Aiding and Abetting Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
There are days in which the media, and the people who seem to crave its attention, crack me up. I didn't watch the segment, but there was something on Good Morning, America about a teacher who left his family to shack up with an 18 year old former student. Here's a link to the story as it appeared on Yahoo:
http://gma.yahoo.com/california-high-school-teacher-student-romance-therapist-calls-083426952--abc-news.html
In case that link goes dead, here's an excerpt:
The former high school teacher who left his family to be with a former student is a "sex predator" and the couple are suffering from shared paranoia, thinking that the world is against them, a therapist who has spoken to the man said.
James Hooker, 41 and Jordan Powers, 18, met when she was a freshman and he was her business class teacher at James Enochs High School in Modesto, Calif. The couple, who went public with their relationship last week, say that it evolved over time and only became physical after she turned 18 in September.
Hooker's immaturity will prevent the couple from ever having a normal relationship, therapist Bethenny Marshall, who recently interviewed the couple with ABC News present, said.
"James is pathologically immature," Marshall later told ABC News. "And this is what we see with teachers who have inappropriate relationships with their students. They imagine themselves to be age mates or peers with the students.
Tammie Powers, Jordan Powers' mother, is unconvinced by Hooker's claims that nothing happened while the girl was underage, and has taken her outrage to Facebook. She also contends that she found phone records showing long, late-night phone calls and more than 8,000 text messages between the couple, which began before her daughter turned 18.
"He shouldn't be with kids. I'd like to see him arrested. I'd like to get information from when she was a minor and have him arrested," Tammie Powers said.
Marshall does agree that the romance between the two will most likely last for some time, as relationships built on the sort of us-versus-the world sense of paranoia that she believes the couple have tend to become very fixed and rigid. Marshall says that this will be the case until Powers begins to see the reality of what's happening.
"They're both dropouts at this point. She's a dropout from school and he's a dropout from society. We used to have a diagnosis … called shared paranoia," Marshall said. "And that's when one person makes another person believe that the world is against them. When you make another person believe that the world is against both of you, you create a very powerful bond. This is what we see in cults. And this is what he's created with her."
Raise your hand if you see the problem here.
Good Morning, America sensationalizes the case with the therapist calling the teacher a sexual predator. That's sure to put America on his side, right? And they reveal that the girl's mother is opposed to the relationship and wants the teacher arrested. Is it really paranoia when everyone actually IS out to get you? Or is that having a grasp on reality? If he was paranoid that it was the world against them before, it surely will be the correct view now. I'm guessing that won't exactly serve to undermine his worldview, if he really has a problematic worldview. Makes me wonder how Bethenny Marshall would fight a house fire - with gasoline?
What was Good Morning, America setting out to accomplish by covering this story? Certainly, they're trying to make money by having the highest ratings and using that to charge more for their advertising slots. Anything else? Doubtfully. There's no real public interest at stake in this case, just an imbroglio about a man ditching his family and boning a former student who now happens to be 18. It's merely a sensation that a news program is exploiting and, with the help of a therapist standing up and saying "Look at and validate me, give me attention," probably making worse.
Good job, media.
http://gma.yahoo.com/california-high-school-teacher-student-romance-therapist-calls-083426952--abc-news.html
In case that link goes dead, here's an excerpt:
The former high school teacher who left his family to be with a former student is a "sex predator" and the couple are suffering from shared paranoia, thinking that the world is against them, a therapist who has spoken to the man said.
James Hooker, 41 and Jordan Powers, 18, met when she was a freshman and he was her business class teacher at James Enochs High School in Modesto, Calif. The couple, who went public with their relationship last week, say that it evolved over time and only became physical after she turned 18 in September.
Hooker's immaturity will prevent the couple from ever having a normal relationship, therapist Bethenny Marshall, who recently interviewed the couple with ABC News present, said.
"James is pathologically immature," Marshall later told ABC News. "And this is what we see with teachers who have inappropriate relationships with their students. They imagine themselves to be age mates or peers with the students.
Tammie Powers, Jordan Powers' mother, is unconvinced by Hooker's claims that nothing happened while the girl was underage, and has taken her outrage to Facebook. She also contends that she found phone records showing long, late-night phone calls and more than 8,000 text messages between the couple, which began before her daughter turned 18.
"He shouldn't be with kids. I'd like to see him arrested. I'd like to get information from when she was a minor and have him arrested," Tammie Powers said.
Marshall does agree that the romance between the two will most likely last for some time, as relationships built on the sort of us-versus-the world sense of paranoia that she believes the couple have tend to become very fixed and rigid. Marshall says that this will be the case until Powers begins to see the reality of what's happening.
"They're both dropouts at this point. She's a dropout from school and he's a dropout from society. We used to have a diagnosis … called shared paranoia," Marshall said. "And that's when one person makes another person believe that the world is against them. When you make another person believe that the world is against both of you, you create a very powerful bond. This is what we see in cults. And this is what he's created with her."
Raise your hand if you see the problem here.
Good Morning, America sensationalizes the case with the therapist calling the teacher a sexual predator. That's sure to put America on his side, right? And they reveal that the girl's mother is opposed to the relationship and wants the teacher arrested. Is it really paranoia when everyone actually IS out to get you? Or is that having a grasp on reality? If he was paranoid that it was the world against them before, it surely will be the correct view now. I'm guessing that won't exactly serve to undermine his worldview, if he really has a problematic worldview. Makes me wonder how Bethenny Marshall would fight a house fire - with gasoline?
What was Good Morning, America setting out to accomplish by covering this story? Certainly, they're trying to make money by having the highest ratings and using that to charge more for their advertising slots. Anything else? Doubtfully. There's no real public interest at stake in this case, just an imbroglio about a man ditching his family and boning a former student who now happens to be 18. It's merely a sensation that a news program is exploiting and, with the help of a therapist standing up and saying "Look at and validate me, give me attention," probably making worse.
Good job, media.