Those People

Make no mistake about it ... we are those people. To so much of the world we are bizarre, freaky, weird and dangerous. The New York Post carried a story today of a sensational murder/suicide. An obviously disturbed submissive man shot to death another submissive man ostensibly because he was obsessed by the victim's pro-domme girlfriend. The shooter then kidnapped the poor domme and drove her around until she persuaded him to let her go. She got away and called the cops who tracked the deranged man down. The unhinged submissive, who had stalked the domme for months, held off the police for hours and finally shot himself in the head. I'm not going to link to the story. It is typical prurient Post pulp.

But it made the front page, replete with salacious pictures and lewd, lubricious copy for all to read. Of course the rag trampled over any shred of privacy the family of the murdered man might hope for and made a mockery out of the woman's grieving process. News-wise, I cover all bases in the morning and have the Times, WSJ and Post delivered for a speed read over coffee. My wife saw the story and immediately said, "So, look what happens when you start getting involved with those people". Of course I said these incidents are by no means limited to Scene people. Crazy stalkers come in all stripes.

But the whole thing made me sad and angry at the same time. Deeply sad for this couple. I have no clue who they are, but they both seemed really sweet and nice from the read-between-the-lines description. It made me very angry at the tabloid treatment of terrible loss and grief.

I'm proud to be "those people". We are those people. I am those people. We're real people who care and love and die when we're shot. Who wrench in unimaginable grief when we lose a loved one in so senseless and violent a way. But I'm poignantly reminded that a good chunk of the world sees us as exaggerated stereotypes and when something bad happens it ends up on the front page of the Post 'cos it sells papers. My heart goes out to everyone involved in this horrible tragedy.