by Rob Seal
The Gamecock
U-Wire
On Wednesday night, Larry King had the ex-wife of the suspected Washington, D.C., sniper, John Allen Muhammad, on his show. He also featured the ex-wife's lawyer. And Muhammad's son and his nephew. And his ex-wife's fiancÇ. They supplied information about Muhammad.
King unearthed that the man's ex-wife had seen him only once in the past 10 years. He also discovered that the accused was a fitness nut and was an advocate of healthy eating. According to his ex-wife, Muhammad had an anger problem "at times." Their marriage, which ended 18 years ago, was turbulent, and there was a vicious custody battle over their son, who chose to have his face in shadows for the interview. According to his ex-wife, Muhammad was "always interested in something, he just didn't know what it was."
Neither Muhammad's ex-wife nor his son, whom he had seen only twice during the past 18 years, was surprised when he converted to Islam and changed his name.
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Muhammad's ex-wife's fiancÇ revealed that he had shared a relationship of mutual respect with Muhammad in the past, but was surprised to hear that he might have been the sniper.
At the beginning and end of each segment, a picture of Muhammad was shown. Several times during the course of the show, a trailer was shown for a Wolf Blitzer report on the role of the media in the sniper shootings.
At this point, I changed the channel. I felt there was something vaguely embarrassing about watching any more.
MSNBC chose not to report on Muhammad's extended family, but instead concentrated its journalistic efforts on the Winona Ryder shoplifting trial.
The channel had legal analysts looking at the situation and giving their opinions on whether she will be convicted. That trial is big news these days. It's not as if she was caught on camera or anything.
One channel up from MSNBC, there was an infomercial for Paaws, an anti-aging drug for pets. Two channels up from that, there was an infomercial for a calcium supplement that apparently cures cancer. A preventative treatment for hair loss was on a different channel. Realizing that, because of the late hour, the TV choices were limited to infomercials, "Wild On," or the news, I went back to CNN.
I landed back on the channel just in time to see King answering a telephone call from a viewer.
King: "Hello, what's your question?"
Caller: "Hello?"
King: "HELLO?"
Caller: "Are you there?"
King: "HELLO!?"
Caller: "Well, I was wondering . . . uh"
King: "GO AHEAD!"
Caller: "If he is convicted, but doesn't get the death penalty . . . well, if that means . . . well, what does that mean?"
King: "I don't understand your question."
King then asked the ex-wife whether she will visit Muhammad in prison if he receives a life term. She was not sure.
Webster's Dictionary's definition of the word gawk is "to gape, or stare stupidly."
The sniper is big news, and for a good reason. I just didn't see any value that came out of the reminiscences of a family that Muhammad hadn't seen in years.
