. Bartering for goods and services is a common practice in Appalachia, and high unemployment is an issue in the area, so many resort to day labor just to feed their families. It would be easy. It's $10 a month and watchable on Apple and Android mobile apps, Roku TV, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Hall said that although deformities can be caused by a combination of poor prenatal care, environmental factors and maternal health, genetic deformities can be distinguished from other factors. And then their family would punish them for talking. Advertisement. McCarthy and Stalin Political Brothers? The people in the Appalachians today are still skilled artisans, musicians, writers, story tellers, industrial, and filled with family values. As groups like the missionaries worked to bring Appalachia into the mainstream, their writings and the writings of others generated a common view of Appalachia. [18][19]Before the policy was declared, the U.S. District Court declined the admission of Appalachians in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Esther Renee Adams was born on her . Then, their big break finally came. In response, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia railed against the veep, accusing him of astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen. Howd West Virginia get a reputation for inbreeding? The main group of settlers which migrated to the Appalachians were from Scot-Irish, English, and German descent. GENETIC DEFECTS NOTED IN PARTS OF APPALACHIA - The Washington Post GENETIC DEFECTS NOTED IN PARTS OF APPALACHIA Generations of inbreeding in isolated pockets of Appalachia have created a. In the aftermath of the abuse revelations, a local housing official said that the poverty was not only a contributing factor but the main and root cause of the incest that transpired. All rights reserved. While admiring the beauty and majesty of this mountain range, it is often easy to forget the settlers who made the journey to the Appalachians. You know what I think? [18], Derogatory language against Appalachians includes the terms "Redneck" and "Hillbilly." Why is the missionary position called that? The economy of the Appalachian people is a study in poverty. She would go on to strongly advocate for childrens rights and fight to keep children protected from child predators and pedophiles, making a good thing out of a very bad, disturbing situation. Sources:http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13964/13964-h/13964-h.htm#strange http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=6865077 http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=hillbilly%20culture%3A%20the%20appalachian%20mountain%20folk&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CGEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebpages.charter.net%2Fcorso%2Fpower%2Fhillbilly.doc&ei=rfiyT83aO8a26QHuwPHxDg&usg=AFQjCNF6oX256ofNfb1Q99Cf8FT4i0u_Tg http://alekhouse.hubpages.com/hub/Appalachian-Myth http://youtu.be/2PJ7qqnkVaI , one should not have to pay for interesting articles such as this. Right there with my Mamaw. When the "discoverers" of Appalachia encountered the region in the 1870s, they found what to them was a very strange environment. Promotional literature emerged to support the AMA's missionaries and their operations such as churches and schools. This wasnt an ordinary case of rural inbreeding but rather was forcibly passed down from generation to generation. [2] Today, South Mountain serves as a recreational place for hiking, camping, sports, and many other activities. [2], While a general awareness of the Appalachia had existed, it was "discovered" by writers who helped form popularly accepted images of the region in the 1870s. Parks Lanier, Jr.Larry AllenRyan FarmerIris Lee UnderwoodVicki MurphyVirginia MartinAnne WagnerJim PeckAnonymousHeather LovaszPatti DibbleChristopher MooreMark P GholsonTeresa DaltonAJ WallaceJosh TaylorBarbara AwbreyWilliam MillsRobert MorganChris ColemanChelsea JacksonLogic MilkboneDana LynchRobert HillJerry MurphyYou can support our mission with a one-time PayPal donation to:appalachianproject16@gmail.comCash App to:$sssimmons1070or monthly by becoming a patron at:www.patreon.com/AppalachiaYou can send an email with any questions or comments to:appalachianproject16@gmail.comMy NEW mailing address is:208 Lavinia StreetBristol, VA 24201 [2] These depictions have persisted and are still present in common understandings of Appalachia today, with a particular increase of stereotypical imagery during the late 1950s and early 1960s in sitcoms. They are very close to nature and have a deeply held belief in God. Its the most horrifying of thoughts, that young children were actually trapped and preyed upon by grown adults, their own family, who held total power over them. Extreme Record Collecting: Confessions of an analog vinyl snob, A long, rambling blog post about my Nico obsession (+ some astonishing, seldom seen TV performances). Jeremy, 18, makes