General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUS Tourists! Boycott Italy Until They Leave Amanda Knox the F**k Alone
American tourists! Hit Italy where it hurts---it's tourism pocketbook. Americans should just "say no" to trips to Venice, Rome and Florence until the Italian Supreme Court backs off Amanda Knox. The case is simple. A British woman invited a guy to her apartment. The guy killed her and fled. Italian police decided to pick a convenient scapegoat, an African man. They hauled in the dead woman's roommate, badgered her for 12 hours until she finally signed a statement which she could not read, accusing the African of doing the killing. Only problem was, the African had an alibi. And the real killer was caught and he confessed. Leaving one very mad African and an Italian police force with racist egg on its face. No problem. They would claim that Amanda was the one who insisted on blaming the African. But they had to come up with a reason why she would finger the wrong man. Again, no problem. They offered the killer a plea deal if he would implicate the roommate and her boyfriend in the killing. Easy way for the Italian police to escape a charge of racism. The hard part was trying to pin the murder on the roommate with no evidence except the testimony of the killer (who got a reduced sentence for fingering Amanda). So, the prosecutor in the case decided to use the old "Satan made her do it" to explain why she would kill her roommate for no apparent reason. The dead girl's parents in England fueled the flames by insisting that their daughter (an adult) would never, ever ask a man to her room. And the British press seized Amanda's nickname "Foxy" which means "cute" in the US but "bad" in England. The Italian courts threw out the original conviction. Now, in an about face, they have upheld it again. No word about any new evidence. Seems extremely political to me, as in the prosecutor is scared that Amanda will tell all in a book/movie that will make him look like the Spanish Inquisition on LSD. So, anyway, I am not going anywhere near Italy, until they show some common sense and prove to me that will not throw me or my family members to the wolves in order to cover up their own racism and incompetence. And remember, this could happen to any American citizen in that country---unless the people who depend upon tourism dollars make themselves heard.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)Nice to see one of you Knox fanatics remembering there is a real victim in this case.
Love the cavalier fucking way you call her "the dead girl."
kcr
(15,317 posts)It doesn't matter if they're guilty. Focusing on such a silly little detail is so shameful.
RC
(25,592 posts)"Knox fanatics"??? So you bet on 'guilty'? If this were so cut and dried, why is it being dragged out so far? Why are they trying to hard to pin it on this woman? It should be much easier than this, if indeed she were guilty.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)cpwm17
(3,829 posts)or perhaps not. I didn't read the paragraph-free word-bomb, so I don't know your reasoning.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Just do it. Do it anyway regardless of Miss Muldoon. Maybe bundle some other countires in with Italy - might be appreciated.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Especially when Rudy Guede has already been convicted of the crime.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)I also think Knox is innocent and the Italian court is wrong in what they are doing. And I don't think everybody in Italy disagrees with that opinion.
Our own SCOTUS has made some pretty terrible decisions that affect many more people than just one (Bush v. Gore for instance) and made a travesty of justice and had serious world outcomes as a result. But I wouldn't have called for a boycott of all tourism in the U.S. because of it. For one thing, it hurts a lot of innocent people who depend on tourist dollars for their livelihood.
The people of the Tuscan region where I am going have very little fame and tourist interest but they do have many of Piero's magnificent works of art in situ in places such as San Sepulcro and Monterchi and the rather minor city of Arezzo (in terms of tourist attractions). We are staying in a family run Inn in Anghiari and will be able to meet its mayor who is coming to greet our small group. I'm sure our innkeeper and the local restaurants will love to see us Americans coming to appreciate their gift to world art.