nutritious news?
"The media has long ago stopped encouraging excellence, it is too hard a road and too few people relate to the work needed to be a true hero. " (quote from my manager)
i went to cnn.com tonight to read some news before hitting the sack. about 80% of the page was splashed with images of the killer in the VT shootings. he will now be amongst the faces we all know so well of other known murderers.
where are the faces of the people that truly matter? the innocent, the people who were doing good in their lives -
the amount of real estate these people get in the media is appalling, and, to me, socially irresponsible. what better way to encourage more psychos to strive for infamy? why would i give the lowlife piece of crap my attention and watch a disturbing video that meant everything to him for everyone to watch (i will not watch it)! that video should have never been released, and it is an insult to the people who lost family members to this incident. there's nothing to gain by watching it except a bit of schadenfreudesque, macabre form of entertainment. life is difficult enough, i don't need to go out of my way to see disturbing things. what happened this week is an awful thing, and i certainly care more about the people this happened to than the person who did it.
why do we need to go into the "mind" of this person! it's simple: he was a disturbed sociopath. clearly the signs were there, but social, community, governmental responsibility was impaired. (i realize we can't stop every psycho, but as a group of human beings on this planet, if we just "cared" a little more -- less tragedies would occur.)
i could never understand why time magazine, etc. would put osama bin laden's face on the cover of their magazine - or the men who flew the planes in 9/11, etc. these people are getting what they want.
the new york post splashed an anna nicole story and photo on the front page today, giving about 1/3 mention on the cover of the shootings -- with, of course, the face of the shooter. shame on you! (i realize it's the New York Post - but still, how could an editor think the cover in any kind of taste or decency at all?)
people's sad meltdowns are entertainment? the sperm donor of a celebrity's baby? and still, we cannot see the faces of the people who are losing limb, psyche or dying for this country. where are the faces of people who are trying to make the world a better place? they are not on the front pages. just a few weeks ago, CNN was the effin' Anna Nicole Channel!
lastly, if anything -- i hope we can, as a whole, take more responsibility when recognizing unstable people; empower ourselves regardless of the "system"; realize that strict gun legislation could have not only prevented this*, but many incidents you DON'T hear about and future ones.
how great would it be if there was a wave of more people choosing to NOT participate in the consumption of the empty calories, putting our brainwaves, focus on the negative and DISTRACTIVE side of the media! (one can only dream)
*the guy was diagnosed a harm to himself and others -- there should be a system intact whereby these types of people cannot purchase guns. period. you can't drink and drive, you shouldn't be able to psycho and shoot.
fd
my thoughts to all families who have lost someone - here, there, and everywhere.
i went to cnn.com tonight to read some news before hitting the sack. about 80% of the page was splashed with images of the killer in the VT shootings. he will now be amongst the faces we all know so well of other known murderers.
where are the faces of the people that truly matter? the innocent, the people who were doing good in their lives -
the amount of real estate these people get in the media is appalling, and, to me, socially irresponsible. what better way to encourage more psychos to strive for infamy? why would i give the lowlife piece of crap my attention and watch a disturbing video that meant everything to him for everyone to watch (i will not watch it)! that video should have never been released, and it is an insult to the people who lost family members to this incident. there's nothing to gain by watching it except a bit of schadenfreudesque, macabre form of entertainment. life is difficult enough, i don't need to go out of my way to see disturbing things. what happened this week is an awful thing, and i certainly care more about the people this happened to than the person who did it.
why do we need to go into the "mind" of this person! it's simple: he was a disturbed sociopath. clearly the signs were there, but social, community, governmental responsibility was impaired. (i realize we can't stop every psycho, but as a group of human beings on this planet, if we just "cared" a little more -- less tragedies would occur.)
i could never understand why time magazine, etc. would put osama bin laden's face on the cover of their magazine - or the men who flew the planes in 9/11, etc. these people are getting what they want.
the new york post splashed an anna nicole story and photo on the front page today, giving about 1/3 mention on the cover of the shootings -- with, of course, the face of the shooter. shame on you! (i realize it's the New York Post - but still, how could an editor think the cover in any kind of taste or decency at all?)
people's sad meltdowns are entertainment? the sperm donor of a celebrity's baby? and still, we cannot see the faces of the people who are losing limb, psyche or dying for this country. where are the faces of people who are trying to make the world a better place? they are not on the front pages. just a few weeks ago, CNN was the effin' Anna Nicole Channel!
lastly, if anything -- i hope we can, as a whole, take more responsibility when recognizing unstable people; empower ourselves regardless of the "system"; realize that strict gun legislation could have not only prevented this*, but many incidents you DON'T hear about and future ones.
how great would it be if there was a wave of more people choosing to NOT participate in the consumption of the empty calories, putting our brainwaves, focus on the negative and DISTRACTIVE side of the media! (one can only dream)
*the guy was diagnosed a harm to himself and others -- there should be a system intact whereby these types of people cannot purchase guns. period. you can't drink and drive, you shouldn't be able to psycho and shoot.
fd
my thoughts to all families who have lost someone - here, there, and everywhere.
posted by free dominguez at 1:11 AM
10 Comments:
You're totally right.
And seriously, if they want that much to talk about the shooting they should talk more about that teacher who blocked the door and died to save his students and less about the killer. In my opinion, heroism is worthier to mention.
