Around The Sphere: Blog Reaction To Virginia Tech Massacre
Our famous linkfest offering readers a wide variety of links from blogs representing varying viewpoints. But this time, due to the worst mass killing in American history, we’re offering links from a cross-section of blogs (most of them randomly selected after hours of looking at blogs). In this edition, we offer you links and a few quotes.
GRASSY KNOLL DEPARTMENT: Read the UPATE of THIS POST on Crooks & Liars. And you thought grassy knolls were reserved for the JFK case? NOTE: One of the glories about blogging is that it is done quickly, almost stream of consciousness. The danger is that supposition can override opinion. We each make our choices, but we’d rather take a deep breath and think most bloggers have on this tragedy as well.
Could More Lives Have Been Saved At Virginia Tech? Sam Smith is MUST READ on this at his new, content-heavy weblog. And he has SPECIAL expertise to address this question (READ IT ALL).
Recovering From Traumatic Stress Syndrome: Mark Daniels (one of the most thoughtful blog writers) has done a lot of work on this issue over the years. These info-packed links are here.
The Debate Over MSNBC Extensively Airing The Self-Justifications Of A Murdering Madman: Believe it or not, it is a complex issue (despite our headline here). Ed Morrissey looks at it extensively. A tiny taste 4 U:
NBC made the right decision to go public, and to work with law enforcement to determine which material to release at the time, as they apparently did. They unfortunately overshadowed that correct decision with the very incorrect decision on marketing the materials. They sensationalized material that absolutely required no such effort — and degraded their credibility as a result.
AGREED. Anyone in the news business would have to hang up his or her hat if they didn’t broadcast or print part of that info. But then it goes into the area of a “get” and NBC seemed to be shifting into hawking its “get” and slipping into “Why, look at the exclusive stuff WE HAVE and the others don’t!” territory — which opens them up to criticism. A little more restraint could have saved NBC from what is sure to be some grief from new and old media critics.
A Student’s View: From Beautifully Broken on My Space: “Damn. I feel so bad for everyone at Virginia Tech. Bush made one of the dumbest comments I have ever heard of in my life ” They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” I guess I shouldn’t go to class next week someone just might come in and kill everyone and I don’t want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever! Everyone talks about how they would have fought….You have no idea what you would have done if you were in that predicament. This guy had the doors chained, most people run at the sound of one gunshot so imagine yourself trapped with a psycho with guns. Also parents complained about the security. IT’S A OPEN CAMPUS! anybody can walk on it and it’s like the 7th largest college in the united states.”
And On The Issue Of Gun Control be sure to read Sights and Sounds From the Fifth Column.
And More Specifically Handguns? Good Will Hinton’s Expat Teacher wants to ban them.
And What About Media Coverage In General? Has it become too clichèd, too predictable and to some too sickening? If you think so, you can NOT miss reading Taylor Marsh. Here is one small (and we’re not joking) bit of her long and eloquent post:
Yesterday we were treated to a media spectacle that was as gratuitous as it was blatantly self-serving, with each cable network trying to prove they cared more, could send the most people to cover it; could set up the best on sight situation room and every single anchor swallowed his or her orders like good members of the corporate hack pack. They made sure their cameras were trained on the families and students grieving in the gymnasium, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone’s loss, ripping the scab off of any privacy these people and this community could grab. We even had Mr. Bush and Mr. Kaine making sure they both were up front and on camera for the event, because they had to help the people grieve. The arrogance of some politicians is choking, isn’t it? Sure they cared, but who needs a politician when your life is falling apart? What was the point of televising the community’s private pain, and theses two politicians and their wives? Their wives? And why is the media sticking microphones in student faces so we all can listen to their tortured stories over and over again?Have we lost all sense of dignity? When did our pain become something we’re so proud of we need to broadcast it… never mind. We are a therapy nation now, televising our grief for all to see. It’s what we now do best. But did the community of Virginia Tech need our prying eyes? It likely never occurred to anyone to ask.
And yes… a lot of things we do — including on weblogs — can leave a sinking feeling in your stomach when you stop and t-h-i-n-k about them (but there’s often too little time…and it can be hard.)
