I read almost everything I could get ahold of. The reason I didn't blog about is because of my hardboiled credo on life: "Be a precious flower. But keep it inside. Keep it inside. Keep it...inside."
Feelings aside, I kept thinking about how many people die like this in a senseless hail of violence everyday in Iraq and everywhere else. Yesterday four people were killed here in Gotham, and the shooter then shot himself. Despite the similarities to VA Tech incident, it was a blip on the newsradar, and no one in the national media made a connection to how often this happens. I guess they were afraid to trivialize the tragedy by drawing our attention away.
The more I think about it the more I realize that the newsmedia makes a fetish out of grief. They don't focus on important stuff; they focus on "feelings." They hunt on the grief of survivors like emotional vultures. They are sending a signal to everyone to be ready to say something about their feelings. It doesn't surprise me in the least that many of those feelings came bleeding out on LJ. But I dunno how much it helps you cope with grief to make a blog post. It probably makes things worse to talk feelings with strangers, who cannot do anything to help you cope with them.
Traditional news media, by treating this event as an isolated spasm of violence, makes things worse. Fact of the matter is, there were roughly 40 school shootings last year around the world. More than 30 took place in the US. What we need is anger, not sadness. Constructive emotion is anger. Sadness is almost always destructive.
no subject
Feelings aside, I kept thinking about how many people die like this in a senseless hail of violence everyday in Iraq and everywhere else. Yesterday four people were killed here in Gotham, and the shooter then shot himself. Despite the similarities to VA Tech incident, it was a blip on the newsradar, and no one in the national media made a connection to how often this happens. I guess they were afraid to trivialize the tragedy by drawing our attention away.
The more I think about it the more I realize that the newsmedia makes a fetish out of grief. They don't focus on important stuff; they focus on "feelings." They hunt on the grief of survivors like emotional vultures. They are sending a signal to everyone to be ready to say something about their feelings. It doesn't surprise me in the least that many of those feelings came bleeding out on LJ. But I dunno how much it helps you cope with grief to make a blog post. It probably makes things worse to talk feelings with strangers, who cannot do anything to help you cope with them.
Traditional news media, by treating this event as an isolated spasm of violence, makes things worse. Fact of the matter is, there were roughly 40 school shootings last year around the world. More than 30 took place in the US. What we need is anger, not sadness. Constructive emotion is anger. Sadness is almost always destructive.
But, then again, what do I know.