Your Turn: The Strange Familiarity of Amy Bishop

Given the sensationalism of American media, the fact of the shootings
isn't a surprise. The surprise, apparently, is found in the alleged
perpetrator, University of Alabama assistant professor Amy Bishop.
In fact, you can't find a reference to the woman that doesn't mention
her Harvard education (and you can't throw a shoe in the right wing
blog-o-sphere without hitting gleeful speculation about her political
preferences).

Recent cable and news stories detail Bishop's past as a suspect in a
1993 mail bomb attack on a colleague and her allegedly accidental
killing of her teenage brother after a family argument, after which no charges were filed and paperwork was lost.

What is the fascination with Bishop? Is it that a person with a disturbing history escaped charge or prosecution until the deaths and injury of six people?  Or, as shown in this MSNBC screen grab of a young Bishop and the brother she shot, is it because a middle-class woman with such a history happens to look just like those charged with pursuing her? Your thoughts?

—Karen Hull

Photo credit: MSNBC screen shot.