Oscar and Reeta

I'm sure you have all heard by now of Oscar Pitorious and his alleged murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. If you haven't, google it, it's an interesting story after all his accomplishments and the pride he brought to his country. He is currently waiting, after being released on bail, until the summer when he will face the charges. His defense is he heard noises and thought it was an intruder so he shot them. Simple enough. Now, I'm not writing this post to voice my opinion on this event, but rather on an article I read recently. It was published by a feminist website which I usually try to avoid because, although I believe men and women should be treated equally, sometimes it is taken way too far, and by trying to achieve equality we are promoting inequality, but alas another rant for another day.

This article struck me for several reasons. Firstly it mentioned that she was dead. It didn't matter that she was a model, had posed in bikini shots, or that her boyfriend was an Olympic athlete. It also mentioned that it was in no way her fault. Both of these points were definitely something that has come up in many articles. Reeva was being blamed (although not outright) in some writings because she spoke out against rape in South Africa... something which is a touchy topic in many African countries. The one thing that stood out though wasn't even something in the article, it is more or less a sob story criticizing other journalism groups for their poor reporting (which in all fairness could use some improvement), but in the comments. Someone commented that she is always being referred to as "Oscar's girlfriend." This is true. He is her link to fame. If it wasn't for Pitorious we more than likely wouldn't even hear of a shooting in South Africa.

This brings up an interesting topic, why are stars lives always profiled so much more than our own. Athletes, for the most part, don't ask for the attention. They play a sport they love, be it running, cycling, basketball, whatever, and they play it better than most. What sets them apart from us so much? I think we all need to remember they are normal humans, just like us. They face difficulties and some make bad decisions. We don't hear about every single gang shooting or drug bust that goes on, so why are their stories so much more important?

anyways, just some late night musings,

Until next time,
Britt