NBC’s Staggering Immorality And Greed
Last night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s 360, a guest warned the viewing audience and those in the media to discontinue the constant re-broadcasting of the now sensationalized videotapes sent to NBC from Virginia Tech murderer Cho Seung-Hui. His cautionary advice stemmed from a concern of encouraging and perhaps, motivating, copycat killers in the wake of the tragedy.
We now know that the killer sent these tapes on Monday, in between the two killing sprees, at approximately 9:00 am. NBC received the tapes and media kit on Wednesday and quickly this information was disseminated to the media, and of course to investigators working on the case.
As a person who writes on events in the news, I understand full well that there is an insatiable hunger for news, especially after an event of such magnitude as the VT tragedy. But there needs to be some sort of balance in the coverage.
For NBC to have made the decision to air the video and materials of a selfish lunatic who JUST killed 32 innocent people shows a calculated move of indescribable greed. The campus of Virginia Tech is still reeling from the massacre. Victims are still laying injured in hospital beds and the hearts and minds of those who have been touched by this tragedy are raw and visibly pulsing with pain.
I know I didn’t want to see the insane rants of this a**hole and the hateful pictures of him trying to moralize his decision. He’s an idiot best left to being unknown, misunderstood by the public and not sensationalized for other would-be jackholes out there who want to hurt the innocent. Antiheroes should not be made compelling. They should be buried, trivialized and ignored.
We really need to start focusing on the victims and their lives. I am offended that I must see this ugly piece of crap’s face on the news while the names of those who perished are relegated to the crawl below.
I want to feel the impact of their absence. I want to know what was lost when their lives were cut short. I want to intimately understand who they were and what their dreams were. I want to recognize their faces so vividly that their murderer’s filthy, deformed countenance will be forever erased from my memory. Show some courage media. Some showing the videos, stop talking about the one person who we can all agree was forgettable, unimportant, insignificant and truly unremarkable in any manner whatsoever. He is a non-entity.
And above all, let’s not encourage any other idiots by giving this person one more second of exposure.
Virgina Tech has a memorial fund set up to honor those killed. They also have a nice memorial with the names, and hopefully we can start to learn more about these young people and their lives and those of their fallen teachers and staff.
CNN has a nice page with pictures and some information about the victims. I wish they would put it on TV.
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I agree with your point, but am curious why you are writing about this and not the victims??? Seems hypocrytical.
Comment by Brad — April 19, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
I saw that episode of Anderson Dawn and what really boggled my mind was that as the man said that those tapes should be taken off air, they were scrolling through the tapes.
The guy was clearly not in his mind. It really was like he was acting out one of his plays or he thought he was in a game of some kind. In fact, I got the impression he was reading lines off camera.
Comment by Amrita — April 19, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
No actually Brad, it’s not hypocritical. I was writing about what I wanted to see in the media. I don’t control the media. I also don’t know any of the victims personally, so it would be hard for me to write about them. Hence why I linked to pages that did talk about them from people who do know them.
I guess you missed that part.
Comment by dmdo1016 — April 19, 2007 @ 2:07 pm
“For NBC to have made the decision to air the video and materials of a selfish lunatic who JUST killed 32 innocent people shows a calculated move of indescribable greed.”
And what’s wrong with that?
This is a society that regards greed and selfishness as the highest form of achievement and accomplishment. The greatest and most admired men in the USA today are precisely those people who have grabbed the most and done the least. Look at our chosen leaders: Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Rice: none of them are people who have built or accomplished anything, but all are rich and powerful from the efforts of the lowly peasants who toil and are content to have the fruits of their labor fall to strangers who will not even associate with them.
This is the society we have chosen with our votes. This is the society that various BC advocates constantly tell us will lead to the greatest good for the greatest number; all as if guided by an “invisible hand” when every person exercises his options solely for his own maximum benefit. Like me, for example. More people should be like me, egotistical, self-centered, vain, and think only of themselves, and turn every opportunity to their own advantage. I do, and so should you.
These other characters, like Cho, are simply underachievers dissatisfied with their lot. Left to their own devices they will probably end up in prison, or perhaps the Hallowed Halls of corporate headquarters (in which case they will have redeemed themselves).
Why would anyone think that they would be swayed by mere words, by mere talk therapy, when their self-contempt is so deep and unending? It would be better if they were to die very young and spare all of us, themselves and the rest of us, from these grim deadly TV plays. Perhaps the day will come when we can identify these losers when they are quite young and abort them before they can cause big problems. We can only hope.
Otherwise we must expand the prisons, at great expense to those of us who are guiltless in these travesties, and slap the losers away at the earliest opportunity.
We owe it to society.
Comment by Bliffle — April 19, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
That’s all well and good, but this f*cker killed other people and those are the people I am concerned about. For NBC to exploit their pain for their own gain is really deplorable.
Comment by dmdo1016 — April 19, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
Rice is not accomplished? Man, give me a break. The girl is an accomplished professional pianist and is a master of Russian/Soviet history and affairs while speaking a few languages - among other things. Is this enough for you? Not only that she’s a true rags to riches (and black to boot) story and is a model for women everywhere. She’s far more impressive than Hilary. Let’s talk abut myths. Sorry to have sidetracked this thread but stuff like this annoys me.
Comment by the commentator — April 20, 2007 @ 8:10 am
I definitely feel that the coverage of the killer has been gratuitous. For once, I would like to hear some mainstream media outlet say “enough is enough” and hold back, profits be damned.
Comment by Webomatica — April 20, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
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