by Kerry Dougherty
Is it too much to ask the news media to put accuracy ahead of their political agendas?
We asked this in March when activists were more obsessed with pronouns than the fact that the trans Nashville school shooter, who killed three little kids and three adults, was occasionally referred to as a female. That’s what she was, by the way.
Now this from the local newspaper:
This is not true. The accused is a biological man. The slain man’s son.
Are we really going to engage in deceptive wordplay when a person is accused of one of the most heinous crimes known to man: killing one’s own father? Is that the time to worry about hurting the feelings of an accused murderer? Or to engage in language games?
The rest of the media can mislead the public with wordplay. I won’t.
Not when an unthinkable tragedy took place in the waterfront Birdneck Point neighborhood of Virginia Beach. On Saturday morning a beloved local dentist, Abbey Horwitz, 68, was stabbed to death. Police say the killer was his son, Michael Horwitz, 36. The younger Horwitz has been charged with second-degree murder and stabbing in the commission of a felony.
Michael Aaron Horwitz mugshot. Courtesy of the Virginia Beach Sherriff’s Department
Dr. Horwitz was an active member of Tidewater’s Jewish community and those who knew him say he was a generous, caring man. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Dr. Horwitz “volunteered dental services in Israel, Romania, the former Soviet Union and Nicaragua.”
I was in Colorado when a friend who knew Dr. Horwitz alerted me to the slaying.
Abbey was such a nice guy. Would give a stranger the shirt off his back, he texted.
Michael Horwitz is apparently transitioning and uses the name “Norah.”
While TV reporters attempted to work around pronouns — in headlines at least — the local newspaper fully embraced the trans identity.
Any wonder newspapers are circling the drain?
In a sign that common sense and clear communication still exist in the sheriff’s office, if not in the local media, the accused killer — listed on the inmate locater as Michael Aaron Horwitz — is being housed with the other male inmates.
STATEMENT FROM VIRGINIA BEACH SHERIFF’S OFFICE:
The security of the facility and the safety and welfare of the inmate are our primary considerations when determining where they [inmates] should be housed. We use an objective screening instrument to determine housing, which evaluates numerous criteria, including the person’s physical build, whether they have been a victim of sexual abuse, their own perception of their vulnerability, and whether they are or appear to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex or gender nonconforming. Inmate Horwitz is in male suicide watch direct observation with other inmates.
The inmate was due in court for a bail hearing Tuesday but it appears defense council withdrew the motion. The reason for not seeking bail at this time is unclear. A public defender was initially appointed to represent the accused killer.
Patricide is a rare crime. If Michael Horwitz is convicted of killing Abbey Horwitz, we will no doubt learn that there were complicated family dynamics at work that led to this tragedy.
In fact, the FBI calls “parricide” or the killing of either parent, the “rarest” of all murders, accounting for just 2% of all slayings.
In 2017, there were a total of 15,129 murder victims in the United States. Among those victims, 169 were mothers and 186 were fathers who were killed by their children…. Parricide is also predominately committed by adult, middle-class, white males without any history of prior criminal acts. Parricides committed by females are very rare.
Time for the media to get back to reporting the news. All the news.
Accurately or not at all.
Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited.
