12 Dead, 50 Injured in Shooting at "Dark Knight Rises" Premire in Colorado

[Sky Warrior Bob]

Dueling blame game reasoning before facts are in...

It was an attack on Judeo Christian beliefs!

It's because Rush said Batman was an attack on Romney

[Solid Snake]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bookworm

what

EDIT: Like, no really, can you clarify your position here? Are you suggesting that the media not report on tragedies, because they could possibly inspire other fuckhouse crazy people to do similar things?

Like... what? Really?

Much to my own surprise, I actually find myself in complete agreement with RPGDemon.

Though what concerns me more isn't so much the media reporting on it, but more the almost sadistic degree of joy the Media appears to be basking in reporting on every last, tiny, insignificant detail.

Clearly we need a police log, a detailed copy-paste job with related Twitter accounts, random conjecture about how either Hollywood or comics are responsible, a goddamn CBS special somehow airing the night after this has happened, speculation as to whether the shootings will impact movie ticket sales (as if that's the crucial takeaway from all this), detailed biographies of the killer, and dozens of photos of grieving friends and family members.

Hell, I feel dirty just linking all of that.
This is an immense tragedy, no doubt about it, but we -- those of us who do not live anywhere near Aurora, Colorado -- don't need quite this level of detail. Oh, we need to know the basic facts, sure.

But this kind of inundation is exactly what the shooter wanted, and it's exactly what will inspire other shooters. It also feels intensely invasive of what should be an extremely private mourning process for the families and friends of the victims. And it's also incredibly selfish of all the media outlets who are plastering as much shallow, depthless articles in order to generate increased attention and increased traffic from a panicking and outraged general populace.

...And, worst of all, this kind of inundation isn't even productive. If we're going to have dozens of articles come out in the wake of a tragic shooting, at least write something socially meaningful.

Challenge us to rethink gun control laws.
Challenge us to rethink mental health programs for struggling youths who might otherwise gravitate towards violent actions.

Don't waste our fucking times scaring everyone with: "What if copycat crimes happen! Here's an article of tweets from random people afraid that copycat crimes will happen! DON'T attend the Dark Knight Rises!"

Or, "Is this Hollywood's fault for violence in movies? Let's blame Hollywood!"
Or, "Was this kid addicted to violent videogames? Ban all videogames!"
Or, "He dyed his hair red! Does this mean he was inspired by the green-haired anarchist Joker?"
Or, "It's all the Tea's Party fault! He was a Tea Partier!" (oh, wait, he wasn't.)
Or, "It's all the Democrats' fault! He was a registered Democrat!" (oh, wait, we don't know that.)
Or, "This shooter probably did this crime because he wanted to garner infamy. So here's all the insignificant details about his personal life you didn't need to know! (By the way, if you'd like to become just as famous, go out there and shoot some innocent people, disturbed people of the world!)"

Overreacting emotionally and playing upon people's fears, anger, sorrow and hysteria is exactly what the media does best. Providing us with the facts we need to know in a way that actually enriches our lives and improves our society? Not so much.

[rpgdemon]

Pretty much exactly what Snake said.

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

What kind of gets me is the cycling of interviews with those who were lucky enough to escape with their lives and how, while the victims are trying to recount these traumatic events the reporter will just randomly jump in to ask about some stupid little piss ant detail they feel curious about.

[Aerozord]

what bothers me is they go into detail so exacting it makes it easy to replicate. Remember they did that with Columbine shootings and guess what PEOPLE REPEATED IT

You dont see this much detail on your average military debriefing*

*thats hyperbole I do not know the actual level of detail on military conflict debriefing.

[Mr.Bookworm]

I think there's a pretty clear middle ground between "media reports event in unnecessary detail" (which is bad) and "media doesn't report on event at all" (which is also bad).

RPG's post read like he was suggesting the second to me.

[shiney]

I think he was making commentary on how they are gladly sensationalizing the hell out of it without any regard for the victims or their families.

[Bells]

They did the same thing about that congresswoman that got shot in the head some time ago... i completely forgot her name though, but it was a media shit-flinging fest for a couple of weeks.

[shiney]

Gabrielle Giffords. And yes, they did. That one was a little more understandable given Palin having released an image a short while beforehand placing a crosshairs ("surveyor's mark") over Giffords' district representing her as a "target". But the actual shooting was not politically motivated, dude was just a psycho.

[Solid Snake]

Why is the media giving this man what he wanted?