Dead Star
So the media turns another killer into a celebrity. Young, dead, and famous. Once again, every psycho who thinks he has a score to settle can rest assured that if he goes out and shoots people, he will get all the attention he feels he’s been deprived of. The higher the body count, the more the airtime. He won’t be around to enjoy his celebrity, but his multimedia presentation (shades of the violent Korean film Oldboy) will be viewed by millions, and for weeks every pundit and TV psychologist will be offering an opinion as to why he did it. An object of fear is transformed into an object of pity, and then an object of envy.
Sure we have to know why he did it, but no matter what we find out, this kind of horror will likely happen again. (After Columbine we were speculating on why those children did it, and our publisher had this explanation. America, he said, is the new Rome.) When it does, people will slap their foreheads and say they saw it coming. Which doesn’t stop it from happening. There are many angry, troubled people in the world. You have problems, and you deal with them as best as you can, but since you do so without a gun and without involving others, you are not newsworthy. When did killing bystanders become a glamorous occupation?
The Virginia Tech shooting marked a watershed moment for old and new media. Read America’s first user-generated confession.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
April 24th, 2007 at 09:02
agree..over na ang coverage..di nya ka-level global warming..pleease.
April 24th, 2007 at 16:27
I agree with your observations regarding the implications of the Virginia Tech shooting on both old and new media. However, I would like to point out, very gently, that: “It would be better for students of classical culture such as myself (and we number in the, uh, higher end values of the single digits) that it should be pointed out that there are many different perspectives that one could use to evaluate the legacy of Rome, and its excesses should be considered along with its lasting contributions to literature, philosophy, and law.”
There! That ought to satisfy my brethren. Gratias tibi ago. Oh please, carry on. Love your stuff. :-)