St. Maarten Private Eye

Heads in the Sand

Dr. Voodoo gave us a roundup yesterday and the intention was to continue posting updates and discussions below that thread. However, the news today and in particular the Today Editorial - Who was really wrong in gay bashing incident? calls for a new posting. Be sure to read the editorial, because I'm going to be ripping into it and The Today in a major way below.

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First let's look at what the Daily Herald article has to say.

Our new Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein together with Police Chief Commissioner Holiday held a press briefing on Monday, apparently in a bid to dispel rumors that the police had done nothing since the attack. We have yet to hear back from Jimmy over at BB's on when his staff were interviewed, but Holiday gives the impression that the questioning of witnesses has only just started, 4 days after the attack.

He also claims that police did indeed turn up at the scene but that the injured men had already been taken to hospital. It would seem they had a busy day (Wed or Thurs?) and were unable to interview the men before they left Thursday afternoon in an air ambulance. The Herald apparently was able to, though.

An interesting question to ask is if the police responding to the scene actually did any questioning of witnesses or had taken any names to be interviewed later. One would guess from the appeal for help in yesterday's article that they did not. It has been reported that when some media representatives had tried to contact the police about the assault, they were told that nothing was known about it.

The Today article on the otherhand has Taco claiming that the attack might not have been "gay bashing" or discriminatory. His reasoning for this appears to be that Jefferson himself did not call it that when he was contacted, that he never used the word "gay bashing". I guess we can call it caution on Taco's part - maybe it was just a random attack by people the men had never met or run into before, eh?

Taco states that the investigation has not hit any stumbling blocks yet, probably because the investigation has just started. It appears that the staff at BB's have not been questioned as of Monday. Understandably witness testimony is or will be held back, otherwise they too might become targets for attack.

Both newspapers, in particular the Today, spend little time on the story of how the police force appears to be failing in it's duties to the community. You can ask any resident of the Dutch side about calling the police, and the vast majority will say don't bother. There have been numerous news article and letters in the press about how calls for assistance have gone unanswered or been answered unprofessionally.

The local media is sticking its head in the sand over this, as are the island's authorites and the business community. Residents want and deserve a police force that is not only staffed, paid and equiped adequately but also trained, in particular regarding community relations and how to deal with victims of crimes. I suspect tourists want the same thing, don't you? And over three years ago the police force proclaimed that they would be getting a fingerprint machine and that it would help solve robberies and burglaries. If any victims of a burglary have witnessed the police taking fingerprints then we here would love to know.

Now, lets take a look at the Today Editorial - Who was really wrong in gay bashing incident?- 11th March

Boy, oh boy, what a moronic feast of ignorance! Not however unexpected from a "newspaper" that prints similar garbage such as Therese Peterson or their last spastic fit over the Franco-Dutch Treaty series of editorials entitled "Dig a hole for someone and fall in it yourself". You can find all four of them on the Franco Dutch Treaty thread. This cartoon is most certainly racist, inflammatory and hysterical. And what about Geno Lawrenzi's and the Today's relationship/obsession with the casinos of the island?

The Today and the Daily Herald are both guilty of publishing religiously homophobic hate mail; however the Today leads the way by far. The editorial on Tuesday starkly reveals the attitudes that exist behind its pages.

So lets rip into it......

They start off by spinning some ridiculous nonsense about labels and slogans, stating that the Gay and Lesbian groups working for equal rights (and presumably to corrupt our community) have created terms such as "gay bashing" and "homophobia" to advance their cause. This is of course after both newspapers repeatedly used both terms in all their articles about the case. It is also, of course, complete crap. They themselves point it out further down in the editorial when they mention how it used to be a "sport" back in the middle of the 20th Century for some to go out finding gays in order to beat them up. Hence the term "gay bashing".

As for homophobia, click here to see what it means.

A person who happens to be gay is beaten up and suddenly it becomes a hate crime rather than a strong-arm robbery.

Interesting use of the word "macho" in the next line, but their attempt to cast such an argument when talking about his case as well as implying that the men may have been drinking (they are in a bar, dumbass!) is downright disgusting and shameful.

The Today has given itself and the island a black eye, first for printing such crap but also because the rest of the world might think this amateur rag's views are a reflection on the community's. They appear to imply that the men "gussying" (?), kissing and being affectionate to each other makes the assault more understandable and even allowable.

They first say that words such as faggot and homo won't appear in this "family newspaper" before proceeding to use them again further down. I guess if it weren't for those damn US laws, then "gay bashing" might still be a sport. We would still be able to "beat people over the head for flagrant criminal behavior in public."

It's the Today newspaper that is the sad and sorry case here. It is they who should be ashamed. It is not the gay community alone raising a storm about this case but also countless hetrosexual individuals to whom violence towards others based on intolerance and hate are totally unacceptable in any society that claims to be progressive.

Besides, it's not so much about "gay bashing," with which the print media seem to be obsessed, it's really about having a police force that you can rely on. Perhaps some of you might care to share your own view of the Today editorial. Please feel free.

The Today 'Newspaper'

Telephone numbers - (011) 599 542 9558 or (011) 599 542 9540
Fax - (011) 599 542 9547
Email: editor@ saintmartintoday.com, todayeditorial@yahoo.com

Editorial Staff: Leighton Levy, Andre Huie, Duane Robin, Lisa Mckay, Gene Lawrenzi,

Flipper

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