a . Until the Civil War, those in Appalachia enjoyed a largely self-reliant existence. More information is available at her website: abigailtucker.com, 2023 Smithsonian Magazine By 1960s their descendants had isolated themselves in a remote hollow high in the mountains. In truth, Appalachian mountain people are a proud, ingenious, complex population of people with their own unique culture that has resisted change for the last two centuries. When traveling to the Appalachian Mountains, these . Coal dust feels omnipresent in Adams pictures, which he shoots almost exclusively in black-and-white. In the 1880s and 1890s, writers such as Mary Noailles Murfree and John Fox Jr. traveled across Appalachia, looking for local color, and overstated the degree to which mountain populations lived in isolation. They even bragged about their sexual conquests with the children, a horrifying nightmare to anyone with common sensibilities and even the slightest hint of moral decency. 10 Dark Facts About Robert Pickton, The Pig Farmer Killer, 10 Dark And Macabre Facts About Jesse Pomeroy, The Boy Fiend, 8 Dark Facts About Being Single, And Why You Really, 9 Sinister Facts About The Dark Side Of Instagram, Top 10 Dark Facts About The Death Penalty [DISTURBING], Top 10 Dark Facts About Alice In Wonderland, 10 Dark Conspiracy Theories That Actually Turned Out, 10 Historical Shoe Rituals and Superstitions You Might Not Know About, 10 Unusual and Incredible Reinterpretations of Classic Artworks, 10 Ancient Fertility Treatments You Wouldnt Want to Use Today, 10 Inventive Ways People Survived Winter Before Electricity, 10 Bleak Facts about Victorian Workhouses, 10 Amazing Archeological Discoveries Made by Dogs, 10 Fascinating Cases Of Historical Incest From Around The World, 10 Of Canadas Most Violent Dangerous Offenders, 10 Incredible Stories About The Real-Life Sherlock Holmes, 10 Terrifying Killers Who Didnt Act Alone, Top 10 Extremely Wealthy People Who Were Violently Murdered, 10 Strange Cases Of People Pretending To Be Doctors. Were the adults just victims carrying out the actions they were taught in their youth? Nina Hagens Nunsexmonkrock: Greatest (and weirdest) unsung masterpiece of the postpunk era? Perhaps no group of people has a higher list of stereotypes than those who call the Appalachian Mountains home. personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The Hillbilly in the Living Room: Television Representations of Southern Mountaineers in Situation Comedies, 1952-1971", "Virtual Appalachia: Video Game Representations of the Region", "Appalachian Culture & History of the Blue Ridge Mountains", "Stereotypes Of Appalachia Obscure A Diverse Picture", "A Brief Population History of Central Appalachia", "Violent Appalachia: The media's role in the creation and perpetuation of an American myth", "Rising Above Appalachian Stereotypes for a Higher Education", "The Myth of Appalachian Whiteness: Stereotyping and Racism from the Perspective of a White Appalachian Woman", "Appalachian English Stereotypes: Language Attitudes in Kentucky", "Combatting stereotypes about Appalachian dialects", "The Effect of Appalachian Regional Dialect on Performance Appraisal and Leadership Perceptions", "Chapter 914 - Unlawful Discriminatory Practices", "Geographic Discrimination: Of Place, Space, Hillbillies, and Home", "Human Rights Ordinance Toolkit | Equality Florida", "Portrayals of Appalachia in America's Major Metropolitan Newspapers", "The Appalachian Women's Rights Organization and The Lost Promises of Feminism", "40 years later, 'Deliverance' causes mixed feelings in Georgia", "Abercrombie & Fitch shirt angers West Virginians", "Margo Martindale: A 'Justified' Moonshine Matriarch", "Justified: Kentucky, the Storyline, not the Stereotype", "Walton Goggins - 'Justified' - Southern Son - TV", "MTV 'Buckwild' hits pay dirt with Sen. Joe Manchin's angry letter", "The new memoir 'Hillbilly Elegy' highlights the core social-policy question of our time", "Book Review: Nonfiction in Motion: Connecting Preschoolers with Nonfiction Books through Movement", "Hillbilly Elegy is a tired, shrill drama of Trump-era myth-making", "Historian Makes Case For 'What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia' In New Book", "Appalachia's Place in the War on Poverty > Appalachian Voices", Social and economic stratification in Appalachia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Appalachian_stereotypes&oldid=1151974041, Ethnic and racial stereotypes in the United States, Wikipedia articles with style issues from July 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, The Duke boys in the feature-film version of, Often positioned as a direct challenge to the generalizations of, In 2019, scholars Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll co-edited an anthology called, This page was last edited on 27 April 2023, at 11:10. Whats more, the rate fell quickly after 1950 no doubt due to postwar prosperity, urbanization, and so on and by 1970 