Yes, in fact I just read about that murder and it too was terrible and horrific. I think a quote from the Wikipedia article distills some of the ideas why this murder didn't get the same attention:
In his opinion, (James) Gregg wrote that the discrepancy in media attention was:
because it [Dirkhising] offered no lessons. Shepard's murder touches on a host of complex and timely issues: intolerance, society's attitudes toward gays and the pressure to conform, the use of violence as a means of confronting one's demons. Jesse Dirkhising's death gives us nothing except the depravity of two sick men. There is no lesson here, no moral of tolerance, no hope to be gleaned in the punishment of the perpetrators."
This was really a sad, terrible crime perpetrated by two sick twisted men against an innocent young man. No one will deny this. However, it didn't really have the same far-reaching societal issues involved that The Matthew Shepard murder did. This wasn't a hate crime. Although the issue of sexual predators is an important one, it is one that has been covered many times in the past and is nothing very new. However, the Matthew Shepard murder, as the movie stated, kind of brought the issue of hate-crimes, especially pertaining to anti-gay hate crimes, home for many people.
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vada-sultenfuss
17 years ago
I agree with you. I read about the Jesse Dirkhising case just now, and it deserves media attention. The difference is that the Shepard case goes beyond just the case itself, it showed the hate and the intolarance that still existed (and exists today) towards certain groups of people. With the Shepard case him being gay was the core of the case, whereas Jesse being straight didn't seem to have anything to do with his case, it was just a senseless and heartbreaking crime. The Shepard case is similar to the Teena Brandon case, it shows us people that the hatred that we often try to hush away or pretend it doesn't excist, is still there. It's sometimes a shock. These select victims have become symbols in a fight for tolorance.
Unfortunatly, not all cases get the attention and the discussion they deserve. But that's not to say we can't do anything about it. Tip your local media, write about it on your blog, tell big crime sites like crimelibrary about it. If you speak loud enough, and long enough, someone will listen.
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pault_pault-1
17 years ago
You get good and bad straight and gay people. Life is that simple.
Dont judge any group of people by the actions of a few. There will
always be the Jeffrey Dahmers and Ted Bundy's of the world.
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