Thread: Tragedy

Originally Posted by earcutter

Gosh - i wish we would do the same thing here.

I just saw this on Facebook, thought it was worthy of being here:

Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.


It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

Thanks for that Don - for what it's worth I totally agree with Mr. Freeman on this one.

However, I would respectfully suggest that perhaps we should consider a new thread for further discussion of the media and its role in this terrible event, and preserve the original intent of this thread for the expressions of remorse, sympathy, and support for the victims.

In that spirit, I would like to say that these killings hit me particularly hard - more so than the all too frequent previous mass killings that have happened recently. Partly because one of the young victims lived for a while in my hometown and was known to a friend of mine. But also partly because of the nature of my work. It touches on the serious abuse of children, and so my working days are filled with stories of people doing terrible things to children. Friday was a day off for me, and escape from the horrors of my work, but when I turned on the radio, I heard yet another story about someone doing terrible things to children. Friday for me was not a good day.

But all that pales into insignificance in comparison to the loss suffered by the families of the victims, and those (especially children) who survived but who may be terribly traumatized by this. My heart goes out to them, and I hope that they will in time be able to heal and find peace.

I asked my sister to give my nephews an extra-big hug from their uncle on Friday, and I did the same in person to my friends' kids tonight. If you have kids in your life, cherish them, protect them, and above all be good to them. And please don't take them for granted.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Regardless of how many empty Likes you got for that comment this is a warning to clean your act up. It is not your place to tell any member to shut up in an open forum.

I see mapleleafalumnus has been banned... That's a shame...

Speaking only for myself........Lord recieve and care for the souls of the children and take away their fear and replace it with your love.

Originally Posted by NoseWarmer

I see mapleleafalumnus has been banned... That's a shame...

Yes well it is a time out , not permanent. You might say he is in the penalty box.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Yes well it is a time out , not permanent. You might say he is in the penalty box.

So let me get this straight: We'll be temp-banned for telling somebody to shut up, but not for name-calling and trolling?

"You agree that you will not use the Forum to:

• post or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;..."

Originally Posted by Furcifer

So let me get this straight: We'll be temp-banned for telling somebody to shut up, but not for name-calling and trolling?

"You agree that you will not use the Forum to:

• post or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;..."

Forum moderators work as a team to decide how to proceed on these issues as they come up. Members may or may not agree on the mod team's decisions.

This thread and the companion thread have run their course. More heat than light and everything that needs to be said seems to have been said. I am closing this and the other for now to let the victims of the tragedy be buried and for all of us to take our own time out to ponder these tragic events.

Originally Posted by Furcifer

So let me get this straight: We'll be temp-banned for telling somebody to shut up, but not for name-calling and trolling?

No, you didn't get it straight at all. That's not at all why he was banned. The reasons are among the words you did not highlight.

Like it or not, on this forum it is the moderators who carry all the guns, and it is their call when and how to use them. However, you really should be glad they are not as trigger happy as you seem to desire, because there could be a lot of carnage.