Back to "missing white woman syndrome," it's pretty much the same social "phenomenon" in a different package. Today, I was reading about the early years of the AIDS crisis, when the media jumped on young, affluent white women like Ali Gertz and Kimberly Bergalis as "innocent" victims of the AIDS crisis.

I think some of it comes from the "...if it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone." Whether it's contracting a deadly disease or being kidnapped on vacation, it can always happen to anyone. I'm not sure how being male, or a person of color makes the risk of something bad happening more "acceptable" to mainstream Americans.

Cognitive dissonance.

Amazing how many things we can lie to ourselves about as long as we're very diligent about not thinking about it.