It's somewhat heartening to see the media electing to not air pictures and video the Virginia Tech shooter took of himself, though of course only after already flooding us with the images until we can't forget them. They've become their own news story now, simply by saying they won't air as frequently what they probably didn't plan on airing as frequently anyway.
Morbid curiosity of my own had led me to refresh CNN's website to read every little thing dug up about the killer, wondering what kind of sociopath would do something like that. Which means, what are we as humans capable of.
And then, what kind of vultures would swarm to the crime scene in the thousands wearing hats, coats, shirts, and microphones splashed with their news organization logos in hopes of scooping each other or just being noticed. This is what radio does at promotions when handing out t-shirts and movie passes. Change the logos to online poker sites and we have the World Series of Poker.
Don Imus who?
The first thing uncovered about the killer was that he wrote plays, which a former classmate posted on a blog that so happened to be hosted on AOL. AOL is owned by Time Warner, which also owns CNN.
The plays invited comments -- almost 10,000 of them -- and were also picked up by other news organizations, calling them "twisted" or "disturbing" or "a nightmare" or "macabre." I read them and didn't find them any of these, just bad writing. But bad writing that I would still defend as artistic expression that does not indicate true feelings.
I have a friend in Maine who knows a teacher who taught Stephen King and said from his writings that "that guy was just off" and that he'd stare at flies in the classroom. King wrote a novel about shooting up a school. Is anyone watching him?
No doubt someone will stage these plays, which if King wrote them, would be seen as a commentary on domestic violence and an attack on consumerism.
Then if that weren't enough, NBC received a package from the killer that they deemed the catchy buzzword "multimedia manifesto" and turned it over to law enforcement immediately... after making color copies. They said they held off airing the footage until investigators had a chance to review, which must've been all of a few seconds.
I'm sure the fact that NBC is last in the ratings didn't factor in to whether they should air the material. It was just a matter of how soon.
Publicizing the manifesto is what the killer wanted, and unfortunately that instant fame will inspire others (he called the Columbine killers "martyrs").
Are these plays and manifesto any less offensive than a two-second phrase uttered by a radio talk show host who later apologized? A phrase that was pounced on and later published, verbalized, and spread by every media outlet?
It wasn't as offensive, because advertisers didn't threaten to drop.
And that's ultimately what it comes down to.
In the meantime, the grieving families and friends will continue to have microphones in their faces until the interviewers get that perfect iconic soundclip or that perfect emotional breakdown that they're always striving for on the road to ratings or a Pulitzer.
I wonder if the shooter, himself posed in iconic movie images, played online poker and if he thought of wearing PartyPoker gear for his photos.
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