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scaeagles · 04-18-2007, 07:53 PM

I wonder if CBS, Fox, and ABC are upset because NBC was the recipient of the mailing from the shooter. Seriously.

There is always competition to have "the angle" on a story. As Alex said, his local news can't just cover the story, they have to have their angle on it...a Bay Area connection.

There will be the obligatory calls for more gun control, the mental facility (and doctor who performed the psychiatric evaluation) he was ordered to will be brought under scrutiny as to what blame they may bear....it will have a life as a story until the next major story comes along. The Imus story wasn't done with its run yet, as that had become about how Oprah was going to lead the healing.

I suppose I somewhat agree with Strangler, but I have the opposite reaction that he describes. I am more sickened by the systematic killing in a Rwanda than I am a random act in Virginia. While both are tragic, 800,000 deaths is simply something I cannot comprehend. I suppose that is why there is not more coverage of that...it is impossible to relate to, and as an American I wonder what there is that can be done about it or other situations like it. It is too....overwhelming.

There is no debating Saddam was responsible for some 300,000 deaths. Yet something is done about it, and the situation is regarded as worse than before (I would use the term different rather than better or worse). When an effort was made to feed starving thousands in Somalia, the local warlords didn't want their control of food (and therefore the populace) lost, so even that humanitarian effort was met with opposition that we were unwilling to meet head on.

So I suppose the news, and Americans in general, don't want to hear about something that they can't do anything about. Perhaps a large portion of the population believes that there is something that they can do to prevent something like the VA Tech incident from happening again....but what can they do about a Rwanda, or even an Iraq at this point? Even the elections have seen the dems get their share of anti war anger for refusing to defund the war in Iraq.

Americans don't want to hear about horrible things that they feel powerless to resolve. Not many Americans understand true hardship, and even fewer can comprehend genocide beyond the meaning of the word. I don't think it is that we don't care about those people and situation,s I think it is that we simply can't comprehend them.

04-18-2007, 07:53 PM	#10
scaeagles I LIKE! Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,819	I wonder if CBS, Fox, and ABC are upset because NBC was the recipient of the mailing from the shooter. Seriously. There is always competition to have "the angle" on a story. As Alex said, his local news can't just cover the story, they have to have their angle on it...a Bay Area connection. There will be the obligatory calls for more gun control, the mental facility (and doctor who performed the psychiatric evaluation) he was ordered to will be brought under scrutiny as to what blame they may bear....it will have a life as a story until the next major story comes along. The Imus story wasn't done with its run yet, as that had become about how Oprah was going to lead the healing. I suppose I somewhat agree with Strangler, but I have the opposite reaction that he describes. I am more sickened by the systematic killing in a Rwanda than I am a random act in Virginia. While both are tragic, 800,000 deaths is simply something I cannot comprehend. I suppose that is why there is not more coverage of that...it is impossible to relate to, and as an American I wonder what there is that can be done about it or other situations like it. It is too....overwhelming. There is no debating Saddam was responsible for some 300,000 deaths. Yet something is done about it, and the situation is regarded as worse than before (I would use the term different rather than better or worse). When an effort was made to feed starving thousands in Somalia, the local warlords didn't want their control of food (and therefore the populace) lost, so even that humanitarian effort was met with opposition that we were unwilling to meet head on. So I suppose the news, and Americans in general, don't want to hear about something that they can't do anything about. Perhaps a large portion of the population believes that there is something that they can do to prevent something like the VA Tech incident from happening again....but what can they do about a Rwanda, or even an Iraq at this point? Even the elections have seen the dems get their share of anti war anger for refusing to defund the war in Iraq. Americans don't want to hear about horrible things that they feel powerless to resolve. Not many Americans understand true hardship, and even fewer can comprehend genocide beyond the meaning of the word. I don't think it is that we don't care about those people and situation,s I think it is that we simply can't comprehend them.
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