As I walked in to Starbucks this morning (I did say “Excuse me!”) I noticed the copy of USA Today on the newsstand. Blaring across the front were multiple photos of the Virginia Tech killer. Apparently he mailed NBC a video and other items between the first shooting and the second wave of shootings. I was struck by the fact that so much attention is given to the killers in cases like this. They definitely get their moment of posthumous fame in our culture. We are all so curious – who was the killer? What did he or she look like? Why did they do it? But in all of this, I still have not seen photos of those who died. I would much rather see a full front page of photos of those who were killed and stories about their lives. But that probably wouldn’t sell as many newspapers. So instead we get a photo montage of a messed up guy who took the lives of 32 people. My prayers are with the families and friends of these students.
In other less serious news… I am so glad to report that finally, at long last, Sanjaya was voted off American Idol. Believe me, I was so happy about that last night. How he managed to stay on so long is beyond me. Personally I think it was a ratings thing, they were deliberately keeping him on to keep everyone interested. I know, I know, it’s shallow and sad that I watch this show (and write about it), but the funny thing is that I only watch the decision show… I just want to see who gets kicked off and who stays. I am still voting for Melinda – the judges still love her.
Not all, but I do think part of the responsibility does go to the media (have to give some credit to Michael Moore)for these mass killings. Since Columbine, it has become somewhat popular for things like this to happen. I agree with you on the pictures…the killer and not the dead people…the “graphic” pictures of the dead get censored in fear it may create more violence and sadness…how ironic. Larry Crabb is right when he says, “not until we face our pain, will we begine to change it.” The media trys to ignore the pain and focus on the behavior….and this continues to happen…HMMMMMMMMM!
It’s funny, after Columbine, one of my high-school teachers presented a similar angle to our Science/Chemistry class.
Time Magazine posted a cover with two big photos of the killers in color, with all of the dead students on the borders in gray and very small. It was a simple question: What’s wrong with this picture?
Traditional news media still doesn’t get it.
So my school was on lockdown until 5:00 pm because a kid said something kinda threatening and they made every school in the district, including mine (it happened at another school), stay till they made sure everything was “safe”…more fear given to the innocent and more power given to people who get pleasure off controlling so many people with a sentence…pisses me off,especially since I had to stay with a bunch of 6 graders going crazy for 2 hours…FOR NOTHING…people in freakin Israel still go out and do what they do everyday and bombs are ACTUALLY going off there.