Every Crowd Has A Silver Lining
The Richard Jewel Sutra
Geoffrey Gatza Automation Corp.
PRELUDE
This is the October 25, 1996 letter. The Department of Justice informed Richard Jewell, through his attorney, that Jewell is not a target of the ongoing investigation of the bombing at Olympic Centennial Olympic Park. This is that letter
_________________________________________________________________
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Northern District of GeorgiaOctober 25, 1996
Jack Martin, Esq.
Suite 500 Grant Building
44 Broad Street NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-2327Dear Jack:
This is to advise you that based on the evidence developed to date,
your client, Richard Jewell, is not considered a target of the federal criminal investigation into the bombing on July 27, 1996, at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. I am hopeful that Mr. Jewell will provide further cooperation as a witness in the investigation.Sincerely,
Kent B. Alexander
United States Attorney
Introduction
Even a cursory glance shows that media experiences have become an integral part of life
the medium is the message,
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitarythe weave of everyday life
the media embrace.
In both the public and the private sphere, we consume and are consumed by images media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitarycarrying insistent and powerful message.
There's no doubt that our media encounters are an inescapable part of everyday family life. TVs flicker in kitchens and bedrooms ignite mindsmedia is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitaryThe Richard Jewel Sutra
Geoffrey Gatza Automation Corp.
Richard Jewell's Statement
Cold Monday in Atlanta:
at his news conference Richard Jewell made this statement
I remember a time when I knew what happiness was
And so it is as it should be
beginning with action and ending in fear
an evensong of night a tale told in pale yellow
beyond words narrators spin visuals blinding
twisting in turn, back to primal being drawing image in place of wordThank you for coming here today. This is the first time I have ever asked you to stop and look on me. Turn the cameras on me and look.
You know my name, you have seen my face, you know my name, and you know my failures but that is all you know all you hold is a name. A name to drape over your fears. You do not really know who I am, but you know your fear. You know my name is Richard Jewell.
finally I have a fully formed thought on what I am feeling
I cannot bear to say it even though its right with me all the time.
it was an act of throwing you out.
I felt alone.
Alone with things that had no history,
no nothing.
I am forever grateful that you have taken a place in your life for me. You may sympathize and may even commiserate with my time in hellAs I told you on July 30th, and as the government has kindly admitted to you two days ago, I am not the Olympic Park bomber.
I am the man who lived every waking minute of those 88 days afraid. Fearful for my life that in your fear to solve the crime I would be arrested and charged with a a crime I did not commit. For 88 days your cameras focused in on me.
Some wept. As in the war itself, the language barrier was largely overcome by enthusiasm.
It was so moving then, and it is so moving now my eyes are welling with tears. "It really was a worldwide struggle." now I am
the great threat to Western democracies on the verge of victory.
ACTION COMIC #1
the womb of creation is comic book pulp
publishing fear in
episodic mothers whisper
He holds a green sedan over head
a muscular white man dressed in red gold blue captured in the moment
saving
a red cape fluttering
a man's arms raised
a woman aghast
in a pill box hat covers her screamsand the western world will never be served greater
then by our supermenbecause aggressive behavior is rewarded.
Young people perceive the violence, envy, misery, presented on the high rated program as related to them, to their innermost being, they recognize themselves in it and get to know themselvesan image of self resides in the heavens
possibilities are endless when the sky is not limitingWe are bound to only to the narrative we believe
stories of our gods, ages, dreams
relate back to human experiencebut it is still earth we are bound,
no narrative can be outside human realm
outside meaning
relatively speaking of course,
this planet or others
space shuttle be damnedThe hero's journey is super human
A former North Georgia sheriff's deputy, Jewell was hailed in initial media reports as a hero after the Olympic Park blast, which resulted in two deaths and 111 serious injuries.
But the accolades turned to suspicion - and non-stop scrutiny by the world's media - after FBI sources began telling the Atlanta media that Jewell fit the profile of a loner with law enforcement training capable of planting the explosives.
Jewell and his mother, Barbara, were held under siege in their Northeast Atlanta apartment as FBI agents confiscated Jewell's possessions and searched his home, storage shed and pickup truck for clues. All the while, TV crews kept a vigil outside the home.
