The mass killing at Virginia Tech is just heart breaking. We need time to make sense of this. But the media response is just horrible.
Last night, I was watching Alison Stewart on MSNBC, who I like, but even she was ridiculous. 30+ dead at Va Tech and the speculation on MSNBC (and I assume the others as well) an embarassment. They already have the tag line ("massacre at Virginia Tech") with accompanying music. The amazing fact of modern media is that the less actual facts they have, the more they talk. And then there is the need to blame someone.
But the speculation was amazing. In the absence of details, put someone on who can just make stuff up. Alison was interviewing a former FBI agent asking him what the first steps needed to be. This genius said that the first step was to find out who the shooter was. That was the key. I would have never thought about that. She then asked what we should learn from the press conference. He said that we needed to know what was happening to the victims. And he used to work for the FBI.
15 comments:
Streak, I agree wholeheartedly with you. One would think that after the Duke rape case, the media might slow down with the constant barrage of speculation, handwringing, comparisons to Columbine, and attempts to assign blame (gun control, univeristy administrators, etc.). I do not watch the same amount of news as you do, but even sports shows and networks (e.g. Jim Rome Show, ESPN) feel an obligation to speak on this issue.
--CIL
It is really unbelievable. There is part of me that thinks we need to regulate this shit. Say to the networks, until you have some corroboration of something, you don't get to just blather on. Yesterday when I first tuned in, here is what we should have heard. "There has been a shooting and there are confirmed dead. We know there were two different incidents--one at the residence halls, and the second at a classroom building. We don't know who or why. When we know, we will tell you."
I know that won't happen, but it would be nice to see. Instead, each cable news network has to outdo each other in coverage. Which is fine when they are reporting facts. But when they simply hire talking heads like that FBI guy yesterday, it is a waste of air. Or worse.
I have simply self-edited. I avoid the major networks because they don't know anything. It is amazing how much pure speculation gets aired.
oh, and btw, CIL, I noticed that Cold Pizza was going to talk about how the shooting was effecting the student athletes. Holy crap. At this time, who cares if they are an athlete or not?
Streak, I noticed the same thing on all of the other major networks. Like many, I was shocked and wanted information, so I had the news on for most of the day. I felt that most did a poor job and the speculation and blaming just got worse as the day went on. Various 'experts' in other countries didn't wait that long before they chimed in as to what was to blame:
Foreign officials, commentators try to delve into American psyche
By mid-afternoon yesterday, there were calls by some people to fire the president of VT and there was an attorney suggesting that violent video games are probably to blame for our culture of violence. It seems to be that there should be a period of mourning before people try and exploit this event for their own various groups.
Streak, What has been the response on the OU campus? Up here, there has been some discussion of the possibility of rethinking some of the security measures on the campus, but this strikes me as a reactionary statement than anything proactive. However, many officials also said that they would hold off on a campus response until the facts of the case were known.
On a related side note, a co-worker told me about a class she was teaching a few weeks ago (you know the person and their dogs), and she said that students were aghast at the UW rule that no guns were allowed in the dorms. I GUESS this might be one reason why the rule is in place (CIL said sarcastically).
-- CIL
The latest reports here have mentioned other potential incidents reported, including UT-Chattanooga and even OU, where I understand a person suspiciously carrying an umbrella put folks on edge.
I am home sick today, so this is dominating the television and radio news. What I am hearing is that the shooter was evil, that his immigrant ass never should have been let in the country to begin with, and that everyone should have had a gun.
At risk of sounding like a flaming liberal, what about the pain that the student was obviously in and the isolation that he was feeling? That does not excuse him or make his actions any less horribly murderous, but it does seem to suggest a path toward healing the community. I suspect that while this is a kid who popped his cork, he is not the only one feeling that way.
What kinds of things can improve the overall sense of community on campus and what types of mental health interventions might be available in both crises and noncrises settings? I am thinking here of mental wellness as opposed to focusing solely on mental illness in campus counselling centers.
Yeah, I was not on campus, but emails flew around about a short lockdown when someone was spotted with an object that turned out to be an umbrella. It is a rainy day...
An over reaction to be sure, but an understandable one.
