Well I think this whole Virginia event is overblown to the utmost degree. I can't fathom why an event which though tragic, suddenly becomes a national tragedy. I truly find it ridiculous how every event in which something bad happens becomes a tragedy. The word tragedy should be reserved for events which are truly sad, not for any event where someone dies. Yes it is tragic, yes it is sad, but something like 38 people, are killed very day in the US by gun violence.
I think that was it going on in Iraq is truly a tragedy, a country is being destroyed by its own people because of the actions of the United States. That is something that was preventable, has led to enormous suffering and really has had only negative consequences.
However I find it puzzling that an event like today's killing of 171 people in Iraq gets way way way less coverage than the murders of 33 people in Virginia. Both were senseless , both were random acts of terror, and i do understand that the one is in the US and thus strikes closer to home, but I still find it hard to believe.
I also find it truly disturbing how the media sends out streams of meaningless information just to fill time. I mean how important is it to know every single detail of the last hours of this boys life? There is an entire network(CNN) devoted to finding out every detail. Finding out that the person who did this wore brown shoes today is not worth a live update!
It is a good example of losing the forest for the trees. The real job of the media would be to look at the larger picture and ask the tough questions. Why do these shootings happen in our country at all? What can be done to prevent this from happening? These are uncomfortable questions and I find that too often it becomes all about the victim in an attempt to avoid asking the larger questions. It comes out in a predictable manner that the victim was a 'loner'. Well golly gee that took some analysis!! It's the same line in every case!
Maybe I'm just cynical but I find the blanket media coverage of the events in Virginia over the last few days excessive.
1 comment:
That's an interesting take, and I think I agree with what you say. The international comparison you make is sobering too.
I think you rightly criticize the media for its repetitive, empty coverage. The questions and answes raised will probably not move beyond what happened after Columbine because the media will not provide the time and space necessary to genuinely address the big questions in order to find the hard answers. In a sense, that is a tragedy or at least a travesty.
It seems that after these events, there is never a satisfactory answer beyond some cliched or "common sense" (but very flawed) response like "he was a loner" or "guns don't kill people, people do." Unfortunately these sentences solve nothing and the media won't push the debate beyond rhetoric.
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