Hooray for CBC News...and Fox News, too!

[bete_noir]

Yeah, CBC took the right tack and refused to air the video "manifesto" from the gutless loser who killed all those unarmed people at Virginia Tech....and now NBC is catching flack for doing so (some of the families refused interviews with NBC reporters after they ran his tape on the NBC Evening News - and rightly so in my view).

Fox News in the US is also refusing to air anything except still shots from the video for the moment, but is reserving the right to air clips in the future.

To my mind, it's pretty obvious these glory-killers crave attention, even of the posthumous variety, and that attention should be refused at every opportunity.

Just my $0.02.....

[james99]

Fox News has already shown video clips. Over and over again.

[dukee]

I don't know what is wrong with these news organizations.

While I was watching these tragic events unfold on CNN, the announcers honestly sounded excited that the number of dead went up over 30 and set some sort of sick record for murders by a shooter.


Then to see the coverage being given to the killer, his writings, his photos, his videos... it makes me ill. This is exactly what he wanted, and will encourage other psychos to carry out similar acts in an attempt to achieve fame.


Converage of this horrible event should focus on remembering the victims and not the failure of a human being that took their lives. This guy does not deserve to have his name splashed across the front page, and should simply be relegated to the title of human failure.

[bete_noir]

Fox News has already shown video clips. Over and over again.

I don't watch Fox News,.....reporter Mike Wise on CBC News was my source about the various TV News Orgs in the US. Of course, NBC got the stuff in the mail, and we all know Brian Williams ran with it.....

I don't let the Newspapers off the hook, either....Toronto Star had a front page shot of this idiot posing with his pistols. Same with Toronto Sun......c'mon guys, who cares?

[Nanuuk]

The only thing the news should be showing is this guy's carcass being dragged around unceremoniously.

[smithjt21]

As muchy as I agree with you about these idiotic news stations and how horrible this whole situation was, calling this guy a glory-killer or saying his carcass should be dragged around is also wrong. He obviously had mental problem and was a sick guy. He obviously wasn't in his right mind and these news stations are making him seem like a much worse guy than he was. IF he would have done this in his right mind i'd totally agree with you.

[ilovemusic]

Here is an interesting article worth looking at, I think the term "sick" is not being defined properly , in that we are confusing the term Evil/sick


http://www.vachss.com/av_dispatches/parade_071402.html



Sickness is a condition.

Evil is a behavior.

Evil is always a matter of choice. Evil is not thought; it is conduct. And that conduct is always volitional.

And just as evil is always a choice, sickness is always the absence of choice. Sickness happens. Evil is inflicted.

Until we perceive the difference clearly, we will continue to give aid and comfort to our most pernicious enemies. We, as a society, decide whether something is sick or evil. Either decision confers an obligation upon us. Sickness should be treated. Evil must be fought.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For some the question, "Does evil exist?" is philosophical. But for those who've been victimized, there is no question at all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If a person has desires or fantasies about sexually exploiting children, that individual may be sick. (Indeed, if such desires are disturbing, as opposed to gratifying, to the individual, there may even be a "cure.") But if the individual chooses to act upon those feelings, that conduct is evil. People are not what they think; they are what they do.

Our society distrusts the term "evil." It has an almost biblical ring to it—something we believe in (or not), but never actually understand. We prefer scientific-sounding terms, such as "sociopath." But sociopathy is not a mental condition; it is a specific cluster of behaviors. The diagnosis is only made from actual criminal conduct.

[jacksparrow]

These news outlets, along with all the foreign ones, are doing exactly what the loser wanted them to do. The concentration should be on the victims, not the gun man.

[os]

I don't know why you blame only the news organizations. They are showing what the uneducated American public wants to see. This really is a minor incident; in US tens of thousands of people are murdered each year. It should have received at most 10 minutes on each network. More should have been spent on discussing the real issue: the medieval policy of firearm ownership in US.

[asif9t9]

You guys are all wrong. I think we do need to see the video. And the words he wrote. The only way to try and learn from this tragedy is to try and prevent it from happening again.

We have not seen all the pieces, and may never, but so far it looks like a case of a kid who was bullied, just like the Columbine kid. There was a situation where some kids made fun of him in highschool and told him to, "go back to China."

We live in a world where more and more people are learning to fight back. Listen, I'm not trying to sympathize with this guy. Or trying to make him into a victim. When suicide killings happen, the toughest part (to me) is not having answers as to why. That was my first thought when these killings happened. Why???

The closest answer we have is bullying.

[skypilot]

Or trying to make him into a victim.

Had this person lived, my guess is that he would have been found not criminally responsible (or whatever the American equivalent is) do to mental illness. In this case, he is also a victim (perhaps a better word is 'sufferer'?) of some brain disorder(s). However, saying he is not criminally responsible is not the same as saying "not guilty by reason of insanity," which is what we used to say. In this sense he is both victim and perpetrator.

[Nanuuk]

I do believe I had a post deleted. Obviously this caused offence to someone and I accept that a decision was made to remove the post. But I ask all of you, is the discussion of the deaths of 30+ people or how the media grandizes the murderer or how we feel sympathy towards him because he may have been unbalanced (afterall only an unbalanced person would commit such a heinous crime) any less offensive? How do you keep strongly held opinions in check when something like this occurs? We give Kudos to the CBC for not playing the videos and admonish NBC for doing so. What makes one right and the other not?

[hugh]

I have re-instated some posts because this is the "News" forum and we deal with tough stuff here so the rules should be stretched..

In reviewing, the reporter of the bad post believed the whole thread should be deleted, because it was offensive. I don't think this thread should be deleted and have re-instated.

Finally, an infraction was given to one member for complaining in the thread about the deletions. The rules of the forum say if you have an issue you PM me or the moderator or use the Bad post report. We will then investigate. Complaining and flaming the mods will only get you banned.

We are trying to balance the sensibilities of everyone and we are willing to reconsider but only to those who follow the appropriate steps.

[HT gearhead]

Sickness is a condition.

Evil is a behavior.

Evil is always a matter of choice. Evil is not thought; it is conduct. And that conduct is always volitional.

And just as evil is always a choice, sickness is always the absence of choice. Sickness happens. Evil is inflicted.

Until we perceive the difference clearly, we will continue to give aid and comfort to our most pernicious enemies. We, as a society, decide whether something is sick or evil. Either decision confers an obligation upon us. Sickness should be treated. Evil must be fought.

Well said ilovemusic. There seems to be too much "victimizing" criminals these days. Evil has become politically incorrect and replaced with various scientifically sounding "disorders" and "syndromes". In other words, it removes accountability so nobody is to blame for their actions.

[skypilot]

so nobody is to blame for their actions.

I disagree. The killer both 1) is to blame and 2) suffered from some mental dis-order. These two need not be mutually exclusive.

I believe the angst here has more to do with justice than accountability/responsibility. Retributive or distributive justice? Had he lived, to the disappointment of many, we'd probably be looking at some form of distributive justice, given his condition. That said, this is no way excludes accountability.