Va. Tech Shootings

[theexorcist]

Go to www.slate.com/ and look at the front page. The person shown looks in control and menacing. It gives someone who was certainly mentally ill and quite possibly legitimately evil strength.

He also sent these videos to NBC. That sick [Edited] WANTED this to happen.

Most murderers don't brag of their murders. Most murderers kill out of frustration or annoyance. They don't care if ten murders a month are shown on TV or 100.

This nutjob was a serial killer. He liked killing and it made this poor slob feel big. He wanted his ten minutes of fame, pathetic though he is.

This is where consistently covering the tapes (as opposed to small snippets to legitimately inform) becomes counterproductive. Every sadist who has home video of him torturing little children is going to enjoy the fact that this whacko got publicity and is seen as powerful and getting what he wanted. And they're going to think that if they send in that video or if they videotape their killing rampage, that they're going to get the same treatment.

THAT's the problem.

[afirth]

healyhoya said:

bando said:

afirthionado, I'm sorry, but I'm not comfortable with NBC (or anyone for that matter) making judgments like this for the rest of us. I don't need a major media corporation deciding whether I'm adult enough or emotionally stable enough to see something.

As for your copycat argument, can you see where your line of reasoning goes? Should we never broadcast the details of a murder for fear of someone gaining inspiration? How does this square with the first amendment? You say you're not one for censorship, but that's exactly what you seem to be advocating.

I realize your comments were aimed at someone else and I'm certainly not attempting to speak for other people but...

There is a difference between censorship and reasonable moderation. I don't think this video should be banned, if that were even possible, or that showing it will necessarily be the ultimate causitive factor in future shootings; however, it does not need to be run every fifteen minutes, on all 4 networks, multiple cable news channels, 24-7.

There are shades of gray to how this story, and every story, will be reported and ought to be reported. Calls for this video to be shown in greater moderation are absolutely appropriate.

You mentioned that you're not comfortable with NBC, or any major media company, making that decision for you. In fact, that type of decision is made every day, 100 times over, by every media company. The decision isn't to completely censor a particular video, story, viewpoint, picture, etc. but rather how much time to give it, where to place it in the show (first segment, dead last), how to comment on it, and, finally, how often it ought to be shown.

Reasonable people may disagree on what that final clause means but certainly those positing that the video has been aired too much, too often, with too much prominence have a valid -- if debateable -- point.

Should the video be aired? Absolutely. How often? That is up for debate.

Thank you for saying, so much more eloquently, what I was trying to say.

[SirSaxa]

This is a tragic, senseless event. Terribly terribly sad. All the stories about the young people who died are heart wrenching. They all seem like such nice young people with bright futures. And the stories about the teachers.. dedicated, popular people. Especially the holocaust survivor who blocked the door to save a few more of his kids. My condolences to the V Tech community and all the families.

As for NBC, I can't see how they could do anything but release the materials. Everyone is trying to understand who this guy was and why he would do such a thing. They didn't release everything, just select elements. But when we see all of the cable news channels airing it over and over, then add in the other networks, it becomes something else. But is that NBC's fault?

If NBC did not air the material, what would people be thinking? Why not? What's in it? then the conspiracy theories would start. NBC had no choice but to air the material. anyone who does not want to see it can turn the channel or turn the tv off.

In my opinion, the shooter wasn't evil. He was completely deranged. I don't see those tapes as glorifying anything... just terriblly sad. Hopefully, they will cause a re-evaluation of mental health practices. Maybe they will encourage some people to take action if they know people who appear to be troubled as the shooter clearly was.

Concerning political points vis a vis gun control ... I guess that depends on how one views the issue. If we had stricter gun control laws and enforcement, it could have been much more difficult for someone like him .. a mentally unstable individual... to acquire fire arms. How is it inappropriate to discuss that in the aftermath of a tragic shooting?

On the other side, promoting the anti-gun control agenda, that is clearly trying to make political hay at at an entirely inappropriate time. For those who believe everyone should be armed, this incident just proved it is quite possible -- even easy -- for anyone to buy guns and arm themselves if they choose. What are the gun advocates trying to achieve? They already have made it possible for everyone to own guns.

If it is appropriate to discuss the University's response, the failure to promptly inform the campus after the first shooting, the pros and cons of locking down the campus, the legal difficulties of forcing a troubled student to get mental health attention, and all the other issues related to this event, why is it inappropriate to discuss how he got the weapons used to kill 32 other people? Defending unfettered gun access and ownership at a time like this is the part that seems craven to me.

Finally, the families of victims are the ones who need our prayers. I can't imagine what the families are going through, including the shooter's family. Just a terrible, tragic, event.

[DFW HOYA]

Good points throughout.

One story that hasn't got as much airplay is that one of the chief reasons the campus was not locked down after the first shooting was that police thought they had the suspect stopped off campus. In the hour after the first shooting, the boyfriend of one of the victims at the dorm was identified as the possible suspect by police. That individual in question was pulled over in a car on US 460 around 9:30 and was being detained when the word got out that shots were again being fired on campus. (In fact, early reports identified the shots from the engineering building as possibly being a second shooter, assuming the first one had been caught.)

Hindsight is always 20-20. The likelihood of an assailant returning to the scene of a crime within two hours to continue a crime was (and remains) highly unusual, and tragic nevertheless.

[Nevada Hoya]

SirSaxa made an interesting point in that in his opinion the gunman was not evil but completely deranged. I believe evil lives in the world, whether it is in an entity, we have called the devil, or whether it is pervasive in our culture in other forms. I guess we can look at the gunman as one of the stories in the gospels about people possessed by evil spirits. No guns were available back then, so no mass murders yet, but we see Jesus driving the evil spirits out of those possessed. We have not the power to judge the gunman other than saying his acts were horrific, but there was evil at work last week, whatever form it took.

[hifigator]

Just my two cents:

Although ineveitable, I think that both sides of the gun issue were far too quick to jump into the fray. I thought that for at least a few days, maybe a week, the issue should have been the tragedy iteslf, not a political hotbox like gun control or gun owner's rights.

Secondly, I don't think airing some of the kook's comments and ramblings were bad from the standpoint of glamorizing him is some way. But the argument that it could encourage other nutcases to try to get their 15 seconds of fame is sound. In a sense I think it is like the decision the networks have pretty much universally made to not show fans who run out onto the field. They have in advance decided that showing those idiots would only encourage further behavior of the sort and almost certainly in larger numbers.