Why Are We Surprised When White Preppy Guys Turn Out to Be Murderers?

By Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's Blog. Posted May 6, 2009.

(Handsome and clean cut, or creepy freakin' loner? If you're a news editor, the former; if you're me and everyone I know, the latter.)

The New York Times described alleged killer Philip Markoff as having led a "seemingly normal" life before he was arrested for killing a woman he'd met through Craigslist and for robbing at least two others.

The New York Daily News described Markoff as "clean cut" and "a high-achieving dentist's son." The Boston Globe also described the shaggy-haired Markoff as "clean cut" -- as did countless other media outlets. Politico.com called Markoff "all-American," while the Associated Press and dozens of others called him "handsome"; PR Insider said, simply, that "by all appearances, he had it all."

Over and over again, coast to coast, American media outlets told us how good-looking, smart and "normal" Markoff was, or should have been.

As I read and watched the media coverage of the 22-year-old alleged killer, I was stunned -- though not surprised -- by the fawning tone taken by the nation's reporters.

After all, given the available information, Markoff could have been painted as weird, anti-social, woman-hater, irresponsible, deeply in debt, broke and in the midst of eviction from his apartment. He could have been presented as a stone-faced, emotionless creep who scared classmates by forcing kisses on them and had a long history of strange behavior.

Hell, one look at the guy at a bar, and most women I know would have shuddered and walked the other way.

But Markoff wasn't served up to the public this way by the media.

Rather, Markoff was served by the media on a silver platter, described as a great-looking, charming, rich guy (none of which were true), whose alleged crimes were ostensibly all the more shocking for one simple and disturbing reason: Markoff had stepped outside of our racist culture's perceived norm for his type.

I'll say it again, in plain language: In the mythology of white male editors, guys like Markoff don't kill. They golf. With newspaper editors. Most of whom look like Markoff.

The hidden code in the news coverage of Markoff, as it was for "preppy killer" Robert Chambers and countless other white male killers, has been clear: tall, young white guys, especially middle-class or wealthy ones in college, just don't do stuff like this. Except that they do.

History inconveniently proves the U.S. media perception of privileged white men as nonviolent rulers of the earth to be counter to fact.

The United States has produced more serial killers than any other nation on earth, and 85 percent of them have been white men, according to a study by Apsche. The average age that serial killers take their first victim is 28; 62 percent target strangers exclusively and 71 percent operate in a specific geographic area.

See more stories tagged with: murder, philip markoff, serial killer, white male

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is a recovering journalist and practicing author. Check out her blog.

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