Unintentional Exploitation?

Like anyone who hasn't been comatose in the past week, I've watched as the story of two Missouri boys who were abducted from rural areas near their homes unfolded. It's hard not to view the retold rescue without pausing, waiting to hear confirmation of the expected repulsive details of their captivity. I'm particularly glued because I come from the Midwest.

There's a certain discomfort, though, to watching the depraved recesses of the human mind -- thoughts stored far away in the remote parts of our country's landscape. Whether the details of capture or abuse or rape are being broadcast to us in our armchairs or at our computer desks, there's an unintentional salaciousness in holding an all-access pass to the crimes. It seems inherently unsettling -- wrong, even -- to view the most desperate, desolate times of two very specific children's lives, but we watch again and again. We are, after all, a country that has made "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" a hit.

I think this op-ed piece in today's Times really hit the nail on the head. My prayers are with these boys.