Amanda Knox article in The Stranger offers different perspective
We saw a huge upswing in traffic last week, after Amanda Knox's parents were featured on 20/20 defending their daughter. Remember Amanda? The UW student caught up in an Italian murder case, who we wrote about ad nauseum after the case broke last November? Well she's still in jail, but the press - both local and national - seems to be expressing a new-found interest in the case as of late.
Yet instead of focusing on Knox as a suspect, they're painting her as a victim. In the 20/20 interview, her mother complained that "jail's not easy," as if forgetting why her daughter is there in the first place; meanwhile, Knox's sister says the suspect "cares about everyone else before herself." We're sure Patrick Lumumba would agree.
Of course, as the Honest Blogger notes (rather obscenely), this outpouring of support from family and friends is not surprising:
Now other voices, those not bound by family ties, are coming out and painting a different picture. This week's edition of The Stranger has got an in-depth piece on the case: Charles Mudede, author of philosophical musings that have drawn the ire of cranky SLOG commenters but whose "Police Beat" column is the best thing in the weekly paper, traveled to Perugia to write about the case from a first-hand perspective. The most revealing quotes in his piece come not from Perugia, but the World Cup cafe in Seattle's U-District, where Knox used to work.
During a visit there before his departure to Italy, Mudede ran into "Matthew," an old college buddy who currently works at the World Cup. This man's testimonial contradicted the picture-perfect image that Knox's family and friends have been relaying so far:
Yet instead of focusing on Knox as a suspect, they're painting her as a victim. In the 20/20 interview, her mother complained that "jail's not easy," as if forgetting why her daughter is there in the first place; meanwhile, Knox's sister says the suspect "cares about everyone else before herself." We're sure Patrick Lumumba would agree.
Of course, as the Honest Blogger notes (rather obscenely), this outpouring of support from family and friends is not surprising:
Her parents may be firmly behind her, but in truth who's parents would turn round and say, "Yeah I think she did it - I've always thought my daughter could be a murdering little bitch." - GET FUCKING REAL.It would never happen, nor should it...families have an obligation to defend their own, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find parents anywhere who love their child and would be willing to admit their faults, even if there was a mountain of evidence suggesting otherwise.
Now other voices, those not bound by family ties, are coming out and painting a different picture. This week's edition of The Stranger has got an in-depth piece on the case: Charles Mudede, author of philosophical musings that have drawn the ire of cranky SLOG commenters but whose "Police Beat" column is the best thing in the weekly paper, traveled to Perugia to write about the case from a first-hand perspective. The most revealing quotes in his piece come not from Perugia, but the World Cup cafe in Seattle's U-District, where Knox used to work.
During a visit there before his departure to Italy, Mudede ran into "Matthew," an old college buddy who currently works at the World Cup. This man's testimonial contradicted the picture-perfect image that Knox's family and friends have been relaying so far:
"You know," Matthew said, leaning toward me, "a lot of people are saying she is a sweet girl and they can't believe she could have done such a thing. But, to be honest, I'm not surprised she is a suspect. Really. The first time I met her, when I got the job here, she asked me if I was Jewish. I told her I was. She then screamed: 'My people killed your people,' and began laughing hysterically. I didn't know what to say. She just kept laughing about her Germans killing my Jews. After that, I did not like her. She really freaked me out."Charming. You're right, Mom and Dad...she sounds like a lovely girl.