was no higher than youd likely find in the general population. [5] Their cries fell on deaf ears, reinforcing the idea that we should take all accusations of sexual assault seriously. In the film, Laita speaks with three siblings: Betty, Lorraine, and Ray. Inbreeding can have some pretty nasty effects on the offspring of such unions, especially over consecutive generations, and incest was a major part of the background of the Goler clan. According to one paper (Jaber et al, Community Genetics, 1998), congenital malformations are 2.5 times more common among offspring of inbred couples than of unrelated parents. The Golers had no running water or many of the other luxuries and enjoyments of a modern society, even in the 1980s. The father of the family would let people have sex with whichever of his children they wanted to in exchange for some material item, such as cigarettes or alcohol. The adults of the Goler clan, over a dozen in all, had little education, which possibly played a critical role in the abuses which were to follow. The music has its roots in the Celtic music of Scotland and Ireland. Faced with continued hardship in Ulster, theScots-Irish people began a mass migration to the colonies between 1720 and 1775. In 1540, an expedition from Spain discovered these people along the Tennessee River. From the remarkable opening shots of the legless old coot discussing how hed been er fruitful and multiplied, I couldnt take my eyes off it. [1] But it does still happen today, all around the world. I live right down the road from one such family. The Workingmen's Benevolent Society won some concessions regarding class tensions, insufficient wages, and poor living conditions, but none were enough to make significant differences. Point (c) isnt all that persuasive; Tinchers numbers show that as late as 1950 inbreeding was well above what could be accounted for by chance married couples on average were approximately third cousins. Advertising Notice 2. So the Scots-Irish people headed west until they found a place that closely resembled the mountainous lands from which they came, the Appalachian Mountains. For years these people have struggled to keep traditions and history alive, and they continue to do so by celebrating their uniqueness and independence through skills passed down from past generations. [9] It also arises from the look of miners, who would come home looking very dirty and worn because of the conditions they were working under in the mines. The Hollow has no narration, the filmmakers (George Nierenberg and Gary Wand) simply trained their cameras on various Allens and Kathans and let them talk about their lives. Freud had a lot to say about incest, sometimes going as far as to suggest it was innate, an outgrowth of persons under certain forms of environmental and psychological distress, and this actually may not be too far from the truth. Some of the best music and stories have come from those who grew up in these mountains. To this day, some of the best mechanics, builders, and inventors live in Appalachia. We use ads to keep our content free for you. Also, a lady named Hazel Pinch married a Goler, and then another, and then another, and then another. Whenever people visit Eastern Kentucky, they automatically assume that the residents are just a bunch of uneducated hillbillies. He found her in the summer of 2008 at the head of Beehive Hollow, up a winding road, living in a house without running water or electricity. A sick, depraved, and macabre tale was being pieced together for detectives with every word the clan members spoke. He recently married and now works as a security guard. [7] Miners were paid by the ton of coal produced, instead of an hourly rate. The Ozark Mountains are located mainly in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. The economic disasters of the 1930s shut down the factories and mills. Incredibly, it wast until the mid-1980s, nearly a decade after this film was shot, that indoor plumbing came to Allentown, which is apparently roughly 1200 ft. long by 400 ft. wide and covered on three sides by dense forest, and it is said, a fence. Many women have to settle for working "unskilled" labor.[23]. A coal-black teardrop was tattooed by the corner of her eye. While people talked outside, you know where I was? she asks. You can find instructions here as to how. For Appalachian people, inbreeding is a stereotype. He is distantly related to Hobart Ison, an Appalachian who in 1967 fatally shot a filmmaker on his land, but Adams father was a supervisor for a natural gas company with contracts around the country, and his family often lived in cities, including New York and Miami. It didnt take long after the abuse came to public knowledge for the Goler clan to be referred to as a hillbilly sex ring. It arguably wasnt far from the truth. This part of America has so much to offer, and should not be writ off as backwards way of living. Has anybody gotten electrocuted peeing on the third rail? Are