I agree with all the comments here. Amazing how people can diagnose the situation so quickly, or decide that the shooter's immigrant status (here since he was 8--hardly either illegal or really much of an immigrant). I also agree with ubub that we have to look at ways that we build communities and reach out to those on the fringes. College campuses or regular.
I guess I am a flaming liberal, too, because I wonder about the mindset of the killer and what would drive him to the point where he felt he should take the course he did.
I did my grad school internship at a university counseling center. I am not familiar with VT's programs, but most universities generally do a good job with counseling services, wellness programs, and outreach. I think that these programs do the best they can, but they only work if people take advantage of the services. In my experience, Asians typically underuntilize these services, so the question then becomes what can be done to help all students. Another problem is that the number of seriously mentally ill that attend college has been on the rise over the last 20 years and universities may have a hard time providing the needed services.
CIL, VT had a rule that prohibited all firearms on campus, except for law enforcement. I guess a person that has decided to kill probably won't be deterred by a gun-free zone.
NPR had fairly good coverage, along the lines of what you suggested, Streak -- here's what we know, here's what we don't know, we'll tell you more just as soon as we can.
As I was looking for updates last night, I ran across a comment on a blog that stopped me in my tracks -- that 33 dead was a not-so-bad day, if you're an Iraqi. I haven't been able to listen to any of the coverage today without thinking about that. Yes, this is a heart-wrenching tragedy, but this is what Iraqis live with Every. Single. Goddam. Day.
We've become so anesthetised, the administration's and the media's "othering" of the Middle East has been so pervasive -- and persuasive -- that we don't even see these things as being at all on the same scale. It's terrifying.
With all due respect, I think that is appalling to use VT to critique Bush's Iraq policy. I am at a loss for words.
Bush's policies speak for themselves and the murders there are heartwrenching on their own.
Not sure Mary is doing that. Think she is pointing out that the chaos we have unleashed in the middle east makes yesterday a "normal" day in Iraq.
Steve, I'm sorry I didn't make my thought process clearer. Believe me, I'm NOT using the horror of Virginia Tech as a means to bash Iraq policy. The issue I'm struggling with is more the way our perceptions and emotions are created by the way facts are presented to us. What I'm trying to articulate is that for us, the senseless killings at VT are real -- these were young kids with bright futures that were taken from them in the most heinous way. We have now started to hear their life stories, profiles of each precious individual, and that will continue for weeks. We mourn them individually, and collectively. The daily deaths in Iraq, however, are somehow not real. Those lives were equally precious, the victims equally loved, yet they are presented to us as numbers devoid of any real humanity. "25 killed in a suicide bombing today in Mosul." Do any of us actually hear that any more? I don't think I do. It's become part of the background noise of our lives. The horror we experienced yesterday is repeated day after day, week after week for them. How do the Iraqi people cope with tragedy on such a scale? How do we cope?
I'm not bashing, Steve, honestly, not in this context. I'm overwhelmed at the magnitude of loss and grief all around.
Count me in as a liberal, too. One of my first thoughts in incidences of the injustices of life is the mindset of the one committing the atrocity. We are so quick to jump to conclusions because the ridiculousness of the media provides us with so many to jump to.
If that kid was screwed up, my bet is there are hundreds more just like him walking around, just as hopeless, just as messed up.
Steve, you said, I guess a person that has decided to kill probably won't be deterred by a gun-free zone. Just like an abstinence policy keeps kids from having sex. Not a jab, just an interesting observation.
This kid was maladjusted, plain and simple and things like this are just gonna happen. We live in a world where things go wrong, horribly wrong. But this is a chance again for us to rise above the injustice.
My prayer is that we will respond as a certain Amish community responded to a tragedy of similar but less atrocious proportions a few months ago.
Well said, Tony and Mary. Well said.
Mary, I am sorry for coming down so hard on your comments. Thank you for taking the time to explain what you meant. I agree with you completely. The mass violence that we arecoping with happens once or twice a decade. The mass violence that Iraqis cope with happens weekly.
I'll have to stick with NPR today. The sensationalism of some of the reporters is disgusting and some of their ideas are just plain ridiculous. Apparently, Cho Seung-Hui was taking an anti-depressant. One of the pundits suggested that maybe people on these medications should be 'monitored'.
Tony, I agree with you on the abstinence programs. They don't work and shouldn't be funded.
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