I'm aware of the backlash against NBC for airing the VT killer's multi-media manifesto. To be completely honest, this didn't bother me. Yes, I know that it's what this miserable young man wanted. Yes, I realize it was cruel to the survivors and the victims' families. But it was/is news. It might have more sensitive to have waited to air it, but the letter and videos do give us a new insight into a troubled mind, and that makes it news. At least in my humble opinion.It's what Greta Van Sustern did on Fox that I believe went way, way over the line.
She interviewed one of Cho's family's long-time neighbors. On the street where they live. After she flagged out the street and the cross street and pointed out exactly which house the family lived in, she asked the neighbor shallow and silly questions. "Did you wave at them? Did they wave back? Did Chou ever wave?"
It was ridiculous! This man, Marshall, barely knew Chou's family. But now we all know exactly -- and I mean exactly -- where the poor parents live.
We can debate how much responsibility for Chou's actions his parents must bear. But we cannot approve of Fox putting these poor people at risk. Greta Van Sustern made it easy for the angry and the crazy to find their home and exact revenge. That's unfair. That's wrong. That's ugly.
There's been enough violence already.
I listened to NPR yesterday and the overwhelming response to the amount of media in Virginia was negative. You brought up a very good point in the response to my 13 blog about the creative writing teacher, she did try to warn authorities.
ReplyDeleteI worked with a student that everyone poo poohed his weirdness, I still believe that he is mentally ill and capable of doing something. But since he and is mother thought everything was okay, then I did what I could do. Maybe the pendulum will swing the other way, back to more inpatient programs.
Let's just say that the kid you mention (and they are still kids!) wasn't a danger to himself or others. That doesn't mean he wasn't unhappy or in pain. If students are suffering, that should be reason enough to act. I'm not a parent, so perhaps this is too easy for me to say, but I'm concerned about what, as a society, our responsibility to our young is.
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