Appalachians friendly? this article I would have been able to quote from and use in my paper but I do not have the money to buy this. Bartering for goods and services is a common practice in Appalachia, and high unemployment is an issue in the area, so many resort to day labor just to feed their families. Or does some blame lie squarely with them for not knowing on some level that their actions were inherently wrong? This is what led to the "Battle of Blair Mountain" in West Virginia. What are the real facts about. Other family members appear as well, including a nephew named Timmy. Even the youngest children were used and abused as sex objects for the adults gratification. All rights reserved. Within this unique dialect, each village or town has its own syntax, understandable to each other, but not outsiders. His portraits of the mountain people, as he calls them, are intimate, direct and sometimes bleak. Was it just the movie Deliverance that led people to believe that? While one of the most common stereotypes of the Appalachian people is that of the moonshiner, and it is true that many mountain families do support their families with the production and sale of homemade alcohol that is untaxed and illegal. . Stereotypes about West Virginian breeding practices have long been linked to the states poverty. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Theres no narrative as such, either, but the publication of a newspaper article about the hamlet causes much consternation among the residents of Allentown, who become distrustful, even paranoiac about the world outside of their close knit enclave of approximately 200 intermarried, blood relatives. But Emily Smith, deputy commissioner for the County Social Services Department, said the number of public assistance cases in the entire Hollow was probably not more than a couple of handfuls and has not grown in 15 years. To you and me, our standards are much higher but they dont have those high standards and theyre not striving to have them., James Bowen, the Saratoga County Sheriff, said his services are rarely requested. Watch footage of Golers being interviewed (shown in the video above), and you can easily see the mental deficiencies which permeated the family, and it doesnt take long before you realize the tragic effects of inbreeding. Many of the Golers intermarried with their family members and saw absolutely no problem with this. The reason for this is the way the genes mix. Terms of Use Far removed and isolated from society at large, exposed, terrified, naked, and afraid in the rural mountains, these children had seemingly no chance of escape. [12] There is also the incorrect theory that Appalachian English is closely related to Elizabethan English, or that it has not progressed far past Elizabethan English. Guests paid their respects to the dead, then went into another room for sandwiches, coffee and a long visit. Terrifying. People of the Appalachians have created musical instruments such as the dulcimer and banjo, and a type of music (bluegrass) which is their own. Its true that, through the 19th century, transportation networks developed slowly in the rugged, westernmost portion of Virginia (incorporated as West Virginia in 1863). Esther Renee Adams was born on her grandmothers birthday, June 2, and was named for her, though eventually, after Mamaw started calling her Nay Bug (because she was scared of ladybugs), everyone else did, too. "New Opportunity School for Women: A unique career and education program in Appalachia". Apology from Incognito: Smart, Sincere, or Both? [7] The population kept on growing as more communities migrated to Appalachia. Many of the convicted Golers got out of prison and returned to the impoverished conditions which ultimately caused the problem in the first place, with a complete lack of understanding of what was wrong or what needed to change. In an unusual story that involves both genetics and geography, an entire family from isolated Appalachia was tinged blue. Many Appalachians run a 2 1/2 times greater risk of having a child with neural-tubal defects, including anencephaly ("without a brain") and spina bifida ("open spine"). They sort of police themselves., While a local fire department provides service for the area, he said, If one of the Allens has a fire, one of the Allens next door will help put it out.. Below lay the great Sacandaga Valley. Weyls article, incidentally, appeared in Mankind Quarterly, which publishes a lot of research by the biology-is-destiny crowd. This vision spread, and was picked up by the American Missionary Association (AMA). While there is some backing to it -- only 17 percent have a college degree and only around 40 percent have a high school diploma-- not everyone is some backwoods hillfolk who spends the days squealing at tourists.Our anonymous source has been in Eastern Kentucky for . In the Appalachian Mountains rests a medical oddity so unusual that it at first seems a massive hoax. The Hollow is a 