Is an addiction to the Casey Anthony case unhealthy?
It happened with the O.J. Simpson trial back in 1995. To some extent it's happening again with Casey Anthony, the mother accused of murdering her own child. People are fixated on getting all the latest information on the case. The black glove has become the pizza. And for anyone so inclined, there's plenty of information to be had. CNN's Nancy Grace talks about it in excruciating detail every night, there are virtually millions of articles on the topic available on the web and various message boards where you can share your theories with others 24/7. Yes the sad story of the fate of little Caylee has the public firmly in its grasp.
"There are people out there who are literally addicted to Caylee," says William Murtaugh, a man who uses an old TV news truck to feed breaking Casey Anthony news to his website. "The commercial media cannot provide everything we want. We want more. We're addicted to it," Murtaugh said.
For women particularly, especially those with children, the story has a particular draw. "Any time there's ever a case where a mother has done something to her child, there is going to be interest for women," says momlogic's licensed marriage and family therapist Shannon Fox. "It's seems impossible for most mothers to compute, it goes against every maternal instinct we have to protect our children."
The ease of getting information on the case is another factor that feeds the obsession. Florida's public record policy makes every document, video, text message, even Casey's prison dinner menus available to the masses.
"What people fail to realize," says Fox, "is that Casey Anthony is not an episode of 'C.S.I.' It's real. All the exposure to information makes people numb to a heinous crime."
But the public's interest in the tragic story might transcend the typical true crime enthusiast. "The need to know about the case also might be linked to the recession," remarks Fox. "A lot of times, when the economy is bad, people turn to these kind of stories to give them a distraction."
However, there are some red flags that immersing yourself in the case might not be good for your mental health, warns Fox. "Any time an obsession takes you away from living your own life -- for example, you can't stop thinking about it, you talk to you friends about it -- it might be something worth examining," she says.
One poster on a Casey Anthony message board could be interpreted as a cry for help:
"I'm going to LIVE blog Nancy Grace tonight since I've been forced by my obsession to waste this hour every night."
Another indicator it might be time to lay off the Casey coverage, says Fox, is if any time you justify your bad actions by saying to yourself, "Well, at least I'm not as bad as Casey Anthony."
For the most part, those who have an interest in all things Casey are simply satisfying a craving for excitement they lack in their real lives. New York Times bestselling crime writer Gregg Olsen believes people interested in true crime are for the most part intelligent, good people who are "possibly a little bit lonely."
What disturbs Olsen is when the speculation becomes a game. "Everyone's trying to one up each other on who's the most astute on the case," he says. "They're forgetting there is a real legal process in place."
For some, the Casey Anthony story strikes a personal chord. Blogger Ylla Palenque, 35, of Orlando, Florida had her first child at 19 and another a year later. She remembers the struggles of being a young mother and has been following the Casey Anthony saga from the very beginning. "I think my obsession with the case stems for the fact that at one point in early motherhood I felt very close to being out of control, inches away from running away," she says. "With Casey, it is so different because I wonder why she didn't just leave?"
On the extreme end of the Casey Anthony obsession are those that are so involved in the case they've become of part of it -- showing up at the Anthony house demanding justice. Some attend the Sunday vigils held by the Anthonys to show their support. Still others have wielded death threats against the Anthonys' defense team and the Anthonys themselves.
Often, the people who become personally involved have a private vendetta, have been abandoned as a child or suffered abuse. "The story," explains Fox, "triggers the feeling of abandonment or neglect. If they were abused as a child, now they can stand up for Caylee and in the name of seeking retribution, they can seek justice for themselves."
The trial of Casey Anthony hasn't even begun, but when it does, will it match the fervor of the 150 million people who watched the O.J. Simpson verdict? Stay tuned.
Source: momlogic.com
Post Title
→nancy grace: Casey Anthony is the New OJ
Post URL
→https://imaginefantasy4u.blogspot.com/2008/12/nancy-grace-casey-anthony-is-new-oj.html
Visit Imagination and Fantation for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection
