DU'ers unite. Enough. Just say no more. I'm watching CNN, I know I

[Decruiter]

should not. Enough is just dammed enough.

How much longer are we going to dwell upon this small tragedy here in US? Meanwhile in Iraq.......................

This is my personal outrage. WE NEED TO DEMAND THE SAME COVERAGE FOR IRAQ. I want to see the same level of care for the people hurting today in the US being extended to the citizens of Iraq.

Not just now, but right NOW!

[Sherman A1]

1. I heard the original story

in my car on the way home from work about 1pm Monday on NPR and decided to leave the TV off for the next few days. As terribly sad as this event is, TV news will be the circle of talking heads asking each other questions and producing no information of any worth for most of the week.

[REP]

2. Death In War is Expected; Death at College is Not

Yes, the coverage is over-the-top and largely repetetive, but a student going on a killing rampage at a university is highly unusual, as was the handling of the situation by the university and police. Eventually someone will ask why 'just a domestic' was not considered worthy of much excitement; eventually the seven-day wonder will end.

People die during war. It is not unusual; in fact, it is the point of a war. The deaths of anyone other than US Service personnel will never get much coverage. Welcome to Earth.

[GCP]

11. Let's see now - average daily Iraqi death toll over 100

This is last year's figures, I doubt much has changed recently.
Most of these are citizens, men, women and children who are in the wrong place at the wrong time, they are "in a war" because of us, not because of anything they did.
While I grieve for the stupid unnecessary loss of life at VT, I grieve a thousand times more for what we've done to the lives of countless Iraqis, and I rage at the media for not providing a fraction of the coverage offered the students' vs Iraqi deaths.
That's all.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. They cannot help themselves.

They know that the American people are largely voyeurs. They know they want the lives of all involved, especially the shooter, dissected in the most minute detail. They know that this story is a distraction from other issues. They know that this will sell.

Welcome to the 24 hour news cycle.

I am sure that the majority of the families involved would appreciate some real privacy in their time of grief and healing.

It's hell living under a media microscope. I have watched people literally lose their minds, become irrational, under that microscope.

[hellbound-liberal]

4. I agree that our voyeuristic tendencies are exploited by the corporate media

but I believe Tool said it best in their recent song "Vicarious". Here are the lyrics and a link:

Vicarious"

Eye on the TV
'cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavour
It happens to be like;
Killed by the husband
Drowned by the ocean
Shot by his own son
She used the poison in his tea
And kissed him goodbye
That's my kinda story
It's no fun 'til someone dies

Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother
Holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky crying
Why, oh why?
'cause I need to watch things die
From a distance

Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies
You all need it too, don't lie

Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit it?

We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
Neither the brave nor bold
The writers of stories sold
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing

I need to watch things die
From a good safe distance

Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same so
Why can't we just admit it?

Blood like rain come down
Drawn on grave and ground

Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore and voyeur
Stare at the transmittal
Sing to the death rattle

La, la, la, la, la, la, la-lie

Credulous at best your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men
Pull your head on out
Your head believes it give a listen
Shouldn't have to say it all again
The universe is hostile
So impersonal
Devour to survive, so it is
So it's always been

We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire

Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies
Much better you than


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hii17sjSwfA

[fasttense]

5. My internet provider decided to do some repairs yesterday and I had no Internet.

Instead, I turned on the TV and left it on CNN while I did my chores. By 3pm, I was sure my two college aged kids were going to die in a shooting spree. The coverage was so relentless it was scary. No wonder people in this country are so afraid. I'm glad to be back on the internet where the news is more realistic.

[KharmaTrain]

6. People Can't Walk & Chew Gum

I guess people on DU can only think of one thing at a time...that paying attention to the VT story or Imus somehow means one can't continue to follow what's going on in Iraq. Sheesh.

Sorry...when over 30 young people are killed and another 30 gunned down on an American campus, THAT IS NO SMALL TRAGEDY. It's definitely not a small tragedy to the families who lost a loved one. If anything, I think the corporate media did a better job with this tragedy than Columbine...while it was the top story, we weren't innundated with it anywhere near that tragedy was in '99.

