News Media Can’t Resist Being Pigheaded

On Sunday, Alene Ammond got a pig’s head on her porch, presumably in retaliation for nothing. And yesterday, the media pounced, as all three local TV stations reported on her and she was linked on Drudge Report. (Why is this a big deal, anyway? It’s not like they’re going: “Ooh, she was mentioned on Drudge! Let’s write about it in the Inquirer!” Wait.)

This is all recapped in an Inquirer article today about the subject, quoting Ammond: “When I want to make national news about important things, I can’t. But a pig’s head is left at my house and I get it.” Well, now she knows how to get attention when she wants to stop Cherry Hill’s new porn shop or make fun of the mayor or something.

Ammond is playing this as retaliation to her career of complaining, citing that it could be any number of the people in the community furious at her criticism! She also says it could be a hate crime. Erhm.

But why a pig’s head? What does it mean? Inquirer reporter Edward Colimore attempts to explain the mystery:

In the meantime, the decapitation has been the talk of the town. Ammond and others wondered about possible motives and symbolism behind it. One theory was offered by J.T. Barbarese, an assistant professor of English at Rutgers University-Camden, who thought it might refer to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies - “a novel many read when they’re eighth or ninth grade. There, you have boys who degenerate over time [on an isolated island]. A pig is killed and its head - placed on a stake - represents the authority of evil.”

Man, that’s some deep symbolism. Let’s hope whoever did the prank hasn’t read The Spanish Tragedy. Not that I buy the Lord of the Flies comparison. More likely it’s an elaborate promotion for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Pig’s head brings on a media frenzy [Inquirer]
Pig’s Head Thrown On Local Activist’s Porch [NBC 10]
Yesterday: And You Know A Horse Head In The Bed Is Next