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Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive
I think the problem is that media is being used for social engineering purposes, which is flat-out wrong. Kids being shot and killed in school, insofar as overall gun deaths go, aren't even a blip on the radar. America averages something like 33,000 gun deaths each year from all causes. This year 24 kids have been killed by gunfire at school and this year is a sad exception--numbers year by year since the late 1990's are usually far lower, often in the single digits. It is a fact that a school kid is statistically in more danger of being killed by lightning than killed at school. By far the greatest number of gun deaths, 58% on average per year, is suicide. Homicides are at 37.2% per year (numbers provided by Brittanica ProCon) and it is a safe bet to assume that the overwhelming number of those are criminal-related, drug and gang disputes mainly. Legal intervention and unintentional deaths come in at 1.2% and 1.3%.
Every student killed is a tragedy. I get that. But what we are seeing is shameless. It is my belief (borne out by several studies) that media overhype is the primary cause of copycat killings, and it is anyone's guess just how many of these dead kids would still be alive if it wasn't for what media is doing.
Let's be honest. This is about GUNS, not kids. We have elected senators and representatives who represent us. Using media to try to force an issue via over-the-top emotion instead of the legislative system is doing no one any favors, least of all our kids.
What can be done? Nothing, until we can be honest with ourselves. The gun "debate" solves nothing: people are entrenched on one side or the other and no statistic, or argument, is going to change that. On a personal level I try to avoid media that pushes the emotional hyperbole but that is nearly impossible: we are saturated with it. The irony is that school deaths by gunfire are actually DOWN since the 1990s, but you'd never know that from what we see, hear and read today.
We can all start by being honest, with ourselves at least. Far too few of us are.
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The reason why the Robb Elementary Massacre has gotten so much media attention is that it involves high numbers of very young children. This increases the emotions and the need to analyze the details of how and why it happened. It shatters the idea that children are SAFE in school. Parents of young children want to make a calculation as to how safe or unsafe THEIR children are at their school. They are getting that information from the main TV channels.
..........Another reason why the Robb Elementary shooting captured a large audience is that there were so many mistakes committed by those in charge of the situation. And the local and Texas State spokespeople kept changing their stories and even stating incorrect facts early on in the investigation. Incorrect following of KNOWN Police procedures may have caused excessive, unnecessary children's deaths. So many mistakes were made and people across the US demanded that those MISTAKES be acknowledged to help prevent future mistakes in future mass murder events. So, the bottom line is that in this case maximum media attention was WARRANTED.
........ The main difference with the Tulsa shooting is that it was resolved QUICKLY by police, without mistakes.