Virginia Tech and The Media

So, now the dust is starting to settle and also because no one ever reads this anyway, I thought I'd jot down some random musings on what happened when the man to be henceforth called 'The Wacko' opened fire on people at Virginia Tech.

This morning's Media Guardian has an article that talks about some of the aftermath of the events of that day and about sme of the 'lessons learned'. Sh' right. As if. Nothing will change. The gun lobby positied the ridiculous defence that, if only the students had been allowed to be armed themselves, they could have defended themselves against this nutcase better. I'd like to see that defence written down somewhere properly. So I could wipe my arse on it.

Also interesting are all the banners being hung from dorm rooms telling the press to stay away. now this, to me, is some of the most hilarious hypocrisy in action because you can bet that had it been somewhere, anywhere, else, those same vehement students would have been dissecting and overanalysing the events. It's a curious setup and the UK is becoming more like it every day. There is an almost irrational fear of thinking or talking about sex. Even though so many images and symbols in our culture have become sexualised, to talk about or show it explicitly is seen as somehow evil or depraved, while at the same time this kind of pornographic wallowing in violence, death and the misery of others is infinitely sicker, but seen as somehow entirely acceptable.

I understood the coverage on the first day to a degree, but after that it was simply not necessary. Thirty-odd innocent people plus a wacko were dead. That hadn't changed. The endless examination and attempts to 'understand the mind of the attacker' were futile; partly because he was a wacko, but mostly because he was a dead wacko. As soon as I started to see this pattern emerging, I avoided the news as much as I could for as along as possible because frankly, these forms of now almost acceptable pornography are utterly indefensible, watching the media harrass and assail victims like so many maggots feeding on a piece of rotten meat.