Now, how much more coverage can we get in Iraq when anyone with a camera is an automatic target? I don't know where you look for news, but I get daily reports from all types of sources of what's going on in Iraq...many of us here do...and we're able to keep track of other issues as well. I share the outrage over the continued tragedy and carnage that is Iraq, but the VT shootings are important and very worthy of the coverage its getting. By next week, the story will have faded in the background, Iraq will still be there...unfortunately.

[bambo53]

10. Will the MSM milk this story for 2 years?

This story is a great excuse for the cable news networks to avoid talking about the new polls showing Democrats are way up on everything the cable people were trying to slam them for: Iraq, Polosi, Gonzo, etc.

I honestly believe they will milk this story for months and months, and personally, I'm sick of it already! Just HOW MUCH can you say about it?!Apparently a lot. There's at least 32 families for them to dissect and interview, over and over and over. ENOUGH ALREADY!

[KharmaTrain]

12. What's The MSM???

My main street doesn't reflect what I see on the TV. What I get is Corporate Media...not driven by Main Street, but Wall Street. MSM has become a right wing codeword.

So do you think the deaths of 32 people has no value? Or the human aspect of their lives? Should we just ignore what happened here since it's not at the top of one's political agenda? Again, many of us here are smart enough to handle one or two or five or ten issues at once and understand what is of value and what is exploitive.

While the Corporate Media ignores or avoids the polls, they do so at their own peril. Figure this...despite all the positive propaganda these networks did to cheerlead the war and try to make boooshie look "presidential" and the polls continue to show both efforts have failed...and this has compromised the corporate media. They wrote a storyline and they're sticking with it. The more they do, the more unpopular booshie, the invasion and the corporate media itself becomes.

[bambo53]

16. All good points Kharma,

It should not be referred to as MSM, but Corp. Media? I'm down with that, but MSM is shorter :-)

Yes I do think the deaths of 32 people are tragic and worth discussing, for a while. I'm concerned about the mind numbingly over-saturation of it though, not to mention the "copy cat" issue. I am NOT talking about DU here, I'm talking about "Corp. Media" and after suffering through Anna Nicole and Imus etc, I think it's a well founded fear.

I think we can have an effect on the media by voicing our opinions and concerns with them openly and freely.Thank God for the internet. We need not worry about being politically correct or be shy about telling just what we think. It's our right and duty to tell them what we think and what we want and expect from them. How else will they know?

[KharmaTrain]

18. We Agree On The Problem...

Bambo, I share a majority of your concerns here and also am glad we have means now to avoid the media filters. Yes, it is not just our right, but our obligation to speak out when we see distortions and lies and attempt to hold the media...whatever form it takes...accountable for what they say and to examine hidden agendas. If anything, that's why we're here. We got fed up with the biased and inacurate propaganda and lazy reporting of the corporate media...and they now know we're here as well and are watching.

Remember that corporate media is not a public servant but a financial venture. Through their lobbying and money, they have taken the public airwaves private and run Roman circuses in the guise of "news" that are intended to attract eyes first and common sense never stands a chance. Call it eye candy...but its the verve that the medium thrives on. Unfortunately pictures of scared students running from a classroom resonate and draw the eyes where a discussion of Attorneys being used as political operatives doesn't.

The netroots is definitely having an effect...and a positive one. It's people like you and so many here on DU that can now get the information and speak out on it that has broken their monopoly on what is "news"...and has changed the national and international dialogue...they hate it and continue to fight us. It's kinda like the blacksmiths who kept warning about how that iron horse was all evil.

Keep up the good fight!

:toast:

:hi:

[MetaTrope]

7. Has CNN tied this in with the Apocalypse yet?

[hlthe2b]

8. You are justified to say this during all the Anna N. Smith coverage

or the obsession with other celeb stories, including Imus. But, while I agree that it borders on criminal, the extent to which the press ignores Iraq, I find your insensitivity at the importance of this story at VT to be depressing.

