On Screaming for Attention

On January 15, 2010, two officers from the Justice Department conducted a taped interview of me at my residence.  They were concerned that my quotation of  (and apparent identification with) the statement of a federal official who said "This case has been screaming for attention for years" suggested that I was potentially violent.

I would posit that the act of  "screaming" is more closely associated with victims of crime than with perpetrators of violence.  Why on earth would a federal law enforcement officer not appreciate the clear association between "screaming" and the status of being a victim?

A Google search of the phrase "screaming victim" yielded 20,100 hits.  A Google search of the phrase "screaming criminal" yielded 599 hits.  I would posit that a word association study would find that the word "screaming" is more closely identified in most people's minds with "victim" than with "criminal."

The Justice Department's concerns about me, namely, that I was disposed to commit an act of violence because I had used the phrase "screaming for attention," defy common sense.  Moreover, the conduct of the interview itself was riddled with peculiarities:

1. http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/04/what-was-objectively-peculiar-about.html

2. http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/03/paranoid-connections-case-of-lanny.html

Does it take a paranoid schizophrenic to suspect that the Justice Department's interview of me on January 15, 2010 did not have a basis in legitimate law enforcement concerns; rather, the interview was conducted for the sole purpose of intimidation?   It is my tentative belief that the Justice Department, whose top officials have close connections to two powerful DC law firms -- Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and Covington & Burling -- wanted me to stop posting reports about the actions of Akin Gump management and former Covington & Burling partner, Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., who, as DC Corporation Counsel, determined that I had been legitimately found to suffer from a severe mental disorder that might be associated with a risk of violence, and that it was widely feared at Akin Gump that I might have been armed and extremely dangerous in August 1989 (more than two years before I was eventually fired in late October 1991!). (Incidentally, tell me in all seriousness that my case is not one that screams for attention!)

I offer the following famous case of a victim screaming for attention to illustrate the clear association between "screaming for attention" and victimhood.

Kitty Genovese, was a New York City woman who was stabbed to death near her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York on March 13, 1964.

The circumstances of her murder and the lack of reaction of numerous neighbors were reported by a newspaper article published two weeks later; the common portrayal of neighbors being fully aware but completely nonresponsive has later been criticized as inaccurate. Nonetheless, it prompted investigation into the social psychological phenomenon that has become known as the bystander effect (seldom: "Genovese syndrome") and especially diffusion of responsibility.

Genovese had driven home from her job working as a bar manager late on the night of March 13, 1964. Arriving home at about 3:15 a.m. and parking about 100 feet (30 m) from her apartment's door, which was around the rear of the building, she was approached by Winston Moseley, a black male who worked as a business machine operator.  Moseley ran after her and quickly overtook her, stabbing her twice in the back. Genovese screamed, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!" Her cry was heard by several neighbors but, on a cold night with the windows closed, only a few of them recognized the sound as a cry for help. When Robert Mozer, one of the neighbors shouted at the attacker, "Let that girl alone!", Moseley ran away and Genovese slowly made her way toward the rear entrance of her apartment building. She was seriously injured, but now out of view of those few who may have had reason to believe she was in need of help.

Records of the earliest calls to police are unclear and were certainly not given a high priority by the police. One witness said his father called police after the initial attack and reported that a woman was "beat up, but got up and was staggering around."

Other witnesses observed Moseley enter his car and drive away only to return ten minutes later. In his car he changed his hat to a wide-rimmed one to shadow his face. He systematically searched the parking lot, train station, and small apartment complex. Eventually he found Genovese who was lying, barely conscious, in a hallway at the back of the building where a locked doorway had prevented her from entering the building.

Out of view of the street and of those who may have heard or seen any sign of the original attack, he proceeded to further attack her, stabbing her several more times. Knife wounds in her hands suggested that she attempted to defend herself from him. While she lay dying, he raped her. He stole about $49 from her and left her in the hallway. The attacks spanned approximately half an hour.

A few minutes after the final attack a witness, Karl Ross, called the police. Police arrived within minutes of Ross' call. Genovese was taken away by ambulance at 4:15 am and died en route to the hospital. Later investigation by police and prosecutors revealed that approximately a dozen (but almost certainly not the 38 cited in the Times article) individuals nearby had heard or observed portions of the attack, though none saw or were aware of the entire incident. Only one witness, Joseph Fink, was aware she was stabbed in the first attack, and only Karl Ross was aware of it in the second attack. Many were entirely unaware that an assault or homicide was in progress; some thought that what they saw or heard was a lovers' quarrel or a drunken brawl or a group of friends leaving the bar when Moseley first approached Genovese.

Well, if nothing else, this post is good for business.  Can anybody doubt that I'm severely disturbed and entitled to a quarter million dollars in federal benefits?