Poor Us

What is it about families going abroad, engaging in behaviours they would not engage in while at home and then ending up with a murdered kid while the journos eat it up like bacon?

I won't warm up Maddie, but you know what I am thinking. I see a pattern.

Not trying to discredit a victim or her family here, but come on, do we see a problem with this?

Location: Goa, India
Victim: 15 year old nymphet
Verdict: Murder
Situation: Left alone with 25 year old man (boyfriend) while family travels onwards without her.

Goa, people. What is Goa known for? Partying. Great partying, great beaches and a lot of adult fun. What are 15 year old girls with lip piercings known for? Partying. Loving great beaches. And adult fun. What are 15 year old girls with lip piercings and an affinity for partying to dudes? God's gift from heaven. What will happen when the two meet pina colada in hand on a starry night? A lot of adult fun.

I am not a mother, but I remember vividly making many a great argument when I was 14 years old and situated in Singapore why it would be an awesome idea for my parents to let me go to Thailand for a few weeks with an older boyfriend and all his friends. And he, I assure you, was as decent a dude as they come. But turns out, I didn't get to go. Wanna know why? Cause you don't let a girl who just realized the impact of her sexuality on men and who thinks it's awesome and hilarious to use it cause damn, who knew getting attention could be so easy, but who has no idea that a night of blue balling guys and then going on a beach walk will be interpreted as something other than an innocent, fun end to a night, go somewhere, alone, where people might take her actions as face value and nobody is around to check whether she makes it home or not. As a parent, letting that happen is not murder, but it's certainly stupidity. But that's the fabulous part about these stories. They happened somewhere else, so one does not ask these questions.

First off, the blame may be applied both generally and specifically. This has the welcome side effect of making us feel even better about ourselves and we will go through great lengths to show just how incompetent they are. The locals are all crooks, the police especially, the bartenders too; savages really. After all, all those people are far away and don't scream "libel" as an English investigator/cop/bartender would and could. So that's easy. We got an obvious victim and a truck load of bad guys. I mean, we really do have a victim and there is no excuse for murder, dah, but the story, man, the story is just too easy.

It confirms what we already know. We are good. We are innocent and we just always get shafted. Poor us. Going abroad is dangerous, because them peoples are all savages. Things like this would never happen back home because we are decent and oh, maybe if some kid didn't show up at school for six months because she is living with her adult boyfriend on some beach maybe we'd be like, oh, ooops, lets talk to her parents to see if they are still all checked in. Or maybe we would not, but that is so not the point. The point is the opposite: these stories sell oh so well because we are not to blame. Naha, no blame in sight. Just victims. Poor us.