A brilliant take on CT shooting

[tiwariarrun]

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

[essdee1972]

This was by the actor, Morgan Freeman, right?

[a__v]

What happened in CT was really horrific, but the way the media projects it, concentrating on the numbers rather than the individuals is worse. As someone who is fond of shooting as a sport, it makes me feel really sad that yet again the actions of an irresponsible few will cast a shadow of doubt over the responsible many.
Saw this picture earlier today which in some way talks about the reality of todays media influence.

[tiwariarrun]

HI EssDee,

I knew someone would say that. But Morgan Freeman has denied making the above statements..This has originated as a FB update by a non-celebrity user.. Morgan's PR, Stan Rosenfield said that he has made no public statements about the tragedy to date..

[essdee1972]

Sorry, my bad!