Tragic Exploitation

I had plenty of posts ready to go last week, but somehow I didn't really feel "funny" after the incident in Virginia on Monday.

Leave it to cable news to make things worse. I've made my seething hatred towards cable news fairly well-known (just click HERE if you don't believe me). What was once legitimate news has turned into hate-mongering and scare tactics.

What happened at Virginia Tech was horrible. 32 innocent people lost their lives along with one person who obviously wasn't in his right mind. And yet somehow, all the cable news wants to focus on is the one person. Especially after he sent his little care package to NBC News. I couldn't turn on the TV last week without seeing that man's picture staring back at me, his photos of himself pointing guns at the camera, that evil look in his eyes.

Obviously, the networks haven't heard or understand popular bits of wisdom like "Don't feed the troll," or "if you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to want a glass of milk," or other variations of these. Basically, what the networks have done is give this guy probably EXACTLY what he wanted with all the media attention. Plus, they're probably encouraging other people just like him. Hey, if you're crazy and commit mass murder, look at all the publicity you'll get!

NONE of these news networks seemed to take into account that there are 32 victims here. Expand that number if you take the families of the deceased. Why don't they deserve the countless hours of coverage the killer has gotten? Instead of spending 5 hours on why the killer did it, how about taking those 5 hours and talking about the victims and their lives? I happened to stop on Fox News while channel surfing (completely by accident, believe me), and they discussed how on that day, there was a moment of silence for the victims, that church bells tolled all over. They spent all of maybe 2 minutes talking about it. Then, they move into a lengthy segment about how the killer's family apologized, etc. etc. Wow, so nice that you spent those 2 minutes on the victims. You don't want to seem biased towards the killer. After all, Fox News, you ARE fair and balanced.

I don't want to hear about the killer, and how he stalked some women some years earlier, and about how he got his guns, and about what could have been done to prevent it - I want to hear about the professor that helped his students escape the carnage at the cost of his own life. While it is tragic that he died, it is an inspiration that someone could exchange their life to save others, that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. Inspiration, hope - these are things we could use a lot more of these days.

Shame on you, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Headline News, and others just like you. 32 people have died so you can analyze, hire experts, complain, and - to get great ratings. I'd rather you use the tragedy to implement changes to better our society, or just not to exploit the tragedy at all.