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February 18, 2014
Debunking the New York Times myth of Kitty Genovese
Cook and others speculate that the story’s first paragraph was written by Rosenthal. One could argue that Genovese became a legend not on the day she was killed, but 10 days later, when New York City Police Commissioner Michael “Bull” Murphy had lunch with The New York Times’ new city editor — later to become the paper’s executive editor — Abe Rosenthal. | New York PostHT: neo-neocon
Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 18, 2014 4:03 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
The New York Times' unofficial motto:
"We have a *Narrative* -- who needs the truth?"
Posted by: Skorpion at February 18, 2014 4:37 PM
Most of the, er, common knowledge, abut that story is false or greatly distorted.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at February 18, 2014 8:13 PM
The fact remains: over a half-hour period a woman was attacked and eventually died. About --not exactly-- 40 people heard her screaming and didn't do anything except the one guy who yelled out his window.
The "debunking" is quibbling over whether it's 38 or 39 witnesses; the cops eventually found about 60. Bottom line is that a lot of people didn't give a rats-arse what happened to another human. They still don't.
Posted by: junior_samples at February 19, 2014 6:20 PM
Its more complicated than that, Jr. Here's something to think about from my write up on it:
The problem is, while there were 38 people living in these apartments, only a few actually had a window on the street side where they could see or hear what was happening. It was three in the morning, so most of them were in deep REM sleep and probably didn't hear a thing. Remember, this is downtown Queens, you learn to sleep through sirens, shouting, car crashes, even gun shots.
...
She was only attacked twice, once inside where no one could see her. Timing is critical as well. Anyone who woke up to her screams would have taken time to get up and look out the window. By that time, they would have just seen a girl staggering down the street at 3 in the morning as a Corvair sped off.
The few witnesses who were awakened by the attack claimed they thought it was some domestic disturbance or a fight spilling out of the Old Bailey bar, not an unreasonable response. If you were awakened at 3 in the morning by shouts, how likely would you be to strap on your superman outfit and dash into the streets?
Sure, someone should have helped, particularly the one man who yelled at Mosley to stop. But its nothing like we've been told over the years, thanks to a NYT reporter who wanted to tell a dramatic story instead of "just the facts, ma'am." Psychologists, Sociologists, and other people around the country and world picked up on shreds of information and pontificated, creating entire theses about humanity, city life, and modern Americans.
Now hearing a scream at 3 in the morning in Queens might make you strap on your Superman suit and run outside but most people aren't going to notice.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at February 19, 2014 9:49 PM