Liberalism, violent death, and the shadowy world of the unidentified

Hannon writes:

In this story in the Mail about 14 year old Ryan Quinn of Coleraine, Northern Ireland being killed by a train, note how the perps (if they are properly perps—who can say?) go from “gang of youths” to “group of teenagers.” Here’s another classic element:

It is understood that shortly before the fatal incident at Coleraine, Northern Ireland, Ryan was being chased by a group of teenagers following an altercation in a licensed premises.

“It is understood… ” What, by divine knowledge?

Just more of the same. It appears that even the Mail deliberately skimps on relevant details. This story has, for its brevity, an unusual level of “tragic,” “terrible” and similar language.

It is as if all these stories are like an analogy of “Newly Built Brick Wall Falls, Killing Family of Five” and it’s just a tragedy—no one stops to think of the contractor’s role or that of the permitting authority. It’s not even “God’s will,” just the exfoliation of the evolutionary process I suppose.

LA replies:

But are there blacks in Northern Ireland?

Do we automatically assume that gang of youths means nonwhites?

Leaving aside the race aspect, however, the article is remarkable in saying nothing about the perps. Either the reporter really doesn’t know anything yet about the perps, or it is as you say.

Hannon replies:

My first response had considered race in part, but what about the strictly criminal aspect, if there was one? It says the boy was running away after an “incident” and again this obscure language only clouds the story. Maybe just teenagers horsing around, in which case it would truly be a tragedy. Whether he had real cause to fear for his life or limb is unknowable from this story and that is bothersome in itself.

Unrelated but similar in a way is the news coverage of car crashes. Apparently they are prevented from talking to key witnesses, as if there are tiers of witnesses permissible (or not) for the media to access? TV stations only report the incident as soon as possible in necessarily rudimentary form, and virtually never follow up on the aftermath or causes. For instance, were there fatalities resulting from not wearing a seat belt, or from intoxication? That would be a public service. Helping the public make sense of what is preventable vs. tragic or a “freak accident” is a burden the media are unwilling to take up. It is just a jumble of stuff that “happens to us” every day.

LA replies:

Yes, I understand better now what you find unsettling in the article. The whole thing is so shadowy we have no idea what happened. And here is another story on Ryan Quinn’s death, from the Guardian, that is equally vague. However, in this case it may really be the case that they don’t know more than that. They apparently have no direct evidence that he was chased. Still, as you point out, that “It is understood” is suspicious. Reporters are supposed to give the source for all statements, at least something like, “Police believe…”

So, even if the absence of fact in this story is excusable, you are capturing the general phenomenon, which is the shadow world of the unidentified that liberalism has created. Why am I blaming liberalism again? Because it’s liberal proceduralism and nonjudgmentalism which has the effect of not identifying things, of keeping the facts from the public, just as the AP did not identify what the killer/decapitator of Xin Yang actually did to her in the graduate student cafe at Virginia Tech. (I just googled her name again, and all the stories are from the time of the murder, about nine days ago, there has been no follow-up.) I have occasionally talked about how I have been horrified when terrible traffic accidents would take place in New York City—pedestrians wiped out crossing the street—and the papers don’t tell us how it happened. Once a man and his son were killed crossing lower Broadway. Horrible. Did they cross in the middle of the block? Were they crossing properly? Did the driver of the truck or bus that hit them do anything improper? The papers didn’t say. This you never hear. I even called the Manhattan D.A.’s office on one of these cases (I think it was the father and son death) to find out what the truth was, and an assistant D.A., a young woman, told me that if there was no criminal charge the information was not public. A father and his son wiped out on a public street, a family destroyed in the blink of an eye, and the way this terrible tragedy happened is not told to the public!

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 07, 2009 11:31 AM | Send