COMMENTARY

When is enough Natalee Holloway madness enough?

by Al Rodriguez 

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Bravo! I wholeheartedly applaud psychologist Mr. Green, and the Aruban daily A.M. Digital.

It was about time someone in Aruba, as well as here in the US, would have the “cojones” to call this Natalee Holloway fiasco for what it is.

Mr. Green’s feelings about being tired of the Natalee Holloway story, as if it is the only important thing in Aruba (and indeed in America, and the rest of the world), reflects how many of us feel, who at this point are just fed up with this fiasco as well.

Though at the beginning of this tragedy turned “media circus” , most of us totally empathized with Beth’s loss, were concerned about Natalee’s whereabouts, and grieved for her and her family; the relentless barrage of over-the-top, excessive coverage the media has given it for no higher “altruistic” motives than ratings; as well as Beth’s ever-increasingly shrill, scripted, and staged performances (as at the Internet Café recently) have alienated many.

She seems to be always followed by the ubiquitous camera in a manner reminiscent of a participant in a “reality show,” rather than a grieving mother searching for her daughter.

It is understandable that desperate in the search for her daughter, and for answers, Beth would have availed herself of all means at her disposal to further her cause. 

But to call upon the media’s attention to help her put pressure on the authorities is one thing, and turning her daughter’s disappearance into a “media farce” which has only served to belittle the memory of her daughter is another! She’s long crossed the line of propriety in my opinion.

Look at what is going on right now in Aruba: After turning the island upside down, wreaking havoc on its economy, ecology, and civil life, now there is dissension in the Twitty search teams, who are in-fighting, and bickering amongst themselves, mutually accusing each other of getting in each other's way, of causing ecological damages, and of having been the cause of a fire at the landfill, and one of them is threatening to sue the other.

I find this so ironic, in light of how much criticism, and scorn they have heaped on the Aruban authorities, and search teams, all throughout the investigation, calling them "inept", and "fumblers" and such.

Now, it seems they are turning on each other with the same rabid viciousness. It would be funny were it not so pathetic. Poetic Justice I should say.

Also, Beth, and the Twitty, camp have repeatedly implied that the reason nothing was being found, was because Aruban authorities were too “dumb” to conduct the search. Hence they brought all these search teams, volunteers, and experts from the States, who, I suppose by inference, they consider more “perspicacious”, and of “superior intelligence” to conduct the search.

But I have to admit on behalf of the “scientific method”, as “dumb” as the Aruban investigators may be, at least they’ve never used such “sophisticated disciplines”, or “specialized advanced hi-tech equipment”, as the Twitty search teams have increasingly been using to help them in their endeavor, such as “psychic sleuthing”, “soothsaying”, “dowsing rods”, “oracular coffee pots” (which is also reputed to brew a mean cup of coffee), and “mysterious boxes” reputedly capable of locating human remains in 180 feet of water, from 200 yards away on the shore (I’m sure the Navy would be interested in that one!).

Every bit of garbage found in Aruba is immediately hailed by the Twittys and these searchers, and hyped by their media friends, as a “crucial bit of evidence that will break the case”, and of course, upon close scrutiny, they all invariably turn out to be nothing more nor less than pieces of garbage. So it was with the "missing shoe", the “hair on the tape,” and now the “belt” fiascos.

Now, to any impartial observer witnessing all this mayhem taking place in Aruba, wouldn’t all these antics by Beth, her husband, and their menagerie seem like a “joke” worthy of a Marx brother’s film, or the Three Stooges? 

I must say, it certainly seems to me, and I must agree with Mr. Green, and his evaluation of the situation.

I also must agree with Mr. Green, that for Aruba, a small country dependent in large part on the very tourist industry that the Twittys with their boycotts, and their relentless media circus, have done so much to destroy, to keep spending the immense fortune that this “joke” is costing them is insane.

Aruba can no longer keep indulging in the extravagant expenditures it has incurred throughout this investigation, as when because of the hype of the “missing shoe fiasco” Aruban authorities had to bring in that humongous, and exceedingly expensive pump to drain the Pond; or foot the bill for the launch of those three Dutch F-16s (do you know how much it costs to get one of those things off the ground with aircraft fuel being what it is at today’s prices?) because of Beth’s demand to bring out the Dutch Marines to assist her in her precious scavenger hunt; or pay for all the extra personnel, and equipment it has mobilized because of this investigation.

It is not only unjustifiable, and fiscally unsustainable, but immoral; and something that may very well bankrupt the island.

Not even the US, which hyperbolically may be said to have “infinitely” more wealth, and “limitless” resources, as compared to tiny Aruba, has ever spent as much on a search (I wonder what Beth’s “tab” would be, and how many decades of “Community Service” she and her husband “Jughead” would have to do on the island, were Aruba to ask for reimbursement from them as the City of Duluth, Georgia, did of Jennifer Wilbanks!).

