The Day that Disappeared Went Missing

I remember the day very well. Before then, people disappeared or vanished. If they disappeared of their own free will, perhaps they ran away. If it happened by accident, perhaps they were lost. No one disappears anymore. In fact, from May 1, 2001 until today, not one thing has disappeared... anywhere.

Now things "go missing" or are "gone missing".

What happened on May 1, 2001? That was the day that the U.S. news began reporting that Chandra Levy disappeared on the day before: April 30, 2005.

I blame CNN. CNN management and its anti-American American-made-billionaire founder, Ted Turner, are constantly trying to purge their guilt for being Americans by trying to internationalize even their American talking heads.

So instead of saying Levy disappeared, CNN's very American news personalities used the opportunity to show the world how how international they were and reported the disappearance with the British term: gone missing. Of course, the rest of the U.S. press, following blindly rather than actually researching news for themselves, repeated the phrase until you never hear the word disappeared except perhaps in a magic show.

I don't dislike the British or their ways but I have been accused of being narrow minded for my views on this subject. I think that celebrating the differences in culture, race, and religion is the epitomy of tolerance. Before the murder and disappearance of Chandra Levy, we used to celebrate the differences in our cultures rather than trying to blend those differences out. To try to blend those differences away, or to pretend they don't exist - to look at a black man and pretend only to see a man, for instance - is the ultimate in narrow-mindedness.

I am a citizen of The United States of America and am not ashamed to be one and I do not feel like I have to pretend to be something else in order to live with the guilt and shame of living in what was once the most powerful, most highly skilled, and richest nation in the world.

Hopefully, soon (but probably not) I can write a blog article titled "The Day that Went Missing Disappeared."