1975 documentary about the inbred hillbilly residents of an area of New York State in Saratoga County known informally as Allentown for reasons that soon become abundantly clear. When asked what the word incest means, one family member stopped and asked, Insects? completely baffled by the question. The Appalachians are often victims of locational prejudice, where people often discriminate against due to their location and where they identify as home. Small instances across the counties, but nothing caused significant change. Your Privacy Rights A large number of the families live on as little as $5,000 per year. Notably, the increased population growth resulting from the expansion of coal mining attracted various immigrants. What youre thinking of is the Appalachian Mountains, which extend nearly 2,000 miles from Alabama to Newfoundland and encompass the Chattooga watershed. Several family members couldnt wrap their limited minds around the idea that theyd done something wrong and often couldnt comprehend the meaning of the word incest. Some believed that the Golers, due to their deficiencies, needed help, not years of punishment. The Hollow is like an anthropological study of a miniscule slice of America that time has completely forgotten, and the residents of Allentown, seem to like it that way. . The children were quite obviously (and thankfully) removed from the home and would be placed into the custody of the state, while the family didnt even understand what theyd done. A unique church, found only in Appalachia is the snake handling church, also called signs followers. Dating back to the early 1800s, an isolated family in eastern Kentucky - who can trace their roots back to a French orphan - started producing children who were blue. !Julian FrasierCarol Simmons SmithWilliam MartinRonald TirrachiaTracy BosierTabitha BucklesJoey SniderPam BroderickMadhu KolluSusan Burrows-RangelJames LaganKeith and Donna TimmonsGregory LewisEric PeckGeorge SawtoothWill SimmonsChris JurkowskiRob CrottsChristian WilliamsGhyontonda MotaDavid L. MullinsJoe SullivanAudrey WelchAngela SmithAndrew DeLongMatthew CoonSteve SurberWayne MaynardBrian SerwayJessica RodriguesGeorge McNairBill WhitworthMike AdamsShawn HannahBrad \u0026 Angela DavisMichael GeneckiKara Wyatt RasnakeJonathan GartlandKaren CaddleAndrew DisekerCarol WilderKimberly CarrDee Simmons AlbanBill SewardDaniel ArmstrongThanks to these wonderful donors!! From a 1993 New York Times article about Allentown: Clifford Logan of the Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council said his agency had weatherized 150 homes in the Allentown area since then. 3. [3] Common Appalachian stereotypes include those concerning economics, appearance,[4] and the caricature of the "hillbilly. Even further adding to the spectacle were the adults own mental handicaps, brought by generations of incest. The surviving Whittaker family tree is currently comprised of siblings Betty, Lorraine and Ray, as well as cousin Timmy, after their brother Freddie died of a heart attack. [10] A man named Roy married Mary Goler, then later married Stella Goler, and then another. However, defects may be more common than I let on. The settlers were not looking to make large amounts of money or even try to make alliances; they simply wanted to live in a place they could make their own. Esther Renee Adams, "Mamaw," was laid to rest in her own home. Sadly, before the sexual abuse allegations came to light to the public at large, the children cried out for help to adults outside the clan. [9] Continued conflicts between the coal mine workers and the mine owners and operators caused massacres such as the Matewan massacre. Teenagers clad in Carhartt and Mossy Oak loitering outside long-shuttered businesses. They would have one anothers babies, quite proudly, even the children. Larry Holzwarth - June 18, 2019. Then, in 2004, Abercrombie & Fitch released a T-shirt emblazoned with a map of the Appalachian state and the words Its all relative in West Virginia. In February, a casting director for the upcoming thriller Shelter put out a call for extras with unusual body shapes, [and] even physical abnormalities to depict West Virginia mountain people. Before settlers arrived to the mountains, the Cherokee, ruled the land. This was almost wholly lost on the adults of the Goler clan, and it shows. Mountain people trace their roots to the Scottish people to whom Englands King James I gave Irish lands in an effort to allow two of England's biggest enemies to eliminate each other. They became farmers, loggers, miners, and developed relations with each other in order to protect their land. Community gatherings, family gatherings, and heritage festivals are ongoing throughout these parts. Heres the trailer below. To most of us, the mere mention of the word incest strikes us and stops us dead in our tracks. So whatever may have been true 50 years ago isnt necessarily true now. Heres where things get murky. Forced from their homes, the valley