As Mr. Green rightly says, all throughout these almost three months, Beth has consistently given the impression that she believes a corrupt Aruba has caused this all to happen. 

The question begs asking, when is she going to stop blaming others for why this has happened, and look in the mirror, and ask herself what role her lack of parental discretion, and the lack of judgment both, on her, and Natalee’s part, have played in placing her daughter in this situation in the first place?

Beth’s decision to unleash her daughter, who had just turned eighteen, no matter how level-headed, trustworthy, and deserving she may have thought she was, or how much she may have wanted to join her classmates, into a “Girls Gone Wild” partying atmosphere, in the company of one hundred fifty other teenagers from her school, all of them drinking, dancing, some using drugs, sweaty, with plentiful gonads, exuding hormones, as must have been the situation at the Carlos & Charlie’s that night, without proper supervision (yes, one has to ask where were the chaperones supposedly accompanying the group) was an accident waiting to happen aside from any foul play.

Had Natalee died that night in a car accident because Joran, drunk, and or on drugs would have slammed their car into a light post; or because she’d drowned as the result of convulsions, or vomiting due to intoxication, while being out swimming; or because she’d overdosed, or any other such follies; would not have made “this” less of a tragedy than it now is, which is the result firstly, of bad judgment on Beth’s part for letting her daughter go alone (had she accompanied her, and chaperoned her, or taken her with the family to Disney World instead, Natalee would now be alive), and secondly on the part of Natalee, for not having left Carlos & Charlie’s when her companions did, but rather get into a car with three strange males she barely knew, and go off into the night with them, which no “decent” girl would do as Mr. Green has pointed out.

What did she think they were after, and what was she expecting of them, even if they had not meant her the slightest harm whatsoever, to play patty cake with her? 

The sad part is that while this “joke” is going on, other children are missing here, and abroad, whose disappearance the media ignores, or gives very little coverage to, while it has so lavishly bestowed its attention on Natalee, and Beth in Aruba; other tragedies are also taking place such as the recent floods that killed over one thousand people in India, that again the media barely mentioned; and other developments, and events have been taking place around the globe, many of which will have a far greater impact on our lives, as well as that of others around the world, that have been mostly ignored, or overshadowed, by the media’s present ratings-driven obsession with Natalee.

Now, are we to infer from this that the disappearance of this one girl, is more important to us as a Nation, than the death of the over one thousand human beings who perished in the floods in India, or of the victims of the London terrorist bombings, or of our soldiers, and the people dying every day in Iraq, or that of those other missing children for that matter?

It is understandable that it may be so to “Beth”, her mother; but it ought not to be to us as a Nation. Natalee’s disappearance has to be placed in its proper perspective.

Natalee’s disappearance, when it happened, was news, and as such it merited to be reported. But at this point the media ought to exercise some objectivity, professionalism, and journalistic integrity (for a change), and stop the flood of excessive, over-the-top, pervasive coverage which it has relentlessly poured, gushingly over the events in Aruba. 

It is understandable, after almost three months of no new evidence, and few developments in the case, for Beth to be “courting” the media, and creating all sorts of “media events” to keep the media’s attention on her (she may not like the reasons why she ‘s in the limelight, but she sure basks pleasantly in it!), and her daughter’s disappearance, in order to keep the case alive.

But to keep endlessly interviewing the Twittys and their entourage on prime time for two hour blocks every night, night after night, hashing, and rehashing the same stale old facts, baseless allegations, unsubstantiated rumors, all sorts of hear say, and speculations, is not only a “joke”, but ridiculous.

At this juncture, all that could be done has been done. In Aruba every stone, nook, and cranny has been turned, looked under, or into, and nothing new seems to be coming to light.

Beth ought to face the reality that we may never know what happened to Natalee, in spite of all the myriad theories, hypotheses, and suppositions.

That no matter how convinced she, or anyone else, may personally be of Joran, and the Kalpoe brothers’ guilt or complicity in Natalee’s disappearance it is very likely that there is not sufficient “legal”evidence to convict anyone of any alleged crimes, so that this case, as so many others have in the past could very likely remain “unsolved”.

So again, I agree with Mr. Green’s assessment, that Beth and her entourage should go home. Await the result of the “official”on-going investigation, and abide by whatever decision the Prosecutor, and the Aruban courts make on the case, and stop this media circus, soap opera- melodrama, news TV reality show, before the goodwill, hospitality, and “saintly” patience of the people of Aruba wears thin, and find themselves booted off the island ( as well they should).

Let us hope that television newscast may not have been permanently damaged by all the “Natalee Holloway/Aruba”, ratings-driven obsession, media extravaganza, and that coverage will eventually gravitate, back to some semblance of “real journalism” that we may all once again be able to focus on the “real” news, and “issues”, affecting all of us.

It is time this matter is given closure, and that we get on with the rest of our lives.

Again, Bravo, Mr. Green!

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