The tone of Jonathan Thompson’s brief report on the
Jeffs trial conveys unwarranted skepticism about the validity of
the prosecution (HCN, 10/15/07). “There was a
time … could go about their daily lives without much outside
scrutiny,” is probably a factually accurate statement but implies
that scrutiny is akin to outside interference. Then there’s a swipe
at the national media as sex-obsessed. Again, true, but is there an
implication that everyone who cared about the outcome of this trial
was simply sex-obsessed rather than concerned about the pain of a
young girl forced into a marriage that was repugnant to her?
Consider the sentence, “His crime: arranging a marriage between two
cousins, one 14 and one 19.” Similar sentence construction is often
used to express skepticism about legal prosecutions, e.g. “His
crime? Jay-walking on a deserted street.”
Marianne
Davis
New York, New York
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline … Rather a scornful tone.
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