``I felt like a hunted animal, followed constantly, waiting to be killed,'' Jewell said. ``After 88 days of hell, it's hard to believe it is finally over.''A hero is often considered to be someone born with outstanding ability,
courage, bravery
they are beings of who exceed there expectationsheroes do what we do not
at right moments
for right reasons
gratifying craved suspense
righting, aligning world axisby the super man who fulfills
the dreams of
the common good for the common good
and uses force to quell not kill
Now, I
was born a slateblinded at the moment of birth
at conception I was all understanding
no knowledge only lightand there are many
who seek comfort in stories to soothe, sully worrying fears
we call on a hero that resembles you
a god in guise of human
a hero who defines the age
On the evening of July 27th, 1996, at Centennial Olympic Park, I did not set out to be a hero. I set out that night simply to do my job and to do it right. I was then and remain now an individual committed to the principles of law enforcement and the protection of the public. I was trained to spot the unattended packages and to report such packages to the next person in the security chain of command.That is what I did on the 27th of July. All I did was my job.
I moved people away from the unattended package and I evacuated people from the sound tower. All I did was my job.
When the explosion occurred, I saw my fellow officers and friends flying through the air. I saw people lying on the ground hurt, badly hurt.
The media started calling me a hero. I did not consider myself a hero. The bomb technician who crawled on his belly and got next to the bomb was a hero. The officers who took the shrapnel by placing their bodies between the package and where the people were in the park were the heroes.
The paramedics and firemen who responded so quickly and treated the
injured were the heroes.And then, the FBI and the media decided to portray me as the bomber. It was like being broadsided. Anybody who knew me understood that I could never hurt another person. I love people. I love children. I am a public servant. I felt numb, sick, I was in shock and felt helpless.
Some heroes hammer their strength
their character
through iron
climbing narrative
building on sequence of experience
their bravery and courage expound
in spite of their fear
their, human failingsthey are crafted in the mind
illusions that span from behind a desk
blotted dry inks from a fine quilled brantAs the days passed, I kept waiting for the FBI to uncover the evidence that would point them in the right direction. But it did not happen, because they were looking in the wrong direction - they were still looking at me.
You the media were looking, too. Your cameras trained on my mother and me. Your cameras and the FBI followed my every move. I felt like a hunted animal, followed constantly, waiting to be killed.
The media said I fit the profile of a lone bomber. That was a lie.
The media said I was a former law enforcement officer, a frustrated police wannabe. That was a lie. I was then and am now a law enforcement officer.
The fact that I was between jobs and took a position as a security guard at the Olympics did not change that fact.
Argentinean researcher Tatiana Merlo-Flores has spent twenty years studying children's relation to television. She believes that TV has lifted the lid off repression, giving us a glimpse of the dark side of human nature. "Young people perceive the violence, envy, misery, presented on the high rated program as related to them, to their innermost being, they recognize themselves in it and get to know themselves from formerly forbidden angles." She also points out that children or adolescents with problems of loneliness, abandonment or frustration, will try to compensate for those situations by watching programs, such as cartoons, aimed mainly at children. Lacking adequate role models in real life, children will choose screen heroes who never die and always "get respect".
overcoming guilt or confusion
through primal journey
the center of self is wholeness
vicariously the hero's strength, lifestyle appealsis illusion we strive for
an opportunity to look beyond
with wonder
awemedia is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
media is a solitary vision media is a solitary vision media is solitary
According to one account, Jewell was seen talking on his radio near a lighting tower at Olympic Park just before the blast.
When another officer approached, according to court documents unsealed Monday, Jewell told the officer, ``It's a bomb. I've already called law enforcement. Let's get out of here.'' Within 10 seconds, a knapsack at the foot of the lighting tower exploded, the officer told investigators.
Most of the evidence gathered by FBI investigators in the newly released reports is indirect, and none directly incriminates him in building or placing the bomb.
One acquaintance described Jewell as ``an adrenaline junkie'' who craved action, and another said that Jewell expressed hope he would be ``right in the middle of it'' if police were needed during the Games.
A former law enforcement colleague - also unnamed in the documents - told the FBI Jewell was ``blackballed'' from police work because of his troubled record, and speculated Jewell might have seen Olympic heroism as a way of getting another police job.Contemporary Family Trends
The single biggest selling consumer item in the world is the color TV
The national narrative is working around the clock.
Our heads but under our brain all media spins
pervasive in their personal, political, economic, strategic, psychological, moral, ethical and social consequences
they leave no part of us untouched or unaffected or unaltered.
The medium is the message.
Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without understanding of the way, the work of media as an environment.
Seven out of ten households on Earth own a television
Sesame Street has educated over 120 million people worldwide
8% of the American population visits McDonald's on an average day
Two Barbie dolls are sold every second somewhere in the world.
By all measures, this is success!
The media said I was an overzealous officer. That was a lie. I always performed my job to the best of my ability and gave 110 percent. That's not being overzealous. That's being dedicated.
The media said I sought publicity for my actions. That was a lie. I did not seek to be called a hero, and I did not seek any publicity for doing my job. AT&T wanted the publicity, not me.
