Week 13 Response Post

This article is about Joseph Fritzl who held his daughter Elisabeth a prisoner for twenty four years. While held captive Elisabeth was raped and abused by her father resulting in having seven children. Three of the kids were raised by the Elisabeth’s mother who had no idea where her daughter was. She believed Elisabeth had joined a sect and was unable to take care of her kids. Three children were also kept in the cellar with Elisabeth, never seeing sunlight. The last child died shortly after birth because Joseph Fritzl did call for help. Austrian prosecutors are charging him with slavery, rape, and possibly murder. Joseph Fritzl was caught when the eldest of his children with Elisabeth got sick. Nineteen year old Kerstin fell ill and when they took a blood sample they realized who her parents are.
As soon as I read this article I got sick to my stomach because this is an insane story. How could a father do this to his own child? How could he repeatedly rape her and abuse her? Let alone enslave her with three of her children for so many years. I don’t want to pity Elisabeth but that’s all I can feel for her. I pity that she had to go through all of that and that her children have to live with the fact that their grandfather is also their father. I would expect them to all be mentally unstable and would have to go through years of counseling. I hope Joseph stays in jail for a really long time.
The article is written with a bias that leans toward Elisabeth because they want the readers to show compassion to her. The author doesn’t want any compassion shown to Joseph because what he did is unforgivable. One question I have about this article is what happened during Joseph’s childhood?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7727332.stm