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General News    H3'ed 2/9/13

Only In California: Cop Turned Critic Sparks Manhunt

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Message Danny Schechter

 

The Media Loves Manhunts: Can Chris Dorner Survive?

 By Danny Schechter

New York, New York, February 8, 7 PM:   Only in California, home of the late Huey P Newton and then the Symbionese Liberation Army that went several steps further, do characters emerge that transcend every action movie fantasy and stereotype, characters like an ex-cop who has declared war on the police on, of all places, Facebook in a 6000 word statement that's being described as "rambling." (He never claimed he was writer.)

 He denounces police practices that he considers racist and abusive, although the sheer drama of the manhunt will make it unlikely that media outlets will seriously delve into the substance of his charges.

Here is the full uncensored text of his posting: http://hiphopandpolitics.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/uncensored-manifesto-from-retired-lapd-officer-christopher-dorner/

Christopher Jordan Dorner is being pictured as the "mad man" of the hour, playing himself in the manhunt of the week, accused of three murders that he denies, or appears to deny as the author of a statement that's being labeled a manifesto adding political weight to what began as personal crusade for self-vindication.

He is a presented as an irrational and scary armed black man out for revenge. So far, he has eluded capture, out maneuvering a small army of stalkers and posses in blue.

He's also being pictured as a well-trained killing machine with every police force out to get him, perhaps Bin Laden style, before he gets a chance to speak to the public about his detailed grievances with the LAPD. He is clearly at war with his former colleagues, writing "Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name."

Does that Evil justify "murder?" in his view?" Unclear!

This now a juicy media story. He has sent documents to journalists. He has praised CNN and MSNBC. The FBI is reportedly studying a package sent to Anderson Cooper. He is playing to the press and they are featuring him, but not in the way he would like. 

As of Friday night, reports the NY Times, he has slipped away: "With the search for a former Los Angeles police officer wanted in three killings yielding no sign of him Friday morning in a snowy valley high in the San Bernardino Mountains, the authorities were wondering whether he had somehow managed to slip the dragnet."

(Great word, remember the police series, "Dragnet?")

The public has been terrified by the dramatic media coverage: "For the second day in a row," the Times tells us, " local schoolchildren were getting a day off school, keeping them and their yellow buses off the mountain roads in the midst of the search"

Cindy Johnston, who lives in San Dimas, was in the Big Bear Lake area for the weekend to ski with her family and said: "We're being a little bit more careful, but that's about it. We're keeping the kids closer together and not going out so much at night. I think he'd be stupid if he was here, and he doesn't seem stupid. There are too many people looking for him"."

Remember those words: "He doesn't seem stupid."

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News Dissector Danny Schechter is blogger in chief at Mediachannel.Org He is the author of PLUNDER: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books) available at Amazon.com. See Newsdisssector.org/store.htm.
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