Sandy Hook. and Clackamas Town Center.

    Like everyone else, I am absolutely shocked, saddened and outraged at the senseless violence that took place yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut.  Some sick bastard forced his way into a school and murdered several children and teachers.  In my home state of Oregon, at the time of the Newtown shooting, we were still mourning the shooting at Clackamas town Center, one of our malls. 2 people and the shooter were killed and one was injured. We were shocked enough by that, but only a few days later, Newtown happened. In Connecticut  the death toll is devastating. It is the second worst school shooting in American History, second only to the 2007 attack on Virginia Tech.  Many people have blamed guns for these tragedies. I refuse to join that bandwagon, because I know what the real issue is, just as I did nearly five months ago when the shootings in Aurora, Colorado happened.  At the time, in my previous blog "Rotten Slice Of Americana" I pointed a finger directly at the only other people responsible for these shootings, other than the murderers themselves.    The media.   At the time, I predicted we would soon see other tragedies of this type, because of how the media covered the shootings in Colorado. Sadly, I was right.

       There was a time in our history, when journalists were concerned with being the watchdogs of democracy, as was the intention behind "free journalism."  Instead they are enablers of murderers and maniacs who seem feast on the blood of dead children. "If it bleeds, it leads." has long since been the unofficial credo of many ambulance chasing reporters, and what has come of it?  A culture where the media, in it's pursuit of some kind of bullshit award in journalism, turns murderers into heroes, and turns sad loners into psychotic assholes who want to become the next monster in our nation's closet.   Columbine is considered the first "big one" as far as this current trend of shootings go. But they were inspired by the shootings like the one here in Oregon at Thurston High. Why? Because of  the mammoth size of the media coverage. It is not enough to simply announce what happened. They have to try to get in as many angles as possible for their big story. (In the Clackamas shooting, they even interviewed Santa Claus.) People who choose to take out 15- 30 people are assured to be celebrities now, and that will inspire pathetic sickos to form a fan club to honor them.  Many of these murders are committed in a quest for notoriety. Why indulge them, media?  You are fueling the fire.I hope you're happy. You've created a culture of blood-thirstiness. If you could tell the story without making the shooters anti-heroic figures, we would see tragedies like this wind down, but you refuse to report in moderation. You pulled the trigger on all of those poor children with your coverage in July. And when the next shooting happens, (which it undoubtedly will) it will be because of the trigger pulling you are doing now.  As I said before, the cycle of death rages on. 

Lets reset the clock. We are now zero days without a media inspired shooting. (A shooting in Alabama happened today by the way. No casualties, besides the shooter.  Just three wounded. Not many people died, so you may not have heard about it. They get their meal ticket when people die.)    


  Final note- this is not an indictment of all journalists. Several of my friends have gone into Journalism, and  there have been some who have chosen to take a moral high ground.  This is more directed at the general trend of journalistic sensationalism in the face of tragedy.   If any of my journalist friends read this- I have faith in you and your integrity.  I know you'll bring dignity back to media.