The internet is buzzing with the quote from Morgan Freeman about the recent shooting in Connecticut, USA. His quote goes:
While he is completely right, he has not gone deeper. As a human rights activist he should have but as an actor he probably held back because his career would suffer. I, a humble blogger, can elaborate on his point of view.
The reason media is sensationalizing violence is because our society, whether we like it or not, is a violent society. We need to come to terms with that. This is why the Batman theater shooter and other shooters are getting as much attention as the Batman movies which are also violent themselves. So what defines a violent society. It can be summarized in one sentence:
A violent society considers violence a "reasonable" way to fix problems.
Let me give you another example. Before the shooting, during, and after, the United States of America is involved in two wars and it is also bombing other countries with military drones. There is no other country in the world doing exactly the same thing. Two wars at the same time! Think about it, a whole society thinks two wars is a reasonable situation for their country. Why do I say we consider this reasonable? Because we are not actively opposing it. Silence is consent. That phrase has never been more relevant to us than now. Morgan Freeman has given us a way to protest how the media is acting but can we go farther to change society as a whole? That is up to each and every one of us.
“You want to know why {these shootings keep happening}. 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."
While he is completely right, he has not gone deeper. As a human rights activist he should have but as an actor he probably held back because his career would suffer. I, a humble blogger, can elaborate on his point of view.
The reason media is sensationalizing violence is because our society, whether we like it or not, is a violent society. We need to come to terms with that. This is why the Batman theater shooter and other shooters are getting as much attention as the Batman movies which are also violent themselves. So what defines a violent society. It can be summarized in one sentence:
A violent society considers violence a "reasonable" way to fix problems.
Let me give you another example. Before the shooting, during, and after, the United States of America is involved in two wars and it is also bombing other countries with military drones. There is no other country in the world doing exactly the same thing. Two wars at the