On March 13, 1964 at around three in the morning Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, returning home from work as a bar manager in Queens, New York, was attacked in her apartment parking lot by Winston Mosley, a machinist, devoted husband, father of two and a man with a history of a touch of necrophilia. In the next half hour Mosley stabbed Genovese many times, fled because of some shouts in the surrounding apartments, returned to the lot and hunted the woman who had crawled away and hidden, found her, raped her and killed her. This event had social repercussions that lasted a generation. Yet this innocent girl, her loud pleas, the killer's astonishingly savage profile all cast a shadow before the the remarkable indifference of the girl's neighbors. Many admitted to hearing her cries, some saw the attack but no one intervened and the police were not even called until the girl was almost dead. (Indeed, the two neighbors with the best vision of the attack were not called as witnesses in the trial because the District Attorney feared their callousness would distract the jurors' focus from Mosley.)
Mosley was convicted to the cheers of the courtroom and sentenced to death (cheers again) by a judge who said, "I don't believe in capital punishment, but when I see this monster, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the switch myself!" The sentence was overturned when an appeals court decided Mosley should have been able to defend himself as "medically insane." Later, on a trip to a hospital for a self-inflicted wound, Mosley took five hostages, beat one with a baseball bat and raped one of them in front of her husband. He was a participant in the Attica Riots. But man's thirst for improvement can never be confined; he got a B.A. in Sociology in prison. In his first parole hearing he declared, "For a victim outside, it's a one-time or one-hour or one-minute affair, but for the person who's caught, it's forever." He thought that was a defense. His next parole hearing is November, 2013. The entire nation should be on guard.
But there was no closure for the nation. The crime and circumstances have been analyzed raw. Fewer people than originally thought were so cruel to the poor victim. And a few did become involved. But the story became a symbol, a parable, of social isolation and man's indifference to man. This event became a national obsession. Books were written (author Gay Talese called A.M Rosenthal's "Thirty-Eight Witnesses" “a most important book by perhaps the most important newspaper editor of the last half century”), conferences held. One could argue that several entirely new social psychology specialties developed ("prosocial behavior," urban psychology," and "law and cognition") and new programs emerged (block watches, neighborhood patrols, the national 911 emergency phone system, provictim programs and legislation). It reappeared in fiction and drama. The hero in the graphic novel "Watchman" has, as his crime-fighting epiphany, the murder of Kitty Genovese. It touched Bernard Goetz' vigilantism. Indeed the Trevon Martin death is the grandchild of Genovese's.
Which brings us to Benghazi and Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary of state: "“From that point on, I could follow what was happening in almost real time,” Lamb said in written testimony prepared for a hearing today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee." (Businessweek) The government's response to this was simply beyond belief. The State Department followed the entire event in real time through broadcasts from drones. They sat in conference rooms and watched as their friends and colleagues were murdered. It took seven hours. One wonders if they had to send out for pizza. Regular coffee or latte? Call the wife and say I'll be late? Down in front? In spite of this incredible behavior, the Conservapreneurs think that the debate over some stupid YouTube video should be the real question.
The question is not whether or not the government watching this horror with their bureaucratic indifference is guilty of this criminal inaction, the question is whether or not we, as responsible citizens knowledgeable of the government's inexcusable behavior, are guilty of the same.
Mosley was convicted to the cheers of the courtroom and sentenced to death (cheers again) by a judge who said, "I don't believe in capital punishment, but when I see this monster, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the switch myself!" The sentence was overturned when an appeals court decided Mosley should have been able to defend himself as "medically insane." Later, on a trip to a hospital for a self-inflicted wound, Mosley took five hostages, beat one with a baseball bat and raped one of them in front of her husband. He was a participant in the Attica Riots. But man's thirst for improvement can never be confined; he got a B.A. in Sociology in prison. In his first parole hearing he declared, "For a victim outside, it's a one-time or one-hour or one-minute affair, but for the person who's caught, it's forever." He thought that was a defense. His next parole hearing is November, 2013. The entire nation should be on guard.
But there was no closure for the nation. The crime and circumstances have been analyzed raw. Fewer people than originally thought were so cruel to the poor victim. And a few did become involved. But the story became a symbol, a parable, of social isolation and man's indifference to man. This event became a national obsession. Books were written (author Gay Talese called A.M Rosenthal's "Thirty-Eight Witnesses" “a most important book by perhaps the most important newspaper editor of the last half century”), conferences held. One could argue that several entirely new social psychology specialties developed ("prosocial behavior," urban psychology," and "law and cognition") and new programs emerged (block watches, neighborhood patrols, the national 911 emergency phone system, provictim programs and legislation). It reappeared in fiction and drama. The hero in the graphic novel "Watchman" has, as his crime-fighting epiphany, the murder of Kitty Genovese. It touched Bernard Goetz' vigilantism. Indeed the Trevon Martin death is the grandchild of Genovese's.
Which brings us to Benghazi and Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary of state: "“From that point on, I could follow what was happening in almost real time,” Lamb said in written testimony prepared for a hearing today by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee." (Businessweek) The government's response to this was simply beyond belief. The State Department followed the entire event in real time through broadcasts from drones. They sat in conference rooms and watched as their friends and colleagues were murdered. It took seven hours. One wonders if they had to send out for pizza. Regular coffee or latte? Call the wife and say I'll be late? Down in front? In spite of this incredible behavior, the Conservapreneurs think that the debate over some stupid YouTube video should be the real question.
The question is not whether or not the government watching this horror with their bureaucratic indifference is guilty of this criminal inaction, the question is whether or not we, as responsible citizens knowledgeable of the government's inexcusable behavior, are guilty of the same.
Genovese lives.
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