Thursday, October 7, 2010

Should there be regulations?

I apologize for blogging about what seems to be a bitter womans rant. However, I can assure you I am no such thing. My goal is to make others aware of my story and what happened to me. I do not want to see this happen to anyone else. Its certainly something that should be discussed. What the media did to me is what they do everyday to celebrities and everyday people like me. My type of story (teacher-student story) is the type of hype the media JUMPS on. Why, you ask? Its juicy! It will sell a story right away! It looks scandelous! It will make you take a double look!


The negative press nowadays goes far beyond basic truth and opinions. The media today is not knowing where to draw lines and report ACTUAL stories that should be news worthy. For example, the day after I was seen talking in a car with a kid....it was blasted all over as if I was hammered and having sex with this kid. (NOT A CHANCE) Matter of fact, one of my friends informed me that he was watching my story unfold on the evening news. (of course exaggerations and the utmost worse assumptions included) He told me that my horrible mugshot was starring through the TV screen and the reporters were talking all about it. He also happend to mention that below my face on the TV, there was a small headline that read "DC woman stabbed and robbed while leaving grocery store with her four children." At the time, I was horrifed that my story had even made the news and was being told to the public as if I was doing some sexual act...so I didnt think about the poor woman who was stabbed. After the smoke cleared, the women came back into my mind. As I sat in my bed one night not long after my court date, I thought to myself how the media would post my mugshot up on the screen and make it their main story....yet this poor lady who was stabbed and robbed was not important enough to even make the top stories!

Here I was: a young women who made a dumb decision on how to handle a boy who had a crush on me. I agree that responding to his text after he stole my cell phone was stupid and when I realized things got out of hand, I tried to speak to him on my own and not tell anyone out of fear of what they accuse teachers of nowadays. However, in no way shape or form was their a sexual act happening WHATSOEVER. (The kid even admitted in court to having no such thing as sex....not a chance.) And yet my story was the highlight of topic for 2 days. Yet this poor women stabbed barley got a headline (in small print by the way!)

I ask you....what is more important? Should the public be aware that there is a possible robber/killer on the lose who would attack a lady in a parking lot with her four children watching? Should they be aware that this man is on the lose and may attack them as well? Or should they be informed that a 20 something year old women did not know how to handle a kid. Not only that....they story was immensly exaggerated to make me sound like a child molester who bangs kids in my car while drunk at night. None of this was even true as the outcome of my court date proved.

Was my story (if you could even call it that) worth being the headline of all other important things that happened in the DC area those 2 evenings? Was it worth exaggerating and reporting false things? Or was it just so people would watch that particular news channel that night so they could build their ratings? I got so much negative news attention for 48 hours.Then like a flash, it was off the radar. Nobody cared about my story anymore once there was no more evidence to be found. I was later told that the news media thoguht my story was going to be yet another national news story where a teacher sleeps with her student. When this was found to be not the case at all....my story dropped off the radar all together. Whats sad is that the media was content with leaving me branded as something I am not. Did they care what their yellow journalism would do to me and my life?? No. Did they care how it would effect my family? No. They only cared about ratings and building their own careers off someone elses misfortune. In conclusion, the 2 days they spent honing in on me....they trail of damage they created is the mess I have had to clean up. Again, I will agree that I made a poor decision by handeling the kids crush by trying to stop it on my own. Its not the kids fault either....after all...he is a kid. And that is my fault that I take responsibility for. When the judge looked over the case, he was cleary frustrated with me for not telling an authority figure on this kid. He gave me a low level misdemenor for talking to the kid late at night without asking for assistance with my issue with him. But by no means was I ever prosecuted for a sex crime. This is because there was no evidence to so! The media however knew they could sell a story to they lied and claimed otherwise.

But for the media to say that I was having sex with this kid and imply other things is just evil. if this were the case I'd be a sex offender. Clearly it was proven I am not.

I think of all the house robberies, store robberies, stabbings, shootings, drug dealers, murders, men beating their wives...WOMEN WHO GET STABBED IN PARKING LOTS are a lot more important then me and my situation that turned out to be nothing. Those things are real news. My point is that the media was so quick to jump on me when they thought my story looked juicy. When it turned out to not be juicy at all, they dropped it like a hot potato. I am sure that if I was foung guilty of a sex crime, it would have been reported all over again. However, this was not the case. In those 2 days worth of stories they reported about me....Overall, the media should NOT be aloud to report ANYTHING until all the facts are out. Instead they have no problem with attempting to damage a person for their own personal gain/wealth.

2 comments:

  1. It is a shame what happened to you. I hope things in life have gotten better for you. and it is a shame the stigma will prob follow you forever.
    I really wish the media could focus on something good for once instead of always bad. Hell I was shot 6 times in Iraq while serving in the US Marine Corp and not one story came on the media about myself or the 3 people I saved in the process. Oh well Media only likes tragic events and stories that can be twisted. Anyways Take care of yourself and may you only find the best in life.. mansonx34@aol.com

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  2. Valerie,

    It has been a long time since this happened to you. Were you able to pick back up with your life? Do you still teach?

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