whities in a tizzy about Whitey

I'm sure it made news everywhere that Whitey Bulger (i.e. the real person who inspired the Jack Nicholson character in "The Departed") was recently captured and will face trial for his many crimes spanning more than a half-century. But no news coverage can compare to Boston's absurd level of detail and ubiquity. One of my favorite parts of staying at home is being able to listen to NPR when I'm working in the kitchen; however, today was no picnic because every time they switched to local coverage, I had to hear day two of the (sarcasm alert!) cliff-hanger story over and over about whether or not his longtime girlfriend would be released on bail. Gasp! It was a nail biter for sure, and I enjoyed listening to it 15 times this morning on top of 30 times yesterday. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand he murdered and terrorized many people in this city, so part of me gets why we have to hear about him 24/7 right now. Sufficed to say I would prefer the coverage more aptly correspond to the level of NEWS regarding the case. I don't need to hear about every time he walks 15 feet, thank you very much. My theory as to why we are being bombarded is that it could have something to do with acknowledgement of same-race crime in a predominately racially-uniform area. In a melting pot community like Atlanta, it seemed when I was growing up that everyone had to be on "their side" when it came to crime discussion, and maybe not even discuss it at all if someone of your race committed the crime. Most memorable was the racial divide surrounding the O.J. Simpson trial, which I know was racially divided in many US cities, but this is only one of many examples I could give. It was as though in a community of many races, you had to stick up for your own race and pretend it was infallible. But in a homogenous state like Massachusetts, it's a crime discussion free-for-all. I could be wrong, but anyway, food for thought. I can only hope some better news comes along, and quick, before they start covering his trips to the bathroom.