16-Year-Old Kills His Molester

The title really says it all. Back in January, a kid named Daniel "snapped" and stabbed his molester 55 times. Daniel got out of jail (where he's waiting until some sort of other outpatient-ish facility opens up, since he's only serving five years probation for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault) in order to do this interview with Oprah.

The molester was a "bachelor" who wormed his way into the family's life, and spent a year working on getting Daniel to trust him. Then he spent two years molesting the poor kid, paying him off with money and access to cool cars. It's, unfortunately, a classic story. And even though Daniel's parents were wary, and went with Daniel to the molester's house every time he was invited over for the first year, the molester still managed to get what he wanted. Scary.

One thing really bothered me in this episode, though I'm sure most people missed it. At some point, Daniel's father, Terry, said that his son's shame is awful "from a male's point of view." I'm not even sure I can totally explain why this rubbed me the wrong away, except it seemed to imply that a boy being raped by a man is somehow a greater shame than, say, if Daniel's female teacher had forced him to have sex. Or if Terry had a daughter who was raped by a dude. Either way, it's rape, Terry. The "shame" is not greater just because your non-gay son was raped by a man.

The second half of the episode was devoted to a woman named Ellie Nesler, who shot her son's accused molester in open court. Essentially, this woman destroyed her family's life with this action, since she was (obviously) arrested and sent to prison. Her children were separated, and though she got out of prison in 1999, she went back in three years later for selling meth. Her son, Willie, went off down a bad path that eventually led to him being sentenced to 28 years to life for "stomping a man to death." Ellie died of breast cancer in 2006, so now her daughter is motherless and brotherless. So, good mom.

Recap over. It's nearly midnight, and I've promised myself that I will get all these posts up by midnight every night, except for Fridays. Not much to say about child molestation. Tomorrow, though, it's Susan Boyle and some little girl who sings like an angel or some shit. And Wednesday, Tyler Perry.

I. HATE. Tyler. Perry.

So, between Susan Boyle, a child phenom, and a man who singlehandedly makes the worst movies in the world, I'm just gearing up for an awesome week of Oprah.