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Best Local News Story You're Sick and Tired Of 

The abduction and murder of Pamela Butler

There's no doubt that what happened to 10-year-old Pamela Butler was a terrible tragedy. But her story didn't merit the excessive media coverage it received, given the fact that, as one astute reader pointed out, "Real life in Kansas City is filled with horrible tragedies that involve children every day. All anyone has to do is call the Division of Family Services or the sex crimes unit of their local police department." But those cases don't get the attention that Butler's did. The day of Butler's funeral, an 8-year-old African-American boy was found dead as a result of neglect, and his brother died days later. But that story got minimal play in comparison to Butler's story. If Butler had been a child of color rather than a cute little blonde girl, would her case have gotten such widespread attention? --MR

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The girl got kidnapped right in front of her own house- not exactly the same things as parents horribly neglecting their children (though equally tragic.)She was missing for three days of course there was a ton of media coverage. Recently a middle-aged white male went missing and got a lot of media coverage, not because he was cute but because he was missing. Then with Pamela's case people helped look and were praying for her safe return that people felt they were involved and needed to know everything that was going on. That is why there was so much coverage. In her neighborhood Nelson could have just as easily (if not easier) picked a hispanic girl and the community would have felt no less violated and demanded no less media attention

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Posted by Rosa on August 2, 2010 at 9:28 PM

The girl got kidnapped right in front of her own house- not exactly the same things as parents horribly neglecting their children (though equally tragic.)She was missing for three days of course there was a ton of media coverage. Recently a middle-aged white male went missing and got a lot of media coverage, not because he was cute but because he was missing. Then with Pamela's case people helped look and were praying for her safe return that people felt they were involved and needed to know everything that was going on. That is why there was so much coverage. In her neighborhood Nelson could have just as easily (if not easier) picked a hispanic girl and the community would have felt no less violated and demanded no less media attention

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Posted by Rosa on August 2, 2010 at 6:28 PM
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