Quote:
Originally Posted by lisarea
It's not just Morgan Freeman. Criminal profilers have said this forever. They've said that the only thing the media accomplishes by plastering the news with 24 hour coverage of speculation and public discussion of mass killers is to encourage copycats. They make them into some sort of folk heroes for other whiny disaffected kids.
I don't entirely blame people for being transfixed by events like that and wanting to learn more about it for whatever reason, but I do 100% blame the media for continuing to cover these stories the way they do after having been told flat out that they're causing more killings.
So at least in part, the media is to blame. If the media didn't make mass murderers into celebrities, most of them probably wouldn't bother.
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hmm. how did you find out about it?
it certainly is the media...it's all of society that is to blame. american mainstream news is pretty fucking gross, but it's also very popular and has a humungous audience. ever consider that these self-appointed actors are carrying out more and more spectacular crimes to suit the evolving tastes of the audience? nobody is turning off the news. everybody is waiting for next big disaster. these people don't want to be copycats. they don't want to be reruns...
dont' tune in and they won't cover it the way they do. but it's hard to stop, isn't it? there is a perverse comfort in coming together for a group hug to see us through the hurt. i think people are feeling more and more alone. we are constantly marketed to and compartmentalized...and yet we are so much closer than we have ever been. the world is much smaller thanks to technology. i think this is fucking people up and they just snap.
the problem isn't guns. it makes things easier, but if you're nuts enough to murder children, i don't think an axe is out of the question. when people are shot in a robbery or defending their homes...that's a time for talk about gun control. when we live in a society that seems to have everything and the difference is often only a matter of degrees, it would be nice to know what triggers people to go out and do these things. it never seems to be poor people committing these crimes.
as much as michael moore bugs me, he was smart in pairing columbine with the weapons manufacturing that goes on around it. america supplies the world with weapons along with its own arsenal that has been used to kill countless children around the world. i wonder...if they did weeks-long coverage on all the mass killings done in your name around the world, would people tune in?
i lie. i do not wonder. people would not tune in. people would rather tune into their random, artistic-by-comparison murders because it doesn't leave them feeling guilty. in fact, it creates solidarity...an audience. and only the killer is to blame in the end.