The Dudeism Forum

Morgan Freeman's take on what happened yesterday

TURN OFF THE NEWS.......

"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."

Roger Ebert had a similar take on it:

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. "Wouldn't you say," she asked, "that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?" No, I said, I wouldn't say that. "But what about 'Basketball Diaries'?" she asked. "Doesn't that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?" The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it's unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.

The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. "Events like this," I said, "if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn't have messed with me. I'll go out in a blaze of glory."

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of "explaining" them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.

http://boingboing.net/2012/12/15/roger-ebert-on-how-the-press-r.html

Wow! Right on Roger Ebert! Good find, Forumdude!

Good posts,and I agree 100%!
I am fully aware of what happened,even more so,since my wife works at a school,but you know what?
We are NOT watching the 24/7 coverage about it..

I am glad to hear of at least two well known men whom share my concept of the problem with these events.  I agree 100% that if we reported on these stories but did so without giving so much coverage to the unstable people who perpetrate them we would not give others reason to follow in their footsteps in the future.

My brother-in-law is a professor at Virginia Tech and was there during the tragedy.  He made an argument like this to his class as well.  He took all the articles related to the shooting and presented them to his classes at the time with the names of the shooter blanked out and instead added an additional section at the end which listed each victim along with their age, major, and any clubs they belonged to at the end.  After doing so he took a poll that showed how much stronger ties the students felt to the victims as compared to based on the original news stories.  The difference was astonishing and this was among people that in at least a few cases had one or two classes with the victims, and at the very least knew they shared a campus with them.  If that type of change in perception can be made among people whom have a tangible connection with the victims imagine what change could be made in society at larges perception of these events.

I couldn't agree more with what Morgan Freeman said. I'm so tired of these little piss asses who because they can't deal with their problems feel it's okay to take the lives of innocents to somehow vindicate their sad existence. Who the fuck are you man?!! Do the world a favor and eat a bullet in your mom's basement and spare the lives of innocent people, especially children!!!.

I see some of these people looking for what I call "assisted suicide".
That being the case,just walk up to any cop,and point a gun at him...you will get your wish,and you dont need to kill any innocent people.
I feel bad for all the victims,and you know who else I feel really bad for?
The family of this nut-job has to live with what their son has done for the rest of their lives,too,man..I dont know if I could ever handle that..I would have to see it as my fault,as a parent,and that would make me want to eat a bullet...