More on Holmberg's insult of Behl's mother

There's an interesting discussion going on behind my post from a few days ago about a Mark Holmberg column, in which he -- in my opinion -- maligned Taylor Behl's mother. I was about to post a lengthy comment but I figured I might as well revisit the whole issue since it seems to have struck a nerve out there. One anonymous poster (gee whiz, I wish you people would use some kind of name just so I can keep you straight...) suggested that perhaps it is Janet Pelasara's fiery personality that comes across as harsh on TV, which the poster described as a "cool medium." Another anonymous poster countered that Pelasara has earned her right, in the most dreadful way, to be harsh on TV.

Here's the thing. All of those comments are interesting, well-reasoned and most of all, respectful of Mrs. Pelasara and what she has been through. My point continues to be that Holmberg stepped way over all those lines by using the language he chose. Remember, he accused Pelasara of continuing to "bask in the media spotlight like a contestant on some kind strange 'American Idol' for grieving family members." Am I the only one who finds that comment revolting? He owes Janet Pelasara an apology and I for one am astounded that there hasn't been a slew of letters to the editor of the T-D yet or comments in the Your Two Cents section. Readers tore Holmberg apart when he wrote that story about the kid who beat up the bully at the bus stop and then blamed our "feminized" society for the kid's punishment. Then, of course, Holmberg got to write another column about the reaction to that column.
Oh, I see now! Holmberg's probably just saving up the outraged comments so that he can write another column about that, and chastise the rest of us for buying into the corporate cable news philosophy that the murder of an attractive white girl "weighs more" than the murder of people who have lived their lives in the margins of society.

There is room for legitimate -- and respectful -- debate about how far the family members of murder victims should go in feeding the hungry cable news monster that survives on gore and grief. However, Holmberg's grenade at Pelasara was neither legitimate nor respectful.