"Why should Dominique Strauss-Kahn be made to do the perp walk?'
"Because he's a perp."
That must be humiliating, to be called a perp. And by New York reporters, whose disrespectful terms are so quickly picked up. The French minister of culture called it "disgusting."
Can't you hear their response? "So, drop dead minister of culture."
Does a high French official ever have a chance of avoiding disrespect in New York? What can he do?
Well this one could have kept his hands off our hotel maids. Let him try some other crime. Maybe he can work his way up to perpetrator.
There's such a big difference in the flavor of those two words. And I don't think it all works in favor of the New York press. "Perp walk" is not just disrespectful of the French official; it's disrespectful of the NYPD for the show it puts on for the press's benefit. "Perpetrator display," though as inaccurate as "perp walk" (he's not a perpetrator yet), might fit an attempt to shame, and deter, and reform, but "perp walk" won't let you get away with that. It fits a cheap show, attempting to cheapen a man.
Which suggests that the culture minister has a point. The NYPD is catering to a public that wants it all hung out, both public and private, with less and less respect for the private. That may not be disgusting, but it's certainly disturbing.
At first I told my French friends that the perp walk was just an American custom, and a democratic one at that: You're a suspect, you do the walk. Then I read more and saw that it's very unequally applied: Only certain suspects, and for the most part only in New York. Plus which, those police officers looked a little too impressed with themselves. So I'm coming around to the other view.
ReplyDeletePS In France it's illegal to show suspects in handcuffs because it is perceived to weaken the presumption of innocence. Though that didn't stop the French media from showing DSK repeatedly to illustrate how savage the Americans are......
This is interesting.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.poynter.org/latest-news/als-morning-meeting/132692/is-it-ethical-to-use-perp-walk-images-of-dominique-strauss-kahn-imf-chief-accused-of-attempted-rape/
Did anybody in France comment on the fact that the judge who denied DSK bail is a woman? Might this be heartening to French women? Are there many women judges in France?
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot of comment on his being (at first) denied bail, but not on gender of judge. Lots of investigating magistrates (who serve the function of a grand jury), lawyers and judges are women. The two magistrates investigating the Princess Diana case were female, in fact, and one of the magistrates who eventually succeeded in bringing charges against Chirac once he was out of office is a woman. (A woman? Or a female? Discuss on blog, please)
ReplyDeleteWhich would I rather be known as, a male or a man? Generally "man," since the word honors something. Nobody ever says, "Be a male." Any offense in "male"? Certainly not in a scientific context. "As a male you share a chromosome with King Kong." Is it the same with "female" and "woman"?
ReplyDelete