Fascinating article. I thought she was exaggerating when she complained about people accusing her of being a media whore, until I scrolled down to the [flagged] [dead] and saw someone doing just that.
But I don't think she has a choice. In the past, it would've been possible for someone in her shoes to choose obscurity. In the past, the real Amanda Knox and the idea of Amanda Knox that exists in the collective unconscious of the media and media consumers would've drifted apart. Now, it's hard to imagine how that could happen. Even if she invented a new identity and moved to a small town in Alaska (which would be a new kind of prison sentence in some ways), it'd be newsworthy.
> I thought she was exaggerating when she complained about people accusing her of being a media whore
Not to pick on you, but why would you reflexively think her to be exaggerating about being called a media whore? People do that with literally everyone whose public complaints become a news story. And what motive would Amanda Knox have in particular? She was labeled an actual whore for the many years when the case was still in active prosecution.
It's not a boolean, it's a threshold. I'm not surprised that anyone ever made that accusation, but I was surprised that it was among the first few comments on HN.
She was definitely accused of being a "whore", as in a woman who is not, say, as chaste as people expect her to be. All Italian media informed us that Knox's motive was sex, whatever that is supposed to mean, because she was a maniac with a sex addiction. If I remember correctly, and I may not, the prosecur made some appalling comments about Knox's sexual promiscuity when interviewed for the Netflix documentary.
Corriere della Sera, which is probably the most prestigious Italian newspaper, published this:
https://www.corriere.it/cronache/07_novembre_25/amanda_cacci... ("Amanda just wanted sex"/Former partner Elis Prenga: «A hunter of men»./Lumumba: "She made sexual advances to customers").
This played into the Italian stereotype of American women, which are supposedly more sexually active than they are supposed to be, and so immoral but also easier to pick up than local women.
I suspect @danso is just mentioning the -- breathlessly repeated by the italian press -- allegations that Amanda purchased condoms, had sex and -- omg -- had a vibrator.
That's right, I shouldn't have used "actual" (at least I didn't say "literally") — I mean in the colloquial sense of "non-married woman engaging in purportedly non-traditional sexual activity"
Moving from a Western to an Eastern country or vice versa (and using a pseudonym on top) is actually a pretty good way to become near-anonymous, unless you're a Michael Jackson level of celebrity.
Of course, not everyone has the background to be able to smoothly pull that off.
If I were in Amanda Knox's shoes, I would probably be very reluctant to move to any foreign country, especially a foreign country with a judicial system substantially different from the US one.
Undoubtedly, and that’d be in part due to that specific experience having caused PTSD. That doesn’t mean the method doesn’t work for going back to being a private person from being a public figure.
Don’t underestimate how little foreigners matter to others - I suppose that goes both ways!
Your argument sounds a lot like "all you have to do is wipe the slate clean and start life over with a new identity in a foreign country with a new name and no social support".
Is that really what a person should be forced to do in this circumstance?
Arguably, at some point in the past, this would have been an obscure story and she'd still be in an Italian jail cell.
I sort of disagree though that someone like her couldn't drop out of the public eye if she wanted to. There are tradeoffs to be sure but it seems pretty possible.
I didn’t say disappear. But if someone only middling well known changes their name and appearance eg hair, moves, doesn’t go out of their way to call attention to themselves that would put their photo online, stays off social media, etc. they can almost certainly mostly fly under the radar.
10 years later most people have forgotten about Amanda Knox and what she looks like. And if someone goes "Are you Amanda Knox?" you laugh and say you get that a lot.
Again, this isn't disappearing from say law enforcement. But it's avoiding authors, reporters, "fans" of the case, from reaching out.
0) choose a new name with a common first name and a common last name in a combination with many existing people, but preferably no particularly notable celebrities. If your first name is already common, great. Start using that name in situations where you don't need to prove identity (this establishes a common law name change)
a) research name change laws in the 50 states and the territories to determine which states don't require publication or allow for a confidential name change in the relevant circumstances.
b) reside in a state chosen from that list for at least the minimum time
c) go through the procedure to change your legal name to your (new) common law name
d) establish a residency somewhere else
e) open new bank etc accounts in your new legal name and close out old ones
f) if your old name comes up again, say "yeah, people always asked me if I was the famous X, and I didn't want to deal with it"
Where's the part when she gets a new face? Not only is she very well known to the general public, you may have heard of some amazing new technology called "facial recognition".
Some countries recognize a "right to be forgotten". This is a good example of where such laws can help. She doesn't currently have a choice because many Western countries don't recognize this right. This is something that could change.
Huh? The "right to be forgotten", as it exists in the EU, is specifically about search engine indexing. That would not meaningfully affect someone who would have been an infamous celebrity with or without the Internet.
But I don't think she has a choice. In the past, it would've been possible for someone in her shoes to choose obscurity. In the past, the real Amanda Knox and the idea of Amanda Knox that exists in the collective unconscious of the media and media consumers would've drifted apart. Now, it's hard to imagine how that could happen. Even if she invented a new identity and moved to a small town in Alaska (which would be a new kind of prison sentence in some ways), it'd be newsworthy.