University Shooting Worst in US History...and I'm there now

[Stl Lunatic Profile WebsiteYIM]

Viva Canada!!!

Now that is a great way to kill a thread...

We can think of this massacre as an act of Terror in which we as americans should not allow it to scare us or belittle our rights as American citezens.

[Ldsmith104 Profile]

We were bracing for a flame war on gun control, instead it's turning into a pissing contest on which country is more free.

The topic is the VA shooting. Back on topic please or






Besides, the point was settled long ago. Canada wins. No cameras AND no Republicans.

Good call

Nice Avatar change too

Now back to the topic at hand. As you said the media is playing up the killer. There should be a law to prevent them from showing any propaganda that a suicide person has made. Only going to make more people do it, knowing their message will be played forever.

[Alofwar Profile]

I think its very its very sad and typical of America that 32 students being shot in America is global tragedy and get 6 full pages at the front of every Newspaper, whilst the 100 people who were shot and blown up in Iraq that day only got a small corner of a page on page 17. Sorry, but it had to be said. Its not a dig at the war in Iraq, but the attitude of people.

[cavalierlwt Profile]

We are the Land of Hype. News media loves a story they can hype, one that they can control and manage, have access to. That's why Anna Nicole Smith was such a big juicy newstory: they can literally 'make' the news for days with a just a little seed. Same with Virginia Tech: days and days of news--stuff about the gunman, stuff about guns, violence in America, asians in America, etc. They know they can keep our attention by scaring the shit out us, so they will hammer away at that button.

[[ecgn] btt Profile]

.....They know they can keep our attention by scaring the shit out us, so they will hammer away at that button.

Speak for yourself. I stopped paying attention to the big infotainment media for some time now. The people that do still pay attention are part of the problem. When you hear "the media gives the audience what they want" Who the fuck are "they" who watches Fox news or any of the big 4 and thinks it is a legitimate place to get informed. Local news is not much better. The only people still giving you unbiased info is the weather person and the traffic person.

[Cleatus703 Profile]

BTT]The only people still giving you unbiased info is the weather person and the traffic person.

And even then, you can't trust the weathermen. I'm convinced they get kickbacks from hardware stores and grocery stores to predict big winter snow storms that never seem to happen.

But you're right about the big media - the apparent importance they apply to non-stories (like Anna Nicole, Britney, and other celebrity "news") is absolutely ridiculous. It used to be that journalists would investigate and report stories, but nowadays, the primary focus, particularly on the big television media networks, is the splashy reporting instead of what actually affects people. Instead of who, what, when, where, why, major media is more focused on the who (as long as they're important), what (as long as it's titilating), when, where, and forget about the why altogether.

[Ldsmith104 Profile]

[Sarcasm] In defense of the media, there is like 5 24hr news channels, there is not that much news in the world they have to make up something so they have something to talk about[/sarcasm]

As for keeping my interest I listened for about 30 minutes after it happened, then I turned it off (the news) the next day and the following I listen to 10-15 minutes. Amazing how much the story changed from day to day.

Now how much do I believe what I heard maybe 5-10% which is typical of me for anything from the media.

Good example the Duke Le cross case. The media (all of them) pretty much made up shit and convicted those boys in the eyes of the public, come to find out they was never a crime committed. The Prosecutor is in trouble now, as it appears he was making a political move to get himself reelected.

Another good example, the local news channel interrupted the TV show that was on with "Breaking News" began reporting that a chemical plant was on fire in the downtown area, showing footage from their helicopter of the emergency response and telling everyone what was going on, as well as suggesting that if you lived near the location that you should evacuate. About 30-45 minutes later they came back on and apologized, what they had seen and reported was just a training exercise that the local Emergency management was running.

I sure you have all heard you mom say if you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all. Well apparently in media school they tell you if you don't have something to report just speculate and make shit up.

Primarily I listen to Fox news, but still listen to the others. I try to get both sides of the story and make my own mind up.

As for the rest of the worlds opinion of us, unfortunately what most of the rest of the world sees is what Hollywood portrays. Which anyone living here knows is not even close to the real world

As for who to blame with the VT shooting. Blame the sick motherfucker behind the trigger they is nothing you can tell me that justifies what he did or why.

The biggest problem I see with society is no one is held accountable. You and you alone are responsible for your actions. Don't give me excuses about your mom, your circumstances or anything else. You are responsible for your actions.

[cavalierlwt Profile]

BTT]The only people still giving you unbiased info is the weather person and the traffic person.

Yeah, when I was a kid,there wasn't much news, and there wasn't nearly the amount of bullshit (this was before Cable TV). The whole affair lasted about 30 minutes, they told you what happened today and then got the hell off off air, figuring they'd make the real money from other programming. Sadly, those days are gone. Now in addition to the bullshit, they have an endless line of experts (for hire) who will come on tell you what to think about the bullshit. They actually spend more time telling you what to think about the bullshit then they do actually shoveling that bullshit.

[Darknut Profile]

Same extends to political coverage. All that they are going to talk about is abortion, gun control and gay marriage, what about the crap the really matters like how social security, unless something is changed, will dry up any other such financial problems the government will soon be in if they don't stop throwing money at shit? What about other issues like how schools don't seem to teach financial management anymore more which feeds the growing problem of mismanagement of money amongst citizens and leads to a larger lower class base which kills capitalism and democracy?

[cavalierlwt Profile]

Classic magician's trick: misdirection. As long as they toss you a hot button issue with one hand, they hope we'll ignore the other hand, where the real issues are. Someday, when we're a third world nation, we'll all reflect how we spent our final days arguing over gay marriage, gun control, videogame violence, etc. Kinda like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[Darknut Profile]

The government could side step gay marriage so easily by not recognizing marriage. Why should the government care if you live with another person and your religious bond with them?

[Alofwar Profile]

The government could side step gay marriage so easily by not recognizing marriage. Why should the government care if you live with another person and your religious bond with them?

Its because the American government is a bunch of Neo-conservative religious Zealot wackjobs.

[Darknut Profile]

Its because the American government is a bunch of Neo-conservative religious Zealot wackjobs.

And combine that with a bunch of financially irresponsible people who are all to willing to throw money on a fire in hopes that maybe they can smother it if they just pile enough on.

[cavalierlwt Profile]

LOL, we don't have two different ideologies in America, it's a total scam. We have exactly one form, one ideology, one party, split into two tribes that wear different masks so that we think think we have a choice.

You want proof of their 'sameness'? Build a graph of any metric you think represents the 'health' of America-unemployment, GDP, debt, poverty ratio, whatever. Don't put a timeline on it. If the two parties were different, you would see pattern--up when party A is in office, down when party B is in office, etc. You won't find any such pattern, it's just a gradual slide downward, with random aberrations.

They do nothing different except sling different sounding bullshit during election time. It's the only thing I've noticed as I get older, same shit, year after year. My taxes have never shot up or down, we've never strayed more than a few feet left or right of center, just an occasional outlier, a bigger swing than normal that quickly balances out again.

We've been scammed by the ole 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' scam, and it's turned into the biggest scam since the concept of royalty.

[Darknut Profile]

I'd say that is somewhat accurate. I'm not fond of the members of our government and the decisions they often make. Occasionally they'll stumble down the right path but they always manage to screw it up in the end.