The front page store about Robert Flibotte is another sad chapter in the Payson Roundup's sensational coverage of events that are best buried at least below the fold or not reported at all.
And before you say there he goes again, I argued just as vociferously against the Mogollon Connection newspaper overplaying this same story back when I was affiliated with that publication.
First, Flibotte, who was convicted of having child pornography on a couple of computers, is not and will never be a threat to society. Second, he is a 73-year-old man who is going to pay a hefty price for what he did - probably spending the rest of his life in jail.
So why did the Roundup put this story in the number one position on the front page of its Friday, July 29 edition? To set an example for others? To humiliate Flibotte? One could also argue that a fixation on this kind of activity borders on perversion itself.
The bigger issue, of course, is that we - the government, its police and the media - need to stay out of people's bedrooms as long as what goes on in them doesn't harm anybody else. It's the same kind of Big Brother mentality that caused so much discrimination against gays for so many years.
If Flibotte wants to go home and engage in this behavior, however disgusting the rest of us find it, it's none of our damn business.
And once again, we call on the Roundup to rethink its role in the community. The paper that is so hellbent on supporting the chamber and the real estate and business communities has given the Rim Country a giant, front page black eye just a few weeks before the biggest tourist weekend of the year.
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6 comments:
It doesn't hurt any one? Are you that big of a backwords idiot? Did you think before you said that? Who do you think gets hurt in child pornography? I hope you do not have children of your own.
Anonymous never met a conclusion he couldn't embrace.Quite naturally, he totally misses the point, as he usually does
Putting this story on the front page and shoving it in the face of every person in Payson,including kids old enough to read, sensationalizes the story. It's a cheap way to sell newspapers. It doesn't address the problem. It makes the story all about
Mr Flibote and not about the bigger problem of child pornography.
LET US GET TO THE REAL PROBLEM, WHY DID MR.FLIBOTTE HAVE COMPULSIONS TO DO WHAT HE DID ? HE IS NOT A HARDENED CRIMINAL AND DOES NOT BELONG IN PRISON,BUT IN A REHAB SITUATION WHERE 'THE PROBLEM' IS DEALT WITH, AS WITH ADDICTS AND ALCOHOLICS IN TREATMENT PROGRAMS.
OUR SOCIETY NEEDS TO ADDRESS A WORKABLE SOLUTION, IT ISN'T SLAMMING A PRISON DOOR IN THE FACE OF SOMEONE WHO NEEDS MENTAL HELP.
MY HEART GOES OUT TO HIS FAMILY.
Yes, I do have children. And nowhere in the editorial does it say child pornography doesn't hurt anyone. Only that ostentatious media coverage can do more damage to the community than the crime itself. If it were a question of alerting the community to a dangerous sex offender it would be different. That is not the case with this story.
Bottom line: when you're the only game in town you make up your own rules - the best interests of the community be damned.
As a member of Mr. Flibotte's family I thank you for writting this comment.
"If Flibotte wants to go home and engage in this behavior, however disgusting the rest of us find it, it's none of our damn business."
"And nowhere in the editorial does it say child pornography doesn't hurt anyone."
Excuse me in order for Mr. Flibotte to "go home and engage in this behavior" requires that some innocent child be victimized in order to produce the images and video he was viewing. That he may have not made the images himself is irrevelant. He and others like him create the demand that causes these innocent children to be exploited.
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