Amish killings?

[Katahu]

Elections.

More like ratings.

But seriously though. I can't imagine the psychological process a person would go through in order to have the balls to actually go through with what that man did to the kids.

[beaky]

Elections.

No, they're scraping the bottom of the barrel a little deeper, because the old-fashioned filth and horror just doesn't get people's attention the way it used to.

The sole purpose of "the media" is to lure people to their TVs, radios, newspapers, etc., so the sponsors can try to sell them things. That's pretty much it.
This is why during prime time, every major station's "news" bureau is presenting virtually the same stories, each hoping to out-do its competitors with a "sexy" unique spin on it.
The fact that occasionally real journalism occurs in that world is just a happy accident.

[Chris_F]

Maybe you should explain to the parents of the all school killing dead children that it is nothing and that they are only getting their panties in a twist. Guess you have no children either.

Matt

I'm merely saying that we find far too much fascination with tragedies like this.  People have a natural tendancy towards interest in bad things: it's a defense mechanism bred in to us.  In the wild we want to see the lion's kill so that we can learn from it and don't become lion fodder later on.

But it's out of place in modern society.  Are school massacres really a threat to the public at large?  No.  I'm sure your chances are far greater of getting struck by lightning than having your child killed in a school.  Yet we lock our classroom doors and have police in classrooms and we don't spend a dime on lighning education.  If people were actually interested in health and safety they'd spend more on driver's education and healthy food and anti-smoking education.

It's the Roman Colloseum-esque spectacle of the event that infatuates us, and it's sick.  We're drawn to it because we can't separate our base instinct from our humanity.  It's natural and right to feel sorry for the victims, to sympathize.  So write them a letter to tell them how sorry you are.

Instead people watch it on TV.  Which just makes the situation worse.  TV viewers = TV ratings = more TV cameras crawling around that community.  Does anyone really think a sea of TV camera crews infesting a an Amish community actually makes it easier for that community to recover from this tragety?  Are images of crying Amish girls on TV actually healthy for anyone involved, the TV viewer, the girl being photographed?  Do the news helocopters hovering overhead make it easier for them to sleep at night?

So turn off your damned TV.  If you want to help out or reach out then write a letter.  But don't give in to the media monster.  When coverage of the event comes on TV change the channel.

[expat]

I'm merely saying that we find far too much fascination with tragedies like this.  People have a natural tendancy towards interest in bad things: it's a defense mechanism bred in to us.  In the wild we want to see the lion's kill so that we can learn from it and don't become lion fodder later on.

But it's out of place in modern society.  Are school massacres really a threat to the public at large?  No.  I'm sure your chances are far greater of getting struck by lightning than having your child killed in a school.  Yet we lock our classroom doors and have police in classrooms and we don't spend a dime on lighning education.  If people were actually interested in health and safety they'd spend more on driver's education and healthy food and anti-smoking education.

It's the Roman Colloseum-esque spectacle of the event that infatuates us, and it's sick.  We're drawn to it because we can't separate our base instinct from our humanity.  It's natural and right to feel sorry for the victims, to sympathize.  So write them a letter to tell them how sorry you are.

Instead people watch it on TV.  Which just makes the situation worse.  TV viewers = TV ratings = more TV cameras crawling around that community.  Does anyone really think a sea of TV camera crews infesting a an Amish community actually makes it easier for that community to recover from this tragety?  Are images of crying Amish girls on TV actually healthy for anyone involved, the TV viewer, the girl being photographed?  Do the news helocopters hovering overhead make it easier for them to sleep at night?

So turn off your damned TV.  If you want to help out or reach out then write a letter.  But don't give in to the media monster.  When coverage of the event comes on TV change the channel.

I have better things to do than sit in front of the TV all day watching this story and neither am I going to write a letter to make me feel better. What you posted about people getting their knickers in a twist about the execution of some children, basically relax, what

[Fly2e]

Posted by: pete Posted on: Oct 3rd, 2006, 12:12pm
A TRAGIC & hopefully unique event. These things are fortunately very rare & happen in all countries.  

I feel very sorry for those left behind.  

Now please keep this calm & thoughtful. Anyone insulting anyone else here will be banned.

Please remember what Pete posted....

[expat]

Please remember what Pete posted....

We are and do, but ChrisF has a point, the media aspect of this story is almost bigger than the story itself and is a point worth discussing.  I do not feel insulted by what he wrote and I hope he feels likewise. The impact that the media has with such stories as these plays a big part in the way people feel about the whole thing. For my point, another car bomb in Iraq for example, ok, what

[Chris_F]

Ishows that it is you who may be desensitised by the media, by all of this.

