Something is rotten in 'Denmark'

Almost a decade ago, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was the victim of a sensational kidnapping. Suffice it to say that her ordeal was horrific. She was found nine months later. Her captor was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Smart ultimately attended Brigham Young University, studying music as a harp performance major, according to Wikipedia. In November 2009, she traveled to France and spent over a year doing Mormon missionary work. Curiously, ABC News has hired her as the designated pundit for missing-persons stories. She will reportedly appear on "Good Morning America" and possibly "Nightline." But Howard Kurtz has asked the right question: "Does that strike anyone as odd?" Indeed. Until now, Smart (now 23) and her family have avoided the limelight. What changed? Is it the allure of easy money and fame? I hope that's not the case. But whatever the reason, Ms. Smart certainly has every right to pursue a career under the klieg lights, if that's her intent. Yet, there is something deeply creepy about ABC's readiness to trade on her past as a crime victim. Or as Marcellus puts it in Hamlet, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."