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Author Topic: If no one else will mention it...  (Read 3075 times)

Offline Peter

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If no one else will mention it...
« on: March 14, 2003, 02:38:00 PM »
Its a miracle that Elizabeth Smart was found alive after 9 months.  An amazing miracle, but the news that I've seen and heard made it kind of confusing as to how she was held for so long without trying to esacape- do any of you West-Coast Dwellers heard more about it?

I know that religion is suposed to be kept off the board, but I think that there was a more powerful force that helped keep her alive, and brought her back home

Peace-
Peter
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Offline Bill

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« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2003, 07:04:00 PM »
Yeah it is good (without a doubt) she was found but personally I think I'm going to puck if I see one more news -broadcast- she is alive and well on one single girl when ten to twenty homeless girls vanish each month in California alone.
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Offline Fiona

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« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2003, 10:33:00 PM »
I have a problem with this story as well. There seems to be something fishy about it. I hope I am wrong, but I have a pretty good crap detector.
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Offline NascarFan

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« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2003, 11:06:00 PM »
I agree this is wonderful but just something about the family's televised emotions have a small odor of "The Susan Smith Story" I mean no offense to anyone.....
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Offline Bernie

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« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2003, 11:12:00 PM »
Reminds me of Patty Hearst. OH! I got caught! Robbing Banks. Hmmm, OH Yes! I was Brain washed. Yeah Right     I'm so sick of hearing about the Supposedly Kidnapped Woman, Girl, Kid, Ahh  What ever       I'm sure will be seeing her now in the Tabloids And the Talk shows And the And the !  And the!
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Offline jepinto

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« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2003, 05:05:00 AM »
And I'm still waiting for an apology to Richard Ricci's family.
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Do not fear your enemies.  The worse they can do is kill you.  Do not fear friends.  At worst, they may betray you.
Fear those who do not care; they neither kill nor betray, but betrayal and murder exist because of their silent consent.
~Bruno Jasienski~

MamaMoose

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« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2003, 05:25:00 AM »
Talking to several psychiatrists including one in the military, I can understand how it was possible for her to stay with those monsters. First she is a young 14 year old girl who is just beginning to develop a sense of self . Second, this guy was able to suppress her true identity by a process of, if you wish, brain washing. This may of happened because 1) she was probably raised to be a very obediant and helpful child especially when adults were doing the asking; 2) there have been many cases in the military where captured men have been psychologically altered so that they were now putty in their captors hands; and 3) she was very young - she couldn't have the strong underpinnings of an adult, yet.

In any case, I think it is important to separate the media reaction from that of the family. I can just imagine the feeklngs of terror and loss they have gone thru in the last 9 months - and thenagainst all odds, to have her returned. I just cannot judge the family's behavior on just a few short days of visibility. I als feel she has been sufficiently traumatized that it may take years, if ever to get her back to a "normal" state.

People should stop being so judgmental! She never committed a crime nor did she hurt one single person.

MamaMoose
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Offline Peter

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« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2003, 08:35:00 AM »
quote:
Originally posted by jepinto:
And I'm still waiting for an apology to Richard Ricci's family.    
I agree completely- I was really just wondering if the West Coast has more info than the East Coast, I haven't seen much about it.

Peace-
Peter

PS- No BIOB graemlin- somethings wrong
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Offline jepinto

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« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2003, 09:24:00 AM »
I think that she survived, at all, is a miracle in itself.  I don't begrudge, nay, even exult, in her family's joy in receiving the gift of her return.  And, if they and she, are a bit smug, they should be!

As to questioning Elizabeth, that is bull puckey!  Adults can be brainwashed, even more so a child.  We all do what our brain says is "survive".  Her brain did her well!

I just am a bit diappointed that the family has apparently so quickly forgotten that they "judged and juried" Richard Ricci.
 
 [ 03-15-2003, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: jepinto ]
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Do not fear your enemies.  The worse they can do is kill you.  Do not fear friends.  At worst, they may betray you.
Fear those who do not care; they neither kill nor betray, but betrayal and murder exist because of their silent consent.
~Bruno Jasienski~

Offline Paddy

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If no one else will mention it...
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2003, 01:15:00 PM »
As a parent (of two, I hope, considerably more worldly children than Elizabeth - but who knows?) I can only say that I am glad that she was found and that her parents have so far had the good sense to shield her from the media. Our hunger for the details - the whys and the wherefores - is nothing more than curiosity, fed by the media who know that they have a great human interest story on their hands and in a time when nobody wants any more bad news, are going to milk it for all its worth.

