Journalists shot on the job

[razz]

When journalists get shot doing interviews on the street, it sounds just crazy. There is a mob mentality developing that shooting another is OK because when a person is mentally ill s/he gets excused from being responsible with almost hero-like media coverage.

The media is part of the problem as it has manipulated the hysteria with greater coverage of madness but excusing inappropriate behaviour due to mental illness is being broadcast so the point of being ridiculous.

IMHO, if you have a mind, you own your actions. Enough!

[Tradd]

This wasn't just some random person. I'm hearing reports the shooter was a disgruntled former employee of the TV station.

[SteveinMN]

the shooter was a disgruntled former employee of the TV station.
He actually was a disgruntled former employee of two TV stations. I heard him referred to on a news report as "an injustice collector".

:(

[kib]

I find it really disturbing that we seem to have accepted the idea that literally getting angry enough to kill someone is, yes, crazy, but also within the parameters of what we should expect. it seems like a slippery slope to me, first a behavior is taboo and then it somehow becomes unacceptable but acknowledged. After that, it starts to be the victim's fault for not protecting themselves from these behaviors.

Society itself is in some part responsible for shaping the behavior of its citizens. I remember reading about teenage suicide on some island - a boy committed suicide over a romantic misfortune. It rocked and shocked the people but still, before long there were copycat acts committed, and at the time of the writing, it has become somewhat socially acceptable to do this, in fact in certain circles it had become something of a mark of shame Not to do it.

That's an extreme example and I don't think it could ever become the norm for murder, but I still feel like there's an element here that's wrong, a growing shift in the acceptance of violence as a viable alternative we have to be afraid of rather than an element totally outside the imaginable range of human behavior. I Know violence happens, it's not like I live in a fantasy, but the lack of surprise, the way it's becoming mundane and ordinary to think in terms of violence as a likely act of an individual citizen in ordinary society, not only the most desperate of situations, is bothersome.

I know we have subcultures in which - forgive the outdated slang - capping someone is seen as a reasonable possibility. There seems to be creep of that attitude. And I hate it.

[bae]

I loathe the way the media covers these sorts of murders, in almost pornographic detail, bringing us every facet of the killer's life, thoughts, upbringing, and speculation about motives. And I detest the way our politicians jump on the events before the bodies are even cold to ride their particular hobby horse off into the horizon.

Nonetheless, if you look at the *data*, you'll find homicide rates quite low historically and on a declining trend. That doesn't sell newspapers, clicks, or votes though...

http://www.americanthinker.com/legacy_assets/articles/assets/Murders%201.bmp

[sweetana3]

And it does not feed the 24 hour news cycle or increase the ratings from the right age group for the media groups.

[Williamsmith]

The trend toward fewer violent crimes or homicides is most likely due to demographics and not to anything any politicians can take credit for. The population is simply getting older. So says some researchers. Most homicides committed with a gun are suicides.

[ApatheticNoMore]

The trend toward fewer violent crimes or homicides is most likely due to demographics and not to anything any politicians can take credit for. The population is simply getting older. So says some researchers. Most homicides committed with a gun are suicides.

Weren't millennials somewhat of a baby boom though? Weren't there more of them than Gen X? I'm not sure how this shows against trends of people living longer and so the population aging though, but shouldn't there be some kind of uptick there? How would we find it if we were trying to show that demographics makes any difference? Is the rate of violent crime by people between I don't know 15-25 constant? Because I've never seen the whole demographic argument that really takes into account GenX and even more so millennials.

[Williamsmith]

Pew Research Center is supposed to be non partisan and takes its statistics from the Centers For Disease Control. If you look at their facts ....all age groups have shown a decrease in homicide and violent crime but the 18 - 24 year olds have shown a significant decrease compared to the other age groups. Looking at race, blacks have shown a significant decrease also. You can make assumptions like things are generally better for younger and for blacks than they were in 1993. But you would not be singing the politically correct tune of the media establishment. Which could explain why the media is so immersed in anecdotal stories to show proof of their fictitious paradigms that sell advertising and prop up viewer ratings. Journalism is not reporting anymore in most media outlets and they are mostly taking a side and building their story around their biases.

[kib]

I get a bit confused about population demographics. On one hand the population is growing - even here in the US. On the other, the population is getting older. How can both things be true? Is immigration being taken into account here, or only birth rate? Birth rate alone is really not a useful indicator of anything in terms of makeup or size of the population. I read a list of the six countries that will contribute most to population growth over the next few decades and the US was on the list. That seemed really bizarre and I had to assume the writer of the article was mistakenly looking at increases in residency, not birth rate (which completely negated his point).

[Williamsmith]

I believe exponential growth and some effect of declining death rates due to medical care and quality of life may explain some of this. Abortion may be a women's rights issue but it squarely relates to population control. As a famous comedian once said, "I'm fine with abortion....as long as it's not my own."