelations, turn-abouts, and innuendos that obviously need investigation if anyone is going to get to the truth. I would not trust the father, mother, brother, and certainly not Casey.

My biggest doubt has been the competence of Jose Baez. Casey should have taken a plea of insanity from the beginning. Her brother, father and mother should have been able to see the depth of the trouble Casey got herself into….but they apparently share the same lack of being in touch with reality.

We are all entitled to our opinions, and when they involve the death of an innocent child, it is NOT the Public, nor the Press that should be judged.

Without any doubt what-so-ever, we all have the gifted right to our own feelings. This case has hurt to the bone. We want answers. The Anthony’s hold the key to a locked box, and “they” have dangled it in front of “us” for too long.

We (the Press and the Public) could not have shown better respect and love for another human being. Caylee was a beautiful blossoming young girl, whose life was taken from her for the benefit of someone else’s insanity.

Regina

On this link you will find close to 25,000 people, whose hearts were touched deeply by the murder of Caylee Marie Anthony. She has united them in a fight to bring the missing home, to urge lawmakers to re-look the laws that fail to protect Americas’ children from their own parents, who wish to harm them. Caylee has been remembered lovingly by strangers from coast to coast and in other countries. Yet her own family has turned her memories, her photos, her short little story. into their own private ATM machine. While they collect from various media outlets-the state of FL continues to spend taxpayers dollars on this case.

MikeP

I don’t know about bringing out the worst, but coverage of it has definately become annoying. The local media outlets seem to hang on every minute happening like it is headline news.

Anyone lucky enough to not been inflicted with the daily news stories would think Cassy was a mass murderer or serial killer. At most, she is yet another mother who couldn’t handle motherhood and took the “easy” way out. She doesn’t even rate a movie of the week.

There were several more, including the usual suspects that make the rounds blaming all of the world’s woes on the Anthonys and their lies. Those names are familiar to most of us in the world of blogging about this matter and to be honest, their answers didn’t have anything to do with the question and it’s getting old. To them, it’s just another forum for more name calling. What trashing has to do with media and community – the real topic – is puzzling. If the question had been about sending more troops to Afghanistan, they would have said to send the lying Anthonys over there. Back to the matter at hand because it was a question about MEDIA AND COMMUNITY…

I think what produced such lopsided results was the media’s disregard for what news Orlando’s TV market wants to hear everyday. Everything is a BREAKING STORY! and what we are fed are nothing more than asides and incidentals most of the time. An example of this might be a story about the property where Caylee was found. OK, we heard that and then some. Later, the land was offered for sale. OK, we heard that, too, but why do a follow-up about why the property hasn’t sold yet and why is it so important to tell us it’s flooded after the latest rain? Is it really all that important to break into local programming to tell us Casey bought new curlers with her jail money? Those are the things that we hear every day and it explains why it’s getting old. Some day, we’re all going to walk away from this case and I’m already seeing a slow decline in readership around the Internet. Is it more from over-saturation or just from a lack of anything new of substance? God forbid it’s due to anyone losing interest.

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