"Heartbreakingly pretty"

[2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney]

Watching ITN news right now. Tragic awful story about the death of a young girl. Teenager helping with enquiries I think. Anyhow the point at which I thought FFS was when a picture was shown of the young girl whose death was described as "all the more tragic" because she was "heartbreakingly pretty". It would be sad whatever , not because of how she looks. It's a terrible story but what a comment by the reporter?
AIBU?

Did they actually say it was "all the more tragic"?

i thought th same - it appears it doesn't matter murdering a little girl who happens to be plain.

I didn't see it but I am outraged at the thought. I suspect others might disagree, though.

I just heard that same report - I thought he sounded like he'd got a bit lost with what he was going to say and had blurted it out. Though I was only half listening so not whether it was a pre-recorded segment or the reporter was talking over the photo being shown if you see what I mean?

Heartbreaking story nonetheless...

Yes "all the more tragic" was the actual phrase.

I think we should focus on the tragic death of a child and not post negative things in relation to her at all when the tragedy and grief is so fresh.

RIP. With love to her family.

As if pics in magazines etc weren't bad enough making out looks mean you're superior, now it's more tragic for a pretty person to be killed than an average or "ugly" one?!

ohtheroses

The negativity is about the reporting, not the victim.

I know but it relates to a characteristic of the victim. I know this is AIBU but in my opinion it's distasteful. How would posters feel to read this if it were about their murdered child?

That's a horrendous comment from the reporter!

I remember there was a satirical children's t-shirt a few years ago mocking the fact that unhappy, unpopular and unattractive children never seem to be killed. The t-shirt saying "I'm not happy or popular - don't kill me" was suggested as a child protection measure.

I agree it is shocking that good looks are seen to make you a more valuable person!
Poor little love and her poor family.

That's really had by I think I'd give him a break rather than being outraged- as another poster said he sounded a bit lost and I can't imagine it was scripted. Even newsreaders make mistakes

But nobody here has said anything negative about the child. The only person who has was the reporter who deduced that the value of her life was directly linked to her appearance- not what an amazing young girl she must have been to those close to her.

Really vile and objectifying. Poor kid, poor family.

RIP

I've heard this before and it always annoys me.

Even quite recently, I watched a documentary about a murder and they said 'such a pretty girl'.

Like if she wasn't, it wouldn't be still as tragic?

ohtheroses

It's not a characteristic, it's a subjective and inappropriate comment by a reporter.

And it's possible to object to that as well as being shocked by the alleged crime.

I think it's everything that goes behind him blurting that out because he was lost for words that has got to me. If we didn't live in a society where this kind of language is not only commonplace, but accepted and not questioned as anything other than normal, then it wouldn't be one of the first things to pop into his head. We all have moments where we are lost for word and we all have moments where we stick our feet in it (I'm more guilty of that than most) but there's a line.

It was an inappropriate thing to say - but as PP said, I thought he was emotional about telling the story, and as a hardened journo, that had surprised him so he was lost for words and this came out. I suspect that as he was saying it, he was instantly wishing he could say something else, but it was already out there.

This is a big bee in my bonnet.

A child is a child - whether they are conventionally pretty or not is immaterial. I didn't hear the reporter say this, but if s/he did, then I find it shocking in the extreme.

I think he was just feeling emotional and if it was my child I'd be annoyed at posters criticising him and not with him.

It's ITN, the downmarket end of news reporting. Marginally better than Sky, but that's not saying much.

Being pretty is simply a nice characteristic like having a great singing voice, or being great at football, or being clever, so what why on earth is it offensive to others when someone is described as pretty it's true it doesn't reflect on if you are a nice person or not but nor do the afore mentioned characteristics, being offended by the fact someone has been called pretty says to me you have massive issues and it's something I hear people being offended over a lot yet it's ok to say someone is an amazing mathematician for example neither traits make you good or kind yet pretty seems to get people's goats. However I completely agree that to say all the more tragic is inappropriate if that's how it was worded. Bless that little one and her family

Crikey, my first thought on reading the OP was "that sounds like Kay Burley".

I see it wasn't.

YANBU, horrible thing to say - or to think. The death of any 7 year old child is heartbreaking full stop.

People aren't offended at being called pretty jojo, it's when the words "all the more heartbreaking" are used. It's not more fucking heart breaking because she was pretty! She could have looked like the arse end of an elbow, it would be just as sad.