Yet Another Take On The Media Coverage from Tom Watson:
The war was interrupted again on our national news media elite’s menu again yesterday by the violent and tragic events in Blacksburg. The death-count crawls, the local officers in full SWAT turnout gear arriving post-mortem to stand behind skinny trees, the updates on the blustery weather (“it’s very windy here, Wolf”), the video of stunned young Americans standing around in college sweatshirts.One big story at a time – that’s what we can handle, according to the suits. Flood the zone with sadness and remorse and plenty of idiocy: Dr. Phil ranting cluelessly against video games (there was no difference, by the way, between the “Dr. Phil” of Imus and the real thing); right-wingers talking about more guns in schools for defensive purposes. Everybody blaming the West Virginia cops.
Read it all.
11 Responses to “Around The Sphere: Blog Reaction To Virginia Tech Massacre”
I’m not sure how the copyrights work on such material, but to be fair to NBC there was plenty of video material (albeit with the “NBC News” logo) available for the 10:00 broadcasts on all networks here in Denver. I don’t know how much was retained as exclusive. I get the impression that NBC only pumped one evening’s broadcast with this material, using a “we received it so we’ll give the first look” justification.
Personally, I’m not watching much media on this story now. As a fuller picture should be available next week, and surely there will be some decent network specials that go over the whole picture (20/20 or whatever.) Frankly I can’t watch the sappy memorializing and the compounding sappy voice-overs.
My prayers go out to all of the families, friends and students from Virginia Tech!!!! I have a real problem with all of the admistrators at the college. I’m sorry, but knowing that two people were shot 2 hours prior to school opening should have raised all the red flags!!!! You dont open up a school after a shooting just occured. There could have been 30 lives saved if they would have closed the entire school down. The other thing is how is it that none of the parents were notified that their children were dead!!!! I think this situation could have been prevented. If not with all the people who died at least it could have stopped after the two people in the dorm were shot!!!!! It makes you think twice about sending children to college.
NBC’s decision to air the tapes and photos on last night’s NBC Nightly News was a horrible misjudgment. I blogged on this last night. They violated a cardinal rule of journalism — you don’t do anything that could encourage copycats.
Here’s a link to my post on the Media Relations & SEO PR Blog.
Well, let me say..I have been a long viewer of NBC news…always enjoyed Brian Williams. Not any more!! I can’t believe they took the “low road” with airing the video,etc from that complete idiot! What are they trying to do…glorify this nut! Ok…send the message that if you massacre a bunch of innocent people…you’ll be made a celebrity!! Good move NBC….what won’t you do for profit!! On top of it…go to NBC’s site and click on “contact us”.. then go to “News”….then try and get one of the links there to work…they are all dead! Why..clearly they don’t want to hear anymore feedback on this issue…they must be huddling under their deasks!! Cheers to the families who “dished” them by refusing to appear on their other shitty show…Today! See you later NBC…I’m moving on!!!
From a recent post …
” … When you see the caricature painted by the media, and the frenzy of talking heads feeding at the trough of sorrow, throw back your head and laugh. It is tragic comedy, not reality. The suffering for the families of the victims, and the family of the killer are real. We can be present for that. Respectful of that. And offer them our love and forgiveness. And one act we can take to help heal our worldly family in this time of sorrow, is to turn off the TV. Just turn it off. Be present for your own family. And begin your own journey of awakening to real life.”
The Hobbesian Hell of Iraq
How Many Dead Equal a Failed Government?
By LARRY C. JOHNSON
What are we to make of the bizarre contrast between our national grief over the terrible slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech and our muted reaction to the continuing bloodbath in and around Baghdad? One mass killing in the 209 years since Virginia Tech was founded is not exactly a trend. It is a terrible thing but not likely to be repeated anytime soon.
We cannot say the same about events in Baghdad and Iraq. Just today four separate car bombs in and around Baghdad teft at least 180 Iraqis–mostly Shia–dead. On Tuesday, at least 85 bodies turned up and there were more bombings. Monday was not much better–thirty corpses and at least twenty killed in bombings. Sixty nine plus on Sunday. And the beat goes on.
Think about those numbers in relationship to the anger expressed by the public and press because Virginia Tech University officials failed to prevent Monday’s massacre. What would we be saying if another shooter showed up at Virginia Tech on Tuesday and killed 20 more students and another shooter bagged an additional 40 on Wednesday? The President of the University would be lynched, the students would arm themselves, and the police would lose any pretense of control. Why do we think Iraqi Shias and Sunnis should react differently then we would?
