David Marcus: Why we feel so deeply about Gabby Petito

In mourning Gabby’s death we also see afresh the world through her eyes.

In mourning Gabby’s death we also see afresh the world through her eyes. All of its hope and promise. And therein lies the cruelty of her too soon passing. 

There are those on the left who, as usual, want to make the media attention given to the death of Petito a symbol of America’s racism. MSNBC’s Joy Reid calls it "missing white women syndrome." CNN’s Don Lemon points to white privilege. It is reductive, dismissive, and ignorant nonsense. It also denies Petito agency for how she chose to live. It is not racism that made her disappearance a cause celebre, it is her spark and creativity.

There is a thing that film, television, and theater directors look for. An it factor. It is a kind of visual and emotional gravity. Gabby Petito had it. And it wasn’t an accident, she worked at it, she made it.