April 23, 2007

• So, this morning, I arrive at the Recreation/IM building at a major University. They had donated space for an event my agency was hosting. As I waited outside the front door for another one of our group to arrive, I happened to glance down on the ground by a trash can, and noted a small rock (four inches by about 3 inches) with writing on it. The rock was broken into at least two pieces, the larger piece said "I, Singh Hi, came into this very different world from a far away place, please don't (broken here) me for it.." the other small piece just had the word "kill"... but, they didn't fit together to complete the sentence as you would suspect.. therefore there was another piece I couldn't find. I thought about this... given the events at VT, should I report this to campus police? It would have, I'm sure, resulted in the closing to the facility, and the cancelling of my event. I kicked the rock under the trash can.... We all survived. We've come to a strange place. And... Fuck Newt...
• This is a comment that made in our VT thread that seemed to attract no attention. I was outraged that the media provides fodder for imitators and gives the guy exactly what he was going for. NBC should have given the stuff to the FBI and reserved the rights to it with the intent to use it in some special a year or two down the road, when the material might be able to be viewed in a more suitable light. More recently, I have read that MSM have stopped airing the stuff and are saying that it should not be aired because of the copycat potential, etc. How ridiculously hypocritical. Now that they have used it for its exploitive potential, they are holier than thou. It is horseshit. Had I any respect for the media in the first place, I most certainly would have lost it once they started showing the video.
• I stand by what I said about the video in the other thread. I see no need for the video to have been released. However, I think a lot has to do with the media being lazy. Reporting on something like this is easy and predictable. You know what the public is looking for, you know what kind of stories to produce -- because, sadly, this is nothing new. Higher numbers, yes, but otherwise not all that different. Reporting on the societal origins or implications of this tragedy is far more difficult than posting the video to get the 'look at the freak' story, or interviewing relatives and students as to how they feel about all of this. How the fuck do you think they feel? C'mon. Doing the deeper work of investigative reporting is much harder than what we've seen so far (for the most part). And in the meantime, other stories are being buried by this (essentially) one-off event (one-off if we don't seriously examine what produced it in a larger sense, and how it can be addressed). Even stories that purport to go after the foundations of this crime are largely predictable pap -- blame videogames and movies, rather than more troubling questions of gun culture itself. It's problematic that investigative journalism has been largely left to the newspapers -- a media which reaches an ever-shrinking audience... (I'll end my rant here...)
• [i, singh hi, am trapped in this fortune cookie factory. i would kill for a tall glass of cold milk. please send help!] and yes, clearly liberalism is to blame. for everything.
• I'm fine with them having shown the video, but, after a week, for god's sake, could they please report on something else happening in the world?
• *supports the "fuck newt" movement*
• *picks up "fuck Newt" flag to join parade
• One word Jagoff
• Argh's from Chicago! because we are the only people on this planet that use that epithet.
• > we reward mass murderers with our round-the-clock, wall-to-wall coverage and have done since the days of Jack the Ripper.
• Yes, in principle, but in terms of scale, they are hardly comparable.
• I sympathise with what Shriver is saying, and I don't intend myself to look at or read any of the stuff produced by Seung Hui Cho (or even remember his name if I can help it). However, some people being what they are, if any of this stuff had been kept secret, I think there would have been an outbreak of mad conspiracy theories, which might have been equally pernicious, or even worse.
• I think our society has entered into an age where so much information is available so readily, that there's a line we can't step back behind. It is what it is, and I don't think we can change it. Parents should shield their kids against the worst, and the rest of us should shield ourselves against what upsets us.
• Well said, Lara.
• Well, it's all upsetting, isn't it? After extensive examination I can easily and truthfully say that people are not normal. The media re-enforces the idea of the norm, (which acts as a money maker and a pacifier) and the 'horrifying' results of operating outside of it. Everyone loves a psycho-killer. It's a ratification of one's self definition of "good". Ratings wouldn't go up if that weren't true.
• Also, I'm completely ok with airing the video. Fine, whatever, more proof. The fact that there are bored copycat's looking for a role model doesn't negate the fact that they are out there. It's certainly not the media's fault that there are people who want to hurt others. They'll find a way, with or without NBC.
• Blanky, I understand what you're saying. Sure, certain psychos are going to be psychos regardless of whether they care about having their name uttered by Katie Couric. But I think we have to consider the possibility that some borderline types may be stimulated by the media's obsessive coverage enough to act that otherwise might not have crossed over that deadly threshold.