There's a woman where I work who's paralyzed by the media.  She won't date because she's convinced that everyone is a con man like she sees on Oprah, she won't leave her house because she's convinced she'll be robbed or murdered.  We live 40 minutes away from Boston, one of the country's most beautiful and historic cities and she's never been there because she's convinced it's far too dangerous.

When you turn on the news you're immediately confronted with all of the great suffering in the world.  All of it, carefully screened for the greatest emotional effect.  You never hear about the joy.  Three months ago my wife gave birth to my first child.  Happiest day of my life, not a mention of it in the news.  There were seven other families in the hospital experiencing the same joy I was, no news crews.  Had a gunman stormed in and killed our children we'd have been on the front page of the world's papers for a solid week.

You are right, I'm desensitized.  I lost a friend to one of those nameless car bombs in Iraq.  Even today when I hear of an Iraq bombing I think "oh boy, those crazy Iraqis are up to their old shenanigans."  Totally desensitized.

It's a defense mechanism.  The only choices available in our modern age is to become like my helpless coworker: paralyzed with fear that the worst is going to happen because you see it happening in your living room every night.

My grandfather died six months ago.  He lived a long, happy life and died of old age.  Nothing tragic.  But I still get teary when I think about him.  WHen I see his happy face and think about those awful last moments in a hospital bed with the lights on and the machines beeping away.  So thankfully I'm not desensitized to life, just the news.

Amish kids.  Sad.  But that, apparently, is just part of the world.  Always has been, always will be.

Yup, I'm desensitized.

[beefhole]

What Chris is saying about the news is absolutely, 100% correct.

Turn on your local news tonight.  Oh, great, another wonderful human being was killed in a hit and run.  Another 5 year old girl was killed by a stray bullet in west Philly.  Another fourth grader brought crack to school again.  There was another shootout half a block down from an elementary school.  Another cop killing.  Cops shot another guy.  And this is all in one day.  It's Freakin' apocalypse out there if you watch this stuff!  I live in Philly, the homicide capital of the country-we're averaging more than one homicide a day, roughly two innocent bystanders killed per WEEK.  

This is why I make a conscious effort to completely avoid the local news.

As for the Amish story, I believe they're giving way, way, way too many details.

[Woodlouse2002]

And that is exactly why I don't bother with the news any more. In fact the only news I do read regularly is the "Quirkies" on Ananova. Where none of the gloom and doom stuff is posted.

[Chris_F]

And that is exactly why I don't bother with the news any more. In fact the only news I do read regularly is the "Quirkies" on Ananova. Where none of the gloom and doom stuff is posted.

Still, it's hard to avoid.  I like to watch TV.  Sitcoms, stuff that makes you laugh.  And Mythbusters.  And auto racing.  But you can't turn on the TV without getting exposed to the news smut.  I tell ya, I think it would be much healthier for everyone's mental state if they made porn legal and the news illegal.  It sure would make people in the pizza delivery line of work a little happier.

[TacitBlue]

This is one reason why I've almost completely given up TV. oddly, the only thing that I do watch now and then is the news. You have to take it with a grain of salt, and glean what vital info there is out from the fluff and sensational crap.

[Woodlouse2002]

[quote]
Still, it's hard to avoid.

[expat]

News is about the only thing I watch, but that is only because I want to know what President Blair and Side Show John are doing next to protect me from that nasty thing called  the "outside".

Also, belated congratulations on the birth of your first child Chris. (Welcome to being pennyless for the next 18 to 24, if you are lucky, years )

Matt

[Katahu]

My younger brother goes to middle school and my younger sister goes to high school over here in Homstead. Everytime I see them go over there, I tend to fear for them [particularly my sister] because the schools they go too are do sooooooo unstable that it's like a nuclear reaction gone haywire. In my sister's school, the fighting is so vicious over there that the concept of "suspension" is not enough so "arrests" are made on the spot by the local police. Heck, sometimes there are two "unrelated" fights happening right next to each other and all of a sudden they would merge into an all-out brawl.

Seeing how the school system has become and how violence has increased over the years here in south florida, sometimes I wish that I was still in the military and sent over to Iraq. At least over there you don't see brawls in a chow hall.

[Wing Nut]

I don't give a rat's patootie for any of it, but I will say this:  Any society that can raise a young person to be this giving is worth paying attention to.  

My god, what I wouldn't give to have children this centered...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/06/amish. ... index.html