#like. cannot stress enough tyler getting death row makes sense but JAY?

[deathwis-arc]

honestly, it's really interesting thinking about how the events of the desert dream in 1998 would get blown out of proportion in the coming years ; hell, it already kinda is twenty-four hours later. not only does the fbi get involved ( and they get involved quick ) but the entire thing is immediately labeled as 'the desert dream massacre' which is ... simply not true. if tyler doesn't kill joyce and michelle isn't shot then the total body count is four cops, with two on life support from the motel burning down. this is literally confirmed in game!

events get labeled as massacres if there's a huge body count, or if it's violent enough. the desert dream killings were neither. all the victims were shot, usually at a distance, or they suffered from burns ; which, while violent, it was more of an escape attempt on the holts' part than anything else. i also find it telling that, even if the holts kill a hostage or two, agent bradley doesn't bother mentioning that in private. all he cares about is the cops lost to the standoff. it's no surprise that killing an officer will get you a more severe punishment then if you kill a regular person, that it can sometimes send you straight to death row on its own, but the fact they don't even care about the deaths of any of the hostages ... it sure is something.

especially since the only hostage deaths in the desert dream can turn the only two kids in the game into orphans. or on the flip side, if the holts didn't harm a hostage, there's no mention of that either. or how the hostages were treated, which compared to usual hostage situations, they got it better than most. it's just the fact that they killed cops ( who were under the thumb of a corrupt sheriff, by the way ) that made this into a massacre. though i wouldn't be surprised if to the public the force would then heavily focus on any other victims, that's usually what happens normally, after all.

anyway, point is, classism does play a role in how cases and crimes are treated -- especially back then. the holts were poor, notoriously so, and they were a family full of drop-outs with nothing to their names. the very second they escape the motel, their names are plastered all over the country and their fates ( including jay's, who's merely an eighteen year old who was an accomplice at best ) are decided : they're going straight to death row. even if jay tries to do the right thing and come clean to agent bradley, tries to turn on his family, said guy immediately goes to pin all the murders on him, for seemingly no reason at all! it's very unjust, and ah ... shady!

the news and papers hype up their crime spree and i wouldn't be shocked that within a couple years, the holts would be presented as bloodthirsty rednecks who were simply greedy rather than a family that didn't have any help and got in way over their heads. the narrative would be twisted so much, especially if three of the holts were never found. there'd be no word from their side, no mention of the thugs who were threatening to kill them, just a true crime story where they were at the forefront of a very unfortunate situation and got away with it. leaving gossips to fill in the blanks as they please, and considering the police's and the fbi's behavior towards this case, they would only fuel the narrative that the holts were a family who did all this on purpose and relished in the aftermath, a family who loved doing the crime.

anyway, it's just something i love thinking about for post canon stuff when it comes to my adf muses. how wildly inaccurate the story's become in time, simply because people got bored or because of the classism back then that was so woven into the broadcasted crime that it's become impossible to separate the two. they'd paint the holts out to be wildly dangerous, cruel individuals and probably spin tales about unsolved murders and robberies and how it could be the work of a holt who had got away. their entire motivation would be obscured and would've gone unsaid, leaving random civilians and a force who hates them to speak for them instead. it'd be a whole thing! and the desert dream was dramatic, sure, but by the time everything is said and done you'd probably barely recognize what the media was talking about had you actually been there.

#╰ * OOC : mun ⧽ ramblings of a fevered spirit . #(( don't mind me ... just musing about this because i find it endlessly fun haha #like. cannot stress enough tyler getting death row makes sense but JAY? #the fact they literally frame him for everything ... even if he hasn't committed a single murder ... speaks volumes imo #they did not care about any of the holts being innocent nor their reasons they wanted them to suffer that's it! #except sharon who doesn't get death row for some reason? like ... this entire case is so unfair and makes no sense #it's the way dante threatens the lives of all the hostages way more than the holts ever did and still got to keep his badge #as well as his corruption and assault on the motel not being brought up to the public. it's a matter that gets privately dealt with #like ugghh it really is about how little the justice system cares for poor people. #it's about how the holts felt like they had to deal with their lives being threatened by themselves! #they didn't feel like they could go to the police! or publicly ask for help! they didn't think there was another way #and in the end their original plan was harmless and was only hurting someone who deserved it ... they didn't just rob some establishment #they robbed a sheriff their ma had history with and who was literally corrupt #anyway. anyway! as much as it's crazy to me how the media would run with this story and make it about a family that was simply deranged #it's also ... fun to think about <3 for the victims of the desert dream and the holts #not only do they all have to live with this traumatic event that's changed all of them forever #they have to also live with a fabricated version of it -- a warped version of themselves being presented #imo this sleepy town in arizona was simply bored and they had one huge thing happen to them and so they exaggerated details #and the cops were just. well cops about it <3 #ahem anyway your muse knowing about the desert dream from what the public's painted it out to be when? :smirk: )) #tw long post