residents sought employment elsewhere, but the Allens and Kathans chose to remain up in the mountains. Unfortunately, proper colonial society regarded the Scots-Irish as an ignorant horde and shunned. The group helped provide community centers throughout Appalachia, with hopes of allowing individuals to become more educated and view other, newer technologies created by society. Why the United States Entered World War I, 123rd Machine Gun Battalion in the Meuse-Argonne, Northern Military Advantages in the Civil War, The Year Before America Entered the Great War. Sexual assaults were taking place behind the metaphorical closed doors of the clans areas. The notion of widespread inbreeding was at least in part the result of crude assumptions about how these isolated forest people might have been perpetuating their communities. Some criticsincluding those featured in The True Meaning of Pictures, a 2002 documentary film about Adams worksay he exploits a region already saddled with stereotypes involving poverty and violence. Once you do something nice for somebody youre accepted, he said, adding that he believes residents of the Hollow are slowly becoming more comfortable with outsiders. Appalachian Culture Explained in 40 Facts. These widespread, limiting views of Appalachia and its people began to develop in the post-Civil War;[1] Those who "discovered" Appalachia found it to be a very strange environment, and depicted its "otherness" in their writing. [9] Due to this, the economy stayed poor and struggled to allow the region to prosper. "[11], The traditional Appalachian dialect and accent also comes with a slew of stereotypes and consequences for those who bear it. Confronting Satan in a Dark Spanish Castle, astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen, [are neither] unique [n]or particularly common to the region. [4] There were allegations of torture, sodomy, and physically violent sexual abuse of the children by the adults. In 1980, anthropologist Robert Tincher published a study titled "Night Comes to the Chromosomes: Inbreeding and Population Genetics in. ( Returnto the corrected sentence.). By the end of the century, the Allens and the Kathans had intermarried: all the residents in the Hollow were related. One of the family members was completely paralyzed from the neck down and had to live in this minimal, highly impoverished existence. At the same time, railroads and coalmines invaded Appalachia, forcing many mountain people to abandon farming and go to work for the railroad or coal mines to feed their families. They still tend to be a very close-knit group and they take care of each other, she said. As a result, many of the people of the clan suffered physical and mental deficiencies. These allegations got the attention of the Canadian police, who launched an investigation into the clan and found out, much to everyones horror and shock, that this had been going on for generations. [6] The teacher had to do something. I am writing a paper on Appalachian Culture, whether it is a myth or reality on what is said both past and present. Get our free newsletter Amazing new updates! These people were strong, independent, and "frugal.". The eastern mountain people of Kentucky are called the Appalachians. There are no corporate kin groups, and kinship is reckoned bilaterally. Its not, strictly speaking. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Adams wouldnt see Nay Bug again for 18 years. Stereotyping Appalachian people as being poor white people thus contributes to the "invisibility of blacks in Appalachia" as well as Hispanics and other racialized people. They are known for being of a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, causing the skin to appear blue. A sick, depraved, and macabre tale was being pieced together for detectives with every word the clan members spoke. [22], Within the region, discrimination against women is also a very big issue. The labor was divided; children did the small chores and such, while the adults handled other tasks and collected their welfare checks.[3]. Generations of inbreeding in isolated pockets of Appalachia have created a significantly higher rate of birth defects among the people who live there, geneticists said this week. However, there is. If you dont mind, therefore, well restructure your question along slightly more scientific lines: Is southern Appalachia characterized by an unusually high incidence of (a) inbreeding and (b) mental retardation and genetic defects, and if so, has (a) led to (b)? Ask the Explainer. There is no editorializing from the filmmakers whatsoever, the viewer has no idea what they might be thinking, which is one of the reasons The Hollow is such a strong film. Boxing people in is easy. Sadly, they simply just couldnt comprehend it; one of the defense attorneys noted that they didnt even have the slightest clue as to what was happening to them during the court proceedings.

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