This is a letter I wrote to Bill O’Reilly of FoxNews in response to his Wednesday, January 17, 2007, column, Anger Over the Kidnapping of Two Missouri Boys. [1]
Dear Mr. Bill O’Reilly:
Just because you believe the Stockholm Sydrome is rare does not mean you are correct in assuming it was not the dynamic in play with the Hornbeck child-- "child" being the operative word.
You have overstepped the bounds of logic here. Your personal belief is nothing more than ideology. It does not constitute proof For what happened in this case. You have no idea what this monster did to this child. You do not have proof of what this creep said to the boy. He could have been a "normal" kid when he was abducted but was made into an "abnormal" kid through this horrid man's manipulations. The man could have threatened to find him and kill him or kill all the members of his family should he escape. Just what do you think this would have done to someone who was just 11 years old at the time?
And, this is what so confuses me about you, Mr. O’Reilly. Your program is based on the “no spin” principle. However, what are you doing in this case?
In addition, you have said many times on both your show and in your web-based column, “No thinking person would ________.” You say this often enough you give the impression you are the champion of critical thinking. Yet, you make a huge guffaw in your claim that, “After teaching teenagers in high school, it is hard For me to believe that a normal kid would stay in a horrible environment when escape was easy, especially if the child had confidence in his parents…”[2]
That proves nothing! Your personal experience is just personal experience. It proves nothing regarding the Hornbeck child’s mind and what was going on in it. Your statement does not reflect critical thinking but speculation. Did you ever think what this man did to the child changed the child from “normal” to something “not normal”?
This is irresponsible of you and is really bad journalism, Sir!
You have overstepped not just the bounds of logic but of decency as well!
You should have acknowledged this, but did not. You should apologize.
Your ideology, Sir, is what ruled your rhetoric and not critical thinking!
Doug Bower Guanajuato, Mexico
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[1] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,244163,00.html [2] Ibid
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Source: www.a1articles.com
