The Case of Sean: Ethnocentrism or Inferiority Complex?

I apologize to readers who posted comments about the case of Sean and marketing; by a glitch in the system, the comments were not published and appeared as if they were removed. I have just finished posting all of them with great satisfaction, most of all, for the plurality in analyses. I continue to have a firm conviction that David Goldman has the right to raise his biological child, as much as to recognize that the boy’s mother, even after kidnapping him, did not have her rights revoked, even post-mortem. Because of this, it is important that the final decision establishes both of these facts clearly. Sean came to Brazil against his father’s will but was undeniably happy with his mother’s family. If he will be happy with his father is an enigma that David’s campaign, organized with the help of the U.S. media, cleverly did not broach.

I reaffirm my criticism of the colonialist manner, or imperialist, to use an overused term more adequately, in which the U.S. media normally treats episodes of this nature. I cited the case of two American pilots responsible for the crash of a commercial airline, a Gol Boeing. I remembered the campaign put together by the T.V. networks in Atlantic City, where both resided, about the “rescue” of the national “heroes” who were being held captive in a strange, savage country in South America. Those who read the disrespectful, ironic article from the New York Times reporter, who accompanied them on board and lied under oath in Brazil, know just what I am talking about.

Joe Lepore and Jean Paul Paladino were not imprisoned in Rio, as journalists and television reporters deliberately suggested for 45 days, but were confined in the best hotel in Copacabana beach, a choice made by the embassy out of “fear for their safety.” This is the behavior that throws fuel on the fire. No one was going to attack those two pilots on the street for considering them to be suspects in the deaths of 199 innocent people. This is not a country of savages. They would have been treated as the protagonists of one of the most heartbreaking and lamentable air disasters in Brazil’s history. They should have been under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian justice system while the criminal investigation — now shelved — was under way. They were not, are not and never will be heroes. They were given a privilege due to the pressure felt by the lenient Brazilian chancellery; privilege which allowed the two suspects, who were directly involved in the deaths of nearly 200 people, to escape a just indictment of manslaughter. This was never cited even once on U.S. television. In this case, just as in Sean’s case, local justice was of the least interest.

It is worth noting that David Goldman’s case, with exception to its background, is similar. No one involves the State Department in an international controversy without convincing diplomats that a U.S. citizen is in a hostage situation or is in grave danger. Since the justice system of each country is sovereign, it has to be worth risking even the possibility of denting an otherwise stable relationship with other governments in the name of an inopportune and inconvenient intervention. It is an issue of accumulative problems; Brazil and the U.S. have more serious and delicate contentions to be discussed at the State Department level than the custody battle for a child. But Hillary Clinton also saw some national political gains in getting involved, so out went the fact that there was no room for such an intrusion.

In fact, Sean is also a Brazilian citizen. But this makes no difference to those in David’s camp or the news organizations. What was important in this case was the good ole’ ethnocentrism that transforms every American outside of its borders into heroes, regardless of what is taking place around him or the rights of the other side. David Goldman set up a Web site that asks for help in getting back his son. He closed a deal with NBC in return for a private plane and an exclusive interview. Now he is suing his son’s maternal family in order to reimburse the money that was spent on the case. He continues to hit on the same note that the boy was “saved” from a lower destiny than the one merited to all born on American soil.

As a businessman, he follows the spirit of the “founding fathers.” He’ll end up rich.