When you consider the events of the last week in Iraq there is no reason any sane Iraqi–Sunni or Shia–would have any confidence in the Petraeus plan. Petraeus and U.S forcecs are in trouble. Desperate trouble. Despite White House flacks and politicians like McCain insisting that things are improving in Baghdad, the continued mass casualty bombings, the stacks of bodies left on the streets, the destruction of key infrastructure (like the Sarafiya bridge), and the bombing of the Iraqi parliament is reality and cannot be casually dismissed as the crazy ravings of a news media intent on reporting bad news.
Hell, compare the conduct of reporters operating in the Iraq combat zones with the nonsense being spewed by every network and cable anchor who managed to buy a seat to Blacksburg, Virginia. Not a single news organization operating at Virginia Tech had to contract body guards and armored cars to move around to report the story. The U.S. based media did not have to find a sand bagged roof in the Green Zone as a background shot for their nightly report. They roamed freely without fear.
That is not the case in Baghdad specifically and Iraq in general. Despite the surge of U.S. troops into Baghdad the violence continues, especially against the Shia majority. Today’s attacks on the Shia, coming on the heels of the resignation of Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr, are particularly worrisome.
No Iraqi Shia with any sense trusts the Maliki government or the Americans to protect them. Do not be too surprised when the Mehdi Army and Badr Militias, two of the most prominent Shia militias, step up attacks in the coming weeks against Sunni targets and U.S. forces. Why U.S. forces? Because many of the Shia, particularly those mourning loved ones murdered in the latest blasts, will be convinced that the U.S. allowed these attacks to take place. How could they think otherwise? The U.S. is a superpower. The U.S. has deployed more troops to Baghdad ostensibly to protect the people. Yet the Shia are dying now in a disproportionate number. The Shia are likely to draw only one conclusion–this is a deliberate policy of the United States to target and kill the Shia.
Moqtada al Sadr’s recent withdrawal from the Maliki government is fortuitous for him. His folks are not part of the government and cannot be blamed for failing to prevent the latest bloodshed. But they will now be on the scene to offer protection and revenge. If the government cannot protect you and your family then you must do it yourself or back someone who can.
In the total scheme of things the horror unfolding in Iraq will affect our nation’s security more than a month of Virginia Tech massacres. Yet our attention is riveted on Blacksburg not Baghdad. There are some silver linings. At least the media is covering genuine grief and anguish as opposed to the nonsense of a Don Imus or Anna Nicole Smith. And maybe, just maybe, as we contemplate what it means to mourn the single day massacre of 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech we will develop an empathy for Iraqis who, today, are mourning the equivalent of five Virgina Techs.
But the Iraqis won’t sleep tonight with the hope that today’s heartache was an aberration. Nope. They wake up each and every day confronting a new horror just as bad as Monday in Blacksburg, Virginia. When government institutions and officials prove incompetent or incapable of protecting citizens it is no shocker that people take matters into their own hands. Welcome to the Hobbesian world of modern Iraq.
HA !! Hilarious !! Finally someone has stood up against the transparent, flimsy American society. The blood you’re spilling is now crossing the waves to haunt you…… F*Kng American Imperialism……. !!!!
I am sure that a lot more lives could have been spared, but who could possily fathom this psycho going this far overboard. Our society is full of this sickos. The only difference is that most of them do not actually go through with it, at least not to this extreme.
You would think that these universities would have an emergency system in place. What happened to the campus police on this. Every campus I have ever gone to they are everywhere writing tickets. Were they scared of a real call for help?
I’m offering my support in the form of a couple of songs I wrote and recorded as tributes to those who lost their lives at the hands of this psychopathic killer:
Today in Virginia
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr. BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/TinV.mp3
Virginia’s Tears
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr. BLT (c) 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/VT.mp3
Google
9/11 was an inside job
virginia school shooting government black op?
It is well documented that disturbing questions remain over the incident at Columbine. It is clear that authorities had prior knowledge of what was going to happen. Observers were in the area hours before the shooting took place. Articles from the Associated Press stated that ballistics from Columbine show that six of the thirteen victims were possibly shot and killed by Jefferson County SWAT.
9/11 was an inside job
this was a psy op – to induce fear and panic
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