[IsThisObvious]

The child's parents were, a fact you seem to be ignoring in your analysis; I expect we'd see international headlines at the kidnapping of Michael Jackson's child or the kidnapping of the new son of the Duke of Cambridge.

Do you really contend that we wouldn't?

[lutusp]

> The child's parents were, a fact you seem to be ignoring in your analysis ...

Comparable modern stories don't get the same coverage, because they're now too common. That was my only point.

[IsThisObvious]

So you honestly believe that if someone kidnapped the Duke of Cambridge's newborn son, it wouldn't be international news, because "it happens too often"?

I routinely get stories about single families in China who have had their kids kidnapped for organ theft, even if it's not all of them. I find it HIGHLY unlikely that an international celebrities child would be kidnapped without it being major news.

You're going to have to do better than bald assertion for me to be convinced of that.

[glenra]

Um, can you give any example of these "too common" events? Kidnapping is essentially nonexistent in the US today. And I'm really struggling to think of anybody as famous as Lindberg, but if somebody ever kidnapped for ransom the child of Angelina Jolie or Steve Jobs or Michael Jackson I think we'd have heard about it in the newspaper. Nobody would say "ho-hum, it's just another celebrity kidnapping story..."

[lutusp]

> Kidnapping is essentially nonexistent in the US today.

Wow! I wasn't going to bother replying, but this is egregiously wrong:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kidnappings#2000-2009

There are scores of kidnappings in this list, and it only covers ten years.

> Nobody would say "ho-hum, it's just another celebrity kidnapping story..."

But by wrongly thinking that "Kidnapping is essentially nonexistent in the US today", you did just that.

[glenra]

I should have clarified, I meant kidnapping for money, like the Lindbergh situation. Taking a little kid and leaving a ransom note, hoping to get money from the parents. That almost never happens in the US today, in large part due to the Lindbergh kidnapping. The FBI mades that sort of kidnap an extremely high priority and got quite good at solving such cases, to the point that in the US - unlike many other countries - it is not in any way a sensible business opportunity.

(In Mexico, on the other hand, it is a major business opportunity.)

The vast majority of "missing kid" events you hear about are related to custody battles - the noncustodial parent runs off without permission of the court. There are also a few (though it's quite rare) events of the sort in that list - usually teenagers or adults abducted for sexual purposes.

> There are scores of kidnappings in this list, and it only covers ten years.

There are 26 kidnappings in that list, but nearly half weren't in the US - it includes events in Baghdad, Columbia, Spain, England, and various other places. The 15 events in the US in ten years establish that it happens at least 1.5 times a year in this country of 313 million people.

Meanwhile about 1,000 americans per year are struck by lightning and 100 of those are killed by it. So kidnapping even of all varieties is an exceedingly rare event that we are in all likelihood WAY too afraid of. (In the US, anyway)