Structural Considerations
a companion for shut-ins
a window on the world
an alternative to valium
media is a solitary vision
the less communal watching the betterI have read the search warrant affidavits and I have either read or heard all the many things that have been said about me to try to make me look like a bomber. It was all a lie.
Now that I have received the government's letter, I feel a sense of relief, even though I don't think the fact that I have been cleared has fully sunk in.
Excerpts from the affidavit in support of a search warrant against Richard Jewell..
``Jewell was always reading and talking about `cop stuff.' ... (He) was totally engrossed in his job, he ate, slept and breathed it. ... He didn't have a girlfriend, just the job.''
``Jewell lives and breathes police stories, spy stories and SWAT. ... Jewell had discussed bombs in the past with (name deleted) and (name deleted) got the impression that Jewell had gone to a continuing education course concerning bombing matters.''
``He worked the (Olympic park) sound tower seven days a week for 12 hours a day and did not want any days off. Jewell put up significant argument to stay at the tower where the explosion subsequently occurred.''
Telling the Stories
We're not in an information age. We're in an interactive one. It's not bits we're exchanging but our very essence in the form of ideas, E-mails, graphics and chat dialogue...
the primary socializer of children, with its role amplified and extended by the school, the church or mosque or synagogue or temple, and the larger community.
we are exposed to a staggering amount of entertainment and information about how the world works and what it is that makes life worth living.
They learn a lot from this " informal curriculum" - about heroes and villains and victims, about being male and being female, about how to achieve success in life, about who's got power and who doesn't, about violence and intimate relations and what constitutes "the good life".
the pervasiveness of television in children's lives is by no means an indication that children are satisfied with what they are watching.
Contrary to popular belief heavy TV viewing actually cultivates a fear of violence:
"Heavy viewers of TV violence suffer from a 'Mean World Syndrome' and that has all kinds of consequences. They are more likely to overestimate their chances of encountering violence, to believe that their neighborhoods are unsafe and to assume that crime is rising, whether or not it actually is."Reasons for the 'Mean World Syndrome' are not hard to find. Violent crime is far more pervasive on television than in real life. "Since 1955, television characters have been murdered at a rate 1000 times higher than real world victims have. News is even more influential than entertainment television in creating the sense of a world of heightened dangers.
It can be very tempting to focus on media violence without paying attention to the culture as a whole. (When asked to select measures which would reduce violent crime "a lot", many Americans chose restrictions on TV violence more frequently than gun control.79) It takes more than television programs, films, video games and demeaning lyrics to turn children into violent adults. Real-life experience with poverty, violence, abuse or neglect is a very powerful determinant. One thing is certain: media violence has a much greater impact on children who have experienced violence first-hand and see it as "natural".
After 88 days of hell, it is hard to believe that it is really over.
I want to thank my friends, who stood by me during the darkest of days. Many of them were subjected to FBI harassment, but they still stood by me and told the truth. I thank all of you out there in America and around the world who expressed support for me and outrage for what happened to me.
I hope and pray that no one else is ever subjected to the pain and the ordeal that I have gone through. In the future I hope that the authorities move with caution and not be overzealous in their desire to solve crimes.
The authorities should keep in mind the rights of the citizens. I hope that the media will curb its appetite for the substantial story by staying objective, by reporting truthfully, and not distorting the facts.
Let the headline be based on the facts. Don't shape the facts to make the headline.
I thank God that it has now ended, and that you now know what I have known all along. I am an innocent man.
Thank you.
A Word in Defence of Superheroes and Action Figures
Many children need and use media heroes as role models to help them compensate for and escape from difficult situations. In a recent study on global media violence conducted by UNESCO, 51% of children from high-aggression neighborhoods wanted to be like Terminator, as opposed to 37% from low-aggression settings. As the educators in Responding to Media Violence point out: "Sometimes the appeal of such images lies in the instruction they offer youngsters on how to be strong, how to protect oneself and how to become the aggressor instead of the victim."
image by Komninos Zervos
Geoffrey Gatza Automation CorpGeoffrey Gatza lives in Buffalo NY with his two cats, Blaze & Clarice. His work is set in consumer iconographic texts that is instantly recognizable in its settings of classical & religious poetry. The narrative is plain to any red-blooded American worthy of their suspenders, or at least the parody will not escape the blackest of holes. To quote Bart Simpson, "The ironing is delicious." Gatza continues, "To only see this work from the printed page is to see it as the cereal box top graphics I try to emulate. A computer screen or newspapers, perhaps allows for the soft, almost a muting of lines, which the printed medium often negates. This takes a decidedly different stance from Enzio Feregara whose poetry is plainly absurd."
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