What's in a name?
So we are horrified once again about another angry white man killing innocent people. It is finally being called what it is - a terrorist act.
Previous mass shootings have had the media response of glorifying the killer. Buckets of ink were slobbered in national publications on the life story of the killer, the family of the killer, the educational history of the killer, the childhood friends of the killer, and people who would have been friends with the killer except they lived on the other side of the country and never met him.
The media enters this mastabatory frenzy about the mass killing and its perpetrator. The killer's face is shown on television and graces the front page of news websites and magazines and newspapers. The chattering bobbleheads do not stop steering the conversation away from the word "terror" and "institutional racism."
The terrorist's name is repeated and the lobbyists sharpen their swords. Before the blood dries on the sidewalk, or in the church, the terrorist is labeled "a loner" and "an outcast" so everyone can get the "let's make a change" feeling out of their system.
Putting a mass killer's picture on the front page of your publication promotes what he did. It's like making the promo photo for a play larger than the bad review. People will see the photo and not really look at the evaluation. The mass media will not take responsibility for their unthinking promotion of killing many people at once with guns. Reporters deflect responsibility for the results of their actions and frame the debate in commercially reasonable ways.
So here we are again.
Finally, this young white man is starting to be termed "a terrorist." And people who support him are "terrorist sympathizers." And groups that espouse the killer's methods are "terrorist organizers." And the media who glorify these mass killers are "terrorist promoters." I'm looking at you, CNN.
So we are horrified once again about another angry white man killing innocent people. It is finally being called what it is - a terrorist act.
Previous mass shootings have had the media response of glorifying the killer. Buckets of ink were slobbered in national publications on the life story of the killer, the family of the killer, the educational history of the killer, the childhood friends of the killer, and people who would have been friends with the killer except they lived on the other side of the country and never met him.
The media enters this mastabatory frenzy about the mass killing and its perpetrator. The killer's face is shown on television and graces the front page of news websites and magazines and newspapers. The chattering bobbleheads do not stop steering the conversation away from the word "terror" and "institutional racism."
The terrorist's name is repeated and the lobbyists sharpen their swords. Before the blood dries on the sidewalk, or in the church, the terrorist is labeled "a loner" and "an outcast" so everyone can get the "let's make a change" feeling out of their system.
Putting a mass killer's picture on the front page of your publication promotes what he did. It's like making the promo photo for a play larger than the bad review. People will see the photo and not really look at the evaluation. The mass media will not take responsibility for their unthinking promotion of killing many people at once with guns. Reporters deflect responsibility for the results of their actions and frame the debate in commercially reasonable ways.
So here we are again.
Finally, this young white man is starting to be termed "a terrorist." And people who support him are "terrorist sympathizers." And groups that espouse the killer's methods are "terrorist organizers." And the media who glorify these mass killers are "terrorist promoters." I'm looking at you, CNN.
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