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Friday, May 8, 2009

Cyberculture's Role in Drew Peterson's Arrest

As I continue to delve into this subject, it continues to evolve. I have spoken of the scope of The Cyberculturalist many times and will continue to do so as I go on, but the arrest of Drew Peterson kind of straddles the entire culture - all of society and, particularly, pop-culture and the media, in general. But the key to understanding what comprises the Cyberculture is remembering that the Web is both a medium and a media - both the delivery (the Internet) and the content (the Web - generally HTML, Java, and so forth). The developments in the Drew Peterson case help illustrate this and illuminate what the Cyberculture is.

Shortly before the announcement of Peterson's arrest in connection with the murder of his third wife, Yahoo! had a story regarding Peterson, HBO, and the Moonlight Bunny Ranch. HBO has a documentary series centering on the legal Nevada brothel (Cathouse) and the pimp who runs it openly admits he has been in contact with alleged multiple murderer, Drew Peterson; apparently, he contacted Peterson and offered him a job in some capacity. Because, let's face it: hos should be scared of a pimp what kills bitches. Am I right? Whatever the reason, whatever the impetus, HBO said in no uncertain terms that Peterson would not be appearing on the show; a producer said Cathouse would be canceled before Drew Peterson appears on it.

The pimp who runs the bitches at Moonlight Bunny Ranch said he didn't care that Peterson could not appear on the show, he was still talking to him about a job. Peterson's lawyer said the former cop and alleged woman-killer was interested in whatever position was offered.

It was very shortly after this story appeared (AP) that Peterson was arrested in connection to the murder of his third wife, who was found dead in her bathtub. Originally, the death was ruled accidental, based almost solely on the testimony of fellow cops; it was only after the highly-publicized "disappearance" of his fourth wife that the body was exhumed and the cause of death changed to homicide.

Now, the Associated Press ran the story about the Moonlight Bunny Ranch, and AP is traditionally associated with print. However, we all know that print is dead. The fact is that the HBO-related story would not have run in the dailies, except maybe in large markets with late editions; it would not have appeared until tomorrow. This means the story hit online... and that's it.

Did the story prompt the police to pick Peterson up? Well, there's no real way to tell. I suppose I could try to contact someone involved with the case, but I'm quite certain they have their hands full with media right this minute and I'm not sure how well the question would be received (largely because I doubt they would grasp the purpose and might think I was just being cheeky). Maybe someone will reference it somewhere along the way and I'll be watching to see if they do.

Still, Drew Peterson is a heartless motherfucker. Whether or not he killed one or three or four wives, he has never shown the slightest bit of concern for their collective demise. In fact, Nightline just ran a clip of him telling a reporter he had no problems seeing the house in which his third wife died because "life goes on." I have a pretty good feeling this story was not well-received by anyone involved in any of the many cases of wife murders which mysteriously surround Drew Peterson; I have some idea that this story was the straw what broke the camel's back when it comes to just how snide and uncaring the people in charge of this case - as representatives of society, in general - were willing to let this piece of human offal be.

I mean come on: the guy's the number one suspect in the murder/disappearance of at least two of his wives and he's looking to go into pimping!? I'm pretty sure that was the point at which those involved in the whole thing said, "Enough."

© C Harris Lynn, 2009

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