Re: The Virginia Tech Shooter!

The media needs to STOP putting the shooter (and anyone else who commits such a heinous crime of taking lives)on our front covers of our newspapers and magazines!
It is absolutely ridiculous that this person is made a hero and all the details of his life splashed all over the media. I do not want to know anything about his person! I feel only sadness for this person and Yes, he needs to be put under a microscope to be disected and find out what would make him think, never mind do such a crime! Find out all this information, call him Mr. X and please put it on the back pages of your paper or better still under separate cover and let it be bought separately!
I want to know all about EACH of the other 32 people who lost their lives... How old were they? What were their dreams? Where are they from? Did they have brothers and sisters? What are their parents going through right now? I want to follow up on them and find out how they're coping. Can we do anything to alleviate some of their pain? I would imagine the shooter's family are devastated too. They will need support as well. How are they doing?
Let's not make a hero out of this person! I'm afraid by making a big splash about this shooter and giving him all the limelight, there's a bigger monster out there, who will want to be more competitive and have the "need" to surpass all others! Yes that's right, the next "sick" person will have a need to make it more spectacular and more devastating to be noticed! And isn't that what this is all about? ~ Attention!
PLEASE STOP this media madness and give us the news that we want without the "shock" value!
Why not you, The Citizen, be the first to lead the pack with a moral conscience and report on the victims and their families... Let the shooter be a footnote to everything else. Let us look for the information on the shooter ~ DON'T give him top priority! You be the "first one on the block.... to prevent our boys/girls coming home in a box"...
Thanks for letting me share my opinion with you.

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Sadie: what about?
Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Thu, 04/19/2007 - 6:58pm.

What would you suggest about the 50-100 now being blown up PER DAY in Iraq?
What should the newspapers and TV do about the 3,600 dead USA soldiers and about 30,000 wounded and crippled? Want to do anything about the approximately 100,000 Iraqi dead, and unknown innocent that are wounded?
No?
Maybe they should concentrate their coverage of the above to other things such as "let's get Iran" next!

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Enough Already
Submitted by MIKEK on Thu, 04/19/2007 - 3:08pm.

Shamefully our deeppocketed media is still in its frenzy regarding the unfortunate circumstances in Virginia. I'm asking myself just what do these folks really want and need now that our prayers continue for them, the entire nation mourning, and the grieving process underway? They want mostly to be left to heal with some semblance of solitude and dignity.
Why is it then that networks and columnists etc continue to spin the ordeal even further into oblivion? Could it be a shameless and self centered view of themselves as the providers of opinion that they alone deem I want to hear? Are they not the same information bearers that protested when they were not permitted to "showcase" coffins and funerals of fallen servicemen? Certainly this was not meant by the founding fathers entitled freedom of speech.
Enough is enough, let's try to heal not prolong.

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Your point taken
Submitted by Sadie on Fri, 04/20/2007 - 10:10am.

I agree with you entirely and know enough is enough... let the healing begin & maybe in the future do a follow up...
My most immediate concern is to prevent anything like this happening again... and although a lot of it is out of our hands personally, the media can help by making a moral decision to STOP the frenzy and just report facts. We need to prevent a further happening in any way we can and this seemed to be the most immediate.
Thank you for sharing.

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Everybody is entitled....
Submitted by Sadie on Fri, 04/20/2007 - 10:04am.

Yes, everybody is entitled to feel & to pass on their opinion.... I'm just tired of the media taking a newsbreaking story and "beating it death"... Yes, our heroes in the Iraq war is news & yes we need to know what's happening... but there is such a thing a too much information. As terribly as it is to go to war, they are there knowingly & willingly and upon their decision to follow the decision of their country... The victims in this situation did not have that choice!
In this era of communication technology we have access to so much information that the competitiveness of the media causes a information overload and ultimately such a frenzy that it's all about sensationalizing the facts... it's not about the news anymore ~ it's about making it "stretch" and getting as much mileage out of a story that one possibly can e.g. Anna Nicole Smith...(say no more!)
But I regress ~ Maybe you're right that we leave the poor victims alone ~ my only point was I'd rather know about our victims than the perpetrator (on any level of crime). If the media makes a hero out of this shooter, or even the appearance of hero making, it just gives the next shooter more of a reason to make it bigger & note worthy the next time! I'm asking the Citizen to consider this very seriously ~ If the people in Virginia involved with "the shooter", who saw all the signs, had taken the report that one of the teachers had reported very seriously this would not have happened.... It would have been prevented.... NOW it's time for the newspaper to make a decision to take this very seriously and HELP prevent a further catastrophe! It's amazing what one can do if the "almighty" dollar is not the determining factor!

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sadie:knowingly & willingly?
Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Fri, 04/20/2007 - 11:46am.

You don't have a clue about who is in Iraq and Afghanistan getting killed, do you?
For scores of years people joined the national guard and reserves (Bush was one of them) to avoid war, primarily, or in the case of the reserves, hoping to eventually retire from the military.
Most of them got away with it too, because that is what the recruiters told them would happen----"don't worry, you might have to help with a flood for a week or so, but no combat."
So, they got married, had kids, and BOOM, they were in combat, untrained and unequipped---some now for three years!
Easy to forget about it daily that way, isn't it?
The press, especially cable, will dwell on it as long as advertisers want them to. They don't buy war time, however.
Why is it youwant to see the victims and their families on TV instead of the killer' tape? Do you want to see any of the dead soldier's families on TV?

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Mixed message???
Submitted by Sadie on Mon, 04/23/2007 - 8:12am.

OK dollaradayandfound, I see you've misinterpreted my message entirely! Sorry you've misunderstood my point of view... I'm not against what you have to say! I hate war & crime... I don't believe in it. I wish the leaders of our countries (U.S. & Canada) would make wiser dicisions for the sake of our soldiers and our country... Our people should not even be over there.., so please don't say "I don't have a clue about who is in Iraq & Afghanistan getting killed"... for every man & woman whose name we've been given I have prayed for them & their families... No I can't name them all and I'm very happy their names & faces were given to us in the news... But I'm also saddened for them... We don't know the whole story and the governments keep trying to convince us we have reasons to be there... I don't agree and NO I do not want to see people get killed (for any reason)...
BUt I think you have minunderstood my point. I will not go into it again cause I've already made my point quite clear... My reasoning was to prevent further "heroes" made of people who are sick & did not get help,(because the problem was ignored)& we now have proof of what can happen... It's sad & sick... & the only reason I made my point at all was to PREVENT any further happenings of this sort.... I cannot see how making this point ties into the war in Iraq or Afghanistan... It's not even remotely the same... Our men & women are there because our leaders sent them there ~ for the wrong reasons & I don't agree with them being there!
I do not WANT to see victims & their families on TV... I would RAther know about them than the killer! But certainly not to make news or to hurt them! So please enough misinterpretation of my message... no where near what I was saying... You do have a beef, but I'm still not sure what it is....
thanks for your opinion.

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