My New Column on Lisa Nowak in the Philadelphia Daily News
March 1st, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & FamiliesMy new co-authored column Scott Peterson in a space suit (Philadelphia Daily News, 2/26/07) discusses the media's reaction to the Lisa Nowak case.
Scott Peterson in a Space Suit
Philadelphia Daily News, 2/26/07
By Jeffery M. Leving and Glenn Sacks
A successful married man with young children at home pursues a romantic liaison with a co-worker. When the co-worker doesn’t sufficiently reciprocate his affections, he stalks her boyfriend for two months, and devises a plan to kill him. He collects weapons, disguises himself, packs up some garbage bags to dispose of the body, and drives 900 miles to attack his rival. He launches the assault but the boyfriend manages to escape and notify the police, and the man is arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Would CBS commentator Harry Smith express sympathy for this “poor" fellow for “falling in love” and then “crash-landing”? Would Fox News commentator Steve Doocy opine that "love makes you do weird things," and claim that prosecutors were being too hard on him?
Would MSNBC describe him as a stressed out “super dad” who “snapped”, ignoring that the two months of stalking and preparation sure were a long, slow “snap”? Would MSNBC have a psychologist sympathetically explain that the would-be murderer acted because he was “experiencing the fear of abandonment” that was “so terrifying” that he had to “secure the love object and eliminate the threat"? Would a reporter for a major newspaper describe the murder attempt as the man’s effort to “share with someone else a bit of the pain swelling inside”?
Lisa Nowak is receiving widespread sympathy, in part because she is legitimately admired for being an astronaut. But a large share accrues because she’s a woman, and our society—both men and women—views women’s misdeeds more sympathetically than men’s.
The media is soft-pedaling numerous aspects of the Nowak case. Practically every media outlet has explained Nowak's decision to wear astronaut diapers on her journey to allegedly attack romantic rival Colleen Shipman as a bizarre, freakish action indicative of her mental instability. In reality, Nowak acted with logic and calculation—she did not want to stop several times on the way from Houston to Orlando and leave a trail of convenience store camera records behind her. For the same reason, when Nowak arrived in Orlando she disguised herself, checked into a hotel under a fake name and address, and paid cash.
Similarly, numerous commentators have described Nowak’s equipment--a 4-inch folding knife, a steel mallet, several garbage bags, rubber tubing, a BB gun, and pepper spray--as “wacky” or “bizarre.” They are nothing of the sort. Orlando police believe Nowak intended to kill Shipman, and she probably planned to utilize the garbage bags to dispose of her, perhaps in Galveston Bay. As Orlando police Sgt. Barbara Jones explained, it was a “fairly elaborate plan.”
In widely-reported comments, Dr. Jon Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon, said that Nowak may have come unhinged due to the burdens of being a female astronaut. According to Clark:
"They made more sacrifices than the ‘right stuff' guys. They have to balance two careers, be a mom, wife and an astronaut. You don't come home at night, like most of the male astronauts, and have everything ready for you.”
Space travel is and always will be hazardous, but the astronauts of the dawn of the space age depicted in The Right Stuff faced far more danger and uncertainty than today’s astronauts do. The assertion that astronauts today--even women astronauts with families--deal with greater stress is dubious.
One major newspaper sadly lamented Nowak’s “meltdown”, a term usually used to describe a performer’s onstage temper tantrum, not an apparent murder attempt. One commentator labeled Nowak an “unfortunate” individual who “has been the subject of relentless news coverage…[and] hounded and beleaguered by the press,” an unusually sympathetic description of the media attention people bring upon themselves when they try to kill someone.
Nowak’s neighbors have lent her their support, and both her former Naval Academy classmates and a Florida restaurateur are raising money for her legal defense. And, of course, a movie about Nowak’s life is in the works.
Nowak was let out on a light $25,500 bail and, except for those grumpy Orlando prosecutors, most are trivializing what she did. In 2002, Scott Peterson killed Laci Peterson and disposed of her body in San Francisco Bay. Except for the fact that Nowak botched the job, is her alleged crime much different?
This article first appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News (2/26/07).
Jeffery M. Leving is one of America's most prominent family law attorneys. His website is www.dadsrights.com.
Glenn Sacks’ columns have appeared in dozens of the largest newspapers in the United States. His website is www.GlennSacks.com.
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March 1st, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Excellent. I'm so glad you addressed this. Thank you.
March 1st, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Space travel is and always will be hazardous, but the astronauts of the dawn of the space age depicted in The Right Stuff faced far more danger and uncertainty than today’s astronauts do. The assertion that astronauts today–even women astronauts with families–deal with greater stress is dubious.
I'm not sure if that is really true. I mean dead is dead, and actually the earlier systems were probably far simpler and it was much easier to understand. And they almost certainly had far fewer fatality modes.
Also missions then were planned and executed over the course of months to a year, not multi-year things. So now there is also the day to day NASA office politics stress where any conceivable minor screw up (say like driving 900 miles to murder someone) will be used against you by people with an agenda.
And though the shuttle certainly has had many many more flights, we've also killed far more people in it than were killed in pre-shuttle NASA.
March 1st, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Another female apologist.
Women can do no wrong...
They have open slather now, where is the justice when they continually allow women to do whatever they like, murder, chidl abuse, theft, etc, each and every time they are either let off on some excuse or given some feather slap for being naughty,
It's hypocritical, it's unacceptable, it's sexist and it's going to stop.
March 2nd, 2007 at 9:45 am
I seem to remember a story about a mother who drowned 5 children, didn't get the maximum penalty, and received support from national organizations. If there are people willing to defend Andrea Yates actions, it's not too surprising that Lisa Nowak is seen as a victim of her gender as well. Sad world. I really can't see how so many feminists are blind to how defending criminals weakens their position considerably.
March 2nd, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Well Andrea Yates was certified completely insane, but don't let that stop you from women bashing every chance you get. She had a history of psychosis and her husband knew it, but didn't care that taking her off meds would increase her psychotic behavior. He wanted her to have baby after baby, and didn't care how her hormones were messed up as a result. Oh, and he also wouldn't let her go to the doctor and be put back on meds -male privilege, you know.
This astronut, however, has no excuse. She deserves everything she gets.
March 3rd, 2007 at 6:01 am
Hey Johanna;
I don't think Glenn is trying to bash women at every opportunity. It's just that he wants to point out the inequities of how our society in general, and our justice system in particular, hold men to a higher standard of conduct. Or maybe that women are held to a lower standard. As far as the Andrea Yates case, you and I both know had it been the father who murdered their five children there would have been no sympathy for him from the public or the media. There would be no wondering about his "emotional state" or hormone imbalance or whether he had taken his medication. No, people would have been ready to strap him into the chair. We as a society have yet to come to terms to the fact that women too can be cold, calculating criminals. A saying I saw years ago summed it up nicely, "Men are demonized, women are diagnosed".
July 9th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
[...] treatment she's received from the media and prosecutors--click here or see my co-authored column Scott Peterson in a space suit (Philadelphia Daily News, [...]
July 9th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
"Scott Peterson in a space suit"? Not unless you are certain she is not guilty - because he certainly was not guilty. I note that to this day no one can point to any valid evidence that Peterson had anything to do with the abduction and death of his wife - even the jurors cannot explain on what basis they voted for guilt. Given the preposterous hypothesis the prosecution offered, Peterson's case is just another trial by hysteria.
http://another9912.googlepages.com/home
August 25th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
[...] treatment she's received from the media and prosecutors--click here or see my co-authored column Scott Peterson in a space suit (Philadelphia Daily News, 2/26/07). Lisa's weapons are pictured [...]