I read kleinbl00's comment earlier and ever since I can't shake the memory of Shawn Moore a kid that was kidnapped in 1985 in my hometown of Brighton, MI. He was kidnapped within a 1/2 mile of where my father worked. He was around my age and all of us kids were very aware of what was happening. We were terrified. It only takes 1 case like this to hit too close to home for parents and change the way they let their kids behave. Here is a description of what happened: Just riding his bike during the day and he got nabbed. Enough to scare the bajeezus out of my 8 year old self. But we kids all acted tough and were carrying around sticks, bats and pocket knives telling ourselves that if we confronted the kidnapper, Ronald Bailey, we would kill him and rescue Shawn. Then they found him and shit got real. I wonder, mk do you remember this? It was state-wide news.Shawn was abducted while riding his bike to the local convenience store to buy a root beer. The case was treated as a kidnapping until September 13, 1985, when his body was discovered by the side of a road, covered with a tent of leaves, twigs, and brush.
I watched a dude drown when I was six. A friend of mine's brother blew his own head off with a shotgun when we were in 4th grade. Two girls I knew were remanded to foster care because their fathers were abusing them. Some arbitrary kid somewhere out being abducted by a stranger always seemed remote to me; the ready violence available to you from people you know and things you do normally always seemed more pressing.
But b_b I totally agree, the fear is propagated by those that benefit, mainly the media. But that fear is allowed to take hold because there usually is some practical knowledge, in a tangential way, of the danger being levied.the ready violence available to you from people you know and things you do normally always seemed more pressing.
Without a doubt. I was 8 when this happened and it was the first time that the world seemed dangerous. Later, in high-school a couple different people killed themselves, a friend and two brothers had their car hit by a drunk driver on new years day. My friend Brian happened to be driving a few cars behind and was the first on the scene. He knew all of them and couldn't recognize any of them. "Their brains were all over the place", is all he ever really told me about it. A girl I dated came over to my house for dinner and met my family. She knew my grandmother (which we hadn't realized) because my grandmother was the director of a women's shelter. My GF had been there as a kid to escape/hide from an abusive step-father. As you get older, the dangers are unavoidable, they smack you in your face. When you're 8 though and a kid goes missing, it's a very Ray Brower kind of moment.