You are not alone, but it is offensive. Iraq is critically important, but to imply that-- like the ANS story-- the VT story is mere "fluff," is abhorrent to me. So, I'll give you benefit of the doubt and not say what I am really thinking about this and similar posts. :shrug:

[Vinca]

9. Every day is Virginia Tech in Iraq. Virginia Tech x2 or 3 or more.

I sympathize with the victims of the Virginia Tech incident, but students in a beautiful, bucolic, American setting are no more important than a child in the streets of Baghdad who is blown to bits trying to get to school. The MSM has replaced the Anna Nicole story with Virginia Tech . . . for now. Another dead celebrity and we'll be hearing about that.

[hlthe2b]

13. If you don't think the violence that occurred at VT and other

schools across the US in recent years is not important, perhaps you should realize that the violent tendencies in our society is almost certainly related to our tendency to push (or accept the choice for) the military option, rather than diplomacy in international policy. One need only think back to remember that any attempts to understand the predictors and causes of attitudes that culminated in 911--were strongly and vehemently repelled by this society. Instead, we had a kneejerk response for vengeance and war.

It is time we look at what is going on in our own society. This and other school incidents may well be emblemmatic of that larger problem.

However, to compare the ANS story with VT is so offensive and insensitive, that I will simply not comment. I will simply hope you don't continue to make that comparison.

[Vinca]

19. I wasn't comparing the stories, I was commenting on the sorry

state of our mainstream media. Of course the school violence in this country is important. (Although I'm always astounded at the amount of surprise when each incident occurs given that we live in a country led by a violent man, surrounded 24/7 by violent media - in the press, on the radio, on television, in videos, in music. Guns are everywhere and easier to get than cold medication that works.) I'm not making light of the VT story by any means. I'm only saying it would be nice if the same sensationalistic coverage (and you have to admit, that is what it is) would focus on the tragedies happening (because of the actions of this country) in Iraq every single day. I don't recall any interviews with grieving friends of dead students in Baghdad or parents of dismembered sons and daughters. The dead Iraqis are ignored. I'm kind of pissed off that you would read my post and somehow think I was brushing off the Virginia Tech incident when, in fact, I was chastising the media for going into overdrive on this while ignoring up to a half million dead on the other side of the world.

[Atman]

14. We still have 32 funerals they're going to try to force us to watch

And then the memorials, then the "Viginia Tech: The Week After" specials, then the "Massacre At Virginia Tech" remembrance special, then the "A History of College Violence" specials, then...

might as well turn off the television now. Alberto who? Iraq what?

.

[Decruiter]

22. So short and so sweet and you said it all. Thank you. n/t

[CBGLuthier]

15. I have this device I use

called a remote control. I use it to not watch what I don't want to watch. Some of the folks in this thread should see about getting one.

And yeah, in the grand scheme of things the death of 32 innocent people, many of them almost children may not matter much but calling it a "small" tragedy is rather small and shitty in my opinion.

[cboy4]

17. This is more than just a story about almost three dozen

people dying in the worst shooting massacre in United States history.

We are the school shooting champions of the world, so to speak, and we need to figure out a way to:

(a) Come up with better alert systems on campus to warn everyone

--and--

(b) Do a better job of training and giving school/university police officer the tools necessary to neutralize massacre-in-progress situations.


There are a lot of Americans worried about the welfare of their children who go to school in light of what just happened.

It's been only 48 hours since the massacre.

News agencies have a responsibility to maintain this type of coverage considering so many unanswered questions remain need to be answered.

[pampango]

20. I've noticed the same tendency in the outsourcing topic at DU.

The simple answer seems to be that Americans care more about Americans than they do about citizens of other countries.

You seem to be saying that there should be a moral equivalence when Iraqi civilians and American civilians die in senseless acts of intentional violence. I agree. When American jobs and incomes are hurt by outsourcing, the overwhelming sentiment at DU is harsh, even if Chinese and Indian jobs and income are helped. Americans count for more.

[Contrary1]

21. I even turned off Keith last night...

He had some guy on, that was stuttering and pausing so much, it was painful to watch. And yet Olbermann kept on asking him questions that he had no answers for. Both Boston Legal and 48 Hour Mystery were preempted, so they could offer even more coverage.

One network said something to the effect "Please join us in the National healing". I understand that this is a tragedy, but it is just too much.

Maybe I feel this way because nothing surprises me anymore. :(