In the battle between the truth and the narrative, the latter is often the "winner."

 

Sometimes I wonder why it often seems that I am the only person who sees things in a certain way. Am I a cynic? Sure. Crazy? Maybe. Existential? Whatever that means. Macabre? Yeah that too. I remember when I was in college I went to the audio/visual department at the library and viewed Sidney Lumet's The Pawnbroker, starring Rod Steiger; afterward I left the library in a state of complete numbness. Perhaps I am like the dead-to-the-world character played by Steiger, whose very indifference to the human race inadvertently is the cause of something that forces him  back to the living. 

On the other hand, most people are "fortunate" to have choices about  the “narratives” they choose to follow; I suppose for a few of them the truth behind the facts of a case are important—but in most cases, the “narrative” is much more important than the underlying truth, which they can invent anyways as it suits their purposes.

Take for instance the Trayvon Martin case, where the "narrative" was that he was an "innocent child" just out to buy some Skittles and was "racially profiled" for wearing a hoodie. That "narrative" is utterly ridiculous and self-serving and yet it is the one that is put out there as what we are supposed to believe. The truth, being suspended from school for breaking, entering and vandalism, suspended again for theft, and again for drug possession just for starters, is merely a footnote in the "narrative."

The theft case was particularly interesting because as the Miami Herald reported, he was found wandering the halls with jewelry he claimed someone gave him; it was stored at the school as “found items.” That same day a nearby resident reported to police that their home was broken into and those very items “found” on Martin were missing. Martin should have been arrested for any one of those incidents and served some jail time; but he wasn’t—he was let go for what must have been for him a “vacation” from school and gave him “gangsta cred.”

But he didn’t go to jail or even to a juvenile detention center, and the truth is simply buried beneath the “narrative.” No doubt his mother was out of her mind about what to do about him, so she contacted his father to take him off her hands. Maybe they argued about it, and maybe the father told her about Sanford and the neighborhood he lived in, that as Reuters reported at the time was wracked by crime committed by “young black male transients”—just like Martin, and he would just get into trouble there, maybe this time arrested and charged.

Just two weeks prior to his surprise arrival—when he was “scoping out” darkened residences before being spotted by the “neighborhood watch captain,” George Zimmerman—a residence had been broken into and a laptop stolen, which was later found in the backpack of one of these non-resident black males by police. Reuters also noted that just a few months earlier a Hispanic mother was cowering in a closet trying to keep her infant son quiet as she whispered into a cell phone with 9-1-1 as two black males were ransacking her apartment. 

This was the backdrop for what would happen on that “fateful night”—except that the truth was not important, not even that at least one witness saw Martin trying to crack Zimmerman's skull open on the pavement. Only the “narrative” that the media and black activists were trying to push was what we were supposed to know; no doubt Zimmerman's acquittal came as "surprise" to some people.

The truth about the Gabby Petito case, which Andy Signore at Popcorned Planet seems to be fascinated by, also seems to be lost in its “narrative.” I recall that when Petito initially went missing there was mention of her mental health issues, but that quickly evaporated when her body was found. That “famous” Moab, Utah police video gave us some clues which were largely ignored or deliberately misinterpreted. The media showed images or brief clips of Petito crying in a van, but note we never hear the audio. Why? Because she sounds like a pathetic child who just got caught doing something “bad,” which was true, because the erratic driving that led to the pullover was due to Petito grabbing and scratching Brian Laundrie’s arm.

The other part about the video the media doesn’t want people to hear is Laundrie’s description of Petito’s behavior during this road trip they were on. It sounds very much like obsessive compulsive personality disorder. Why do I say that? Because that was what Julia Biryukova was diagnosed with. Who is she, you ask? She is the mother of Sky Metalwala, who “disappeared” under “mysterious” circumstances in 2011 and has never been found. The general belief around here is that Biryukova killed and buried him somewhere, yet she walks free. Frankly, the cynic in me finds it curious that while the media is fascinated with the disappearances of attractive white females of any age, Sky, who was 2-years-old at the time and whose father is Pakistani, isn’t the “type” that would interest the mainstream media.

Biryukova was hospitalized on at least two occasions for her mental health issues, not just about OCD, but about fantasizing killing her children. Despite this, the local child protective services saw fit to allow her principle custody of the two children she had with Solomon Metalwala after they split; it was only after Sky’s disappearance and police determining that Biryukova had been lying about the circumstances that their surviving daughter was removed from her custody to her father.

But what does this have to do with the Petito case, you ask?  Of course you are going to get the usual stories about why they “split,” but Metalwala told authorities that Biryukova’s OCD was often manifested as a “clean freak”; for example, he often felt compelled to go outside to eat his meals because she was berating him incessantly about how he was eating and the “mess” he was making. Neighbors in their condo also would complain that they heard a vacuum cleaner running at all hours of the night, interrupting their sleep.

And what do we hear in that Moab video? We hear Laundrie talking about how Petito was constantly berating him for seemingly innocuous “infractions” as putting things in the “wrong place,” or that his feet were “dirty.” But according to the “narrative,” Laundrie "lost it" for no reason at all; maybe he was just some closet psychopath. But what did he have to “gain” from killing her? Perhaps nothing in his mind save his life back, the fallacy of which he lost sight of in a fit of vexation turned violent.

Now let’s think about that for a moment or two. A two-year-old’s “messy” habits would probably drive someone with OCD “crazy,” and without the father around to keep an eye on things, someone like Biryukova might actually act out her “fantasies.” The father, of course, could “escape” from the behavior that was driving him “crazy”—leaving the house, or eventually simply just leaving the marriage, which of course Biryukova put the blame on him. But Brian Laundrie was a grown man, not a two-year-old, and unlike Solomon Metalwala, he was trapped in a van with a woman who was literally driving him “crazy.”

I know, the truth is hard when the “narrative” is easy. And the truth is that Petito and Laundrie should never have gone on that road trip to hell that would end in death for both of them; Laundrie himself likely had mental health issues that made it difficult for him to cope. Someone—probably Petito’s parents in denial—knew her problems and should have advised against taking a cross-country trip where there would be no escape from each other. Petito’s parents had in fact voiced the “hope” that Laundrie would “take care of her.” Why? Was there some hidden meaning in that? That like Trayvon Martin’s mother, they couldn’t deal with her problems anymore, and hoped someone would take her off their hands?

Damn this hype over the letter that is currently going the rounds. Why is it a "surprise" that Laundrie's mind would be fried over disbelief over what had happened to his life, that he could not have imagined before that road trip? Doesn’t anyone stop to think what a horrible tragedy this is for the Laundrie family too? I’m sure they are thinking they wish to God that their son had never met someone with as unstable a personality as Petito.