From what little we do know, it is clear that she was in some way either brainwashed or coerced into believing that her place was with Mitchell & Barzee. When the police found her, she would not admit to being Elizabeth Smart - and didn't until her father came to the police station. To expect her parents and the authorities to immediately subject her to rigorous questioning and then release all the details to the media is unrealistic. Their first concern must be Elizabeth - she has clearly gone through a lot in the past 9 months.

As for Ricci, from what I've read, the police seemed fairly convinced that he had something to do with her disappearance, at first - however, by November, the family had asked  that Mitchell be further investigated. It took considerable time before the police released the sketch that finally led to Mitchell's sighting.
A quote from the KUTV web site:

 
quote:
Dinse acknowledged investigators were slow to release a sketch of Mitchell.

``Hindsight is 20-20 vision,'' he said. ``If we had to go back over it again, I think every one of (our investigators) would say, `I wish we had gone public with that ... earlier.''
If you go to http://www.elizabethsmart.com , you will see that at the beginning of February, the Smarts released statements indicating that while there were reasons to think that Ricci might have been involved, there were also a number of quite compelling reasons to doubt his involvement. And while he was a suspect, he was never charged - he was jailed on parole violations that had nothing to do with the Elizabeth Smart case. He was no saint - he had a criminal record going back 29 years, including convictions for burglary and attempted murder. In February, Ed Smart established a $10,000 reward for information that would rule out Ricci's involvement.

Interesting article about the whole situation from the Chicago Sun-Times:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/steinberg/c...s-stein141.html

One thing that has continued to bother me about this and other kidnappings/murders is the media hysteria. I fault the media entirely for the utterly misplaced perception amongst so many parents that we live in a MORE dangerous world now than we did in the past. The simple fact is that we don't. Abductions by strangers are extremely rare and are decreasing. While we need to warn our children appropriately about the potential for danger, we should spend just as much or more time making sure that they understand that guns aren't toys, that ice on rivers isn't something to be ventured out on without adult superivision, that playing with fire can lead to disaster - these, my friends, are situations FAR more likely to affect the children around you than abduction by a stranger! (well, ok...ice in southern CA or Florida may not be a major concern...   - but you have your natural equivalent worries.)

We must not become a nation ruled by fear...where is our common sense?

And let's let the Smarts and Elizabeth reclaim their lives in peace.
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Offline krissel

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If no one else will mention it...
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2003, 06:53:00 PM »
MamaMoose is quite right about the ease at which a young child can be pursuaded to follow along with such a covert lifestyle. The abductors most likely threatened to do harm to her family as well as her. At that age, depending on family influence, a young person is easily influenced by those "in control". Most of us here at TS are mature (in age anyway :-) ) adults who couldn't imagine settling for such an existence as Elizabeth did.

Note the widely recognized   Stockholm Syndrome .

 Same idea  but applied to more types of situations...some humorous.

And  Paddy  couldn't be more accurate in noting that the media blows these cases way out of proportion to the dangers of everyday life.
In NJ this past week we had two very publicized stories of child abduction. One was a father who kidnapped his two year old daughter at gunpoint. The other was the case of two parents kidnapping their three children from a foster home in Florida and being caught here in NJ. Notice these are family related as are the vast majority of abductions.

The only sad result of this otherwise happy ending is that many people will now have false hope that their loved one may come back alive as well.
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Offline Mayo

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If no one else will mention it...
« Reply #11 on: March 18, 2003, 12:47:00 AM »
Paddy , you are right-on, as we use to say a Long Time Ago.  The Fear Of Everything Syndrome that grips America is doing a real number on us, physically and mentally.

Kids apparently cannot be kids anymore, certainly not like my generation (born in '54...)  We get them started on the career track before they can even know what a career is; structure their "free time" so kids don't get to just "play;" sexualize innocent childhood experiences because of our adult fears and hang-ups;  allow ourselves and our children to be seduced by consumerist media; and nearly every adult I know suffers from a strange amnesia when it comes to remembering what it is like to be a child...

By the time most kids become young adults they are saddled with the very adult responsibility of education-related debt, becoming the equivalent of indentured servants.  I once read somewhere that the high point for most people is high school... a rather dismal thought!

Here is another interesting perspective on why Elizabeth may have been so cooperative with her captors...

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/03/1...mart/index.html
 
 [ 03-18-2003, 01:56 AM: Message edited by: Mayo ]
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