Hi Free,
Thanks for replying to my message.
Although I agree with you on several points, I must say that playing the blaming game won't bring any answers.
I am against the gun culture too, but tell me... what would have changed if he dind't have access to a gun and instead he had used a truck to run everybody down, or a bomb, or just his bare hands?
It's not the law, nor the weapon or the method. It's the individual!
We could ban guns, and put kids into a plastic bubble, this kind of thing will continue to happen if we don't educate our children.
You said he was a sociopath, indeed he was. But did anyone really tried to help him? They say he briefly went to a Mental Health facility but they could not diagnose anything serious with him, but that was back in 2005. A lot can change in a person in 2 years.
"He never spoke" - That's Because nobody was there to listen.
One of his teachers said "he was not ill, he was mean" and threatened to quit lecturing if they did not remove him from her classes. The funny thing is that this teacher who discriminated him because of his "odd" behavior instead of helping him out calls herself a "Black Activist". I've sent an email to her about her remarks and I dind't bother to be polite.
How do you help someone like him by isolating him as if he was a virus or some animal?
That's why I belived nobody cared and nobody helped him.
About the way the "glorify" the "killer". If you think CNN is bad try to tune on FOX News (the most hardcore right-wing biased media ever!). You have to be aware that nowdays, NOBODY is interested in repoting facts in the most accurate way. It's all about hype and sensationalism. All they care is to sell the "unbelievable" and they only do it because there's enough morons to buy it.
On the MSNBC site they raised a complete out-of-context poll "Could video-games have influenced killer?"
For me that is "so american", to put the blame on everything else. except where it should be.
I don't know if you are familiar with Al Jourgensen's band Ministry, but if you have the time listen to a song he wrote called "So What?" (Album: The mind is a Terrible Thing to taste, Sire Records 1989). Back then he was able to describe accurately what is going on with our youth today.
Sorry for the huge post...
Have a great day
F.
PS. Can't wait for new KT stuff!
absolutely. you can't stop everyone who wants to do something -- however, our society on so many levels is so afraid to jump in because of levels of political correctness or bureaucracies -- are we becoming that lazy and that programmed that we can't jump out of the stream and take a stand? passing on things b/c "someone else will take care of it" -- we should be able to see someone like this, especially as TEACHER or DOCTOR -- who people know was disturbed - and say "fuck that, there is something wrong with you --" and not pass the buck and really play the role of TEACHER or DOCTOR, etc.
this is just one thing that has happened - it is a catalyst for all things disturbing that we should *QUESTION in our society.
and i believe it SHOULD be more difficult for people to get guns, and we should inquire as to why someone needs this sort of arsenal; information should be available regarding mental health -- sorry -- that is my opinion. i would prefer if guns were banned, but since i know that will not happen, at least make it difficult for any trigger happy schmo to get them.
it's something that happened. good and bad things happen every day. but i believe that our newsmedia has gotten out of hand as to what is being fed to us.
My mom and I were discussing this a couple days ago (before the shootings) about taking note of when people accomplish things. We were reading the newspaper and the title of one of the sports columns was that so and so team was the loser and proceeded to talk about how lousy they were and pointed out all their mistakes. Why not proudly say which team won and how they got there?
My sister has been chosen from a nationwide list to represent Hawaii in Pop Warner Cheerleading for maintaining a 4.0 average during her cheerleading and other extracurricular activities. She'll be flying to a different state for an award ceremony. A tiny article about it in the local paper? Nope. All expenses paid? Hell no. Fundraisers to help get her there? Of course not. If no one seems to care, then why strive for personal excellence and recognition when nothing's really going to come of it?
Agreed... no one talks about the winners, heroes... we need more positive media.
Makes me think of the movie Bowling for Columbine when they talked about Canada and how their news consisted of positive changes in the area.
So frustrating!
"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."- Andy Warhol
i find that this quote is so true today with "reality tv stars" running rampant.
problem #1 why don't gun stores have a database that can be cross referenced with people that have been in mental health facilities? (this is a solution for the gun totting folk)
problem #2 the fact that the headline splashed across tv screens and newspapers was "Korean Shooter" . yes he was korean but that's not why he commited those murders. when columbine happened they weren't called white shooters.. walking through school today, i noticed people staring at me and im not even korean.
problem #3 irresponsible journalism. some reporters were on campus today conducting interviews with students about "how likely it could happen in LA". now, that is irresponsible. im sure the producer said, "Lets see how we can relate this locally!". its scary the way media is run- information is a commodity and those that provide the information have power.
ive been doing a lot of research on media effects right now and its fascinating how at a young age we are basically brainwashed, desensitized and made into these paranoid beings.
you're kidding me! i've pretty much tuned out on the headlines... that is awful! and yes the apogee of irresponsibility.
Great blog, Free. Well said as usual :).
You echoed my sentiments about the VT shootings exactly. Everytime I've turned the televison on to the news, it's that ONE face, and so I change the channel. THIS is why people don't follow world events because they don't get real news.
I completely agree that there needs to be stricter gun buying regulations. Ammunition is even easier to buy. Violence is contagious, and the media LOVES it.
i'm listening to black bullet and reading your blog. i love you.
I just thought I'd echo an agreement here. I love your work Free, you have an amazing voice.
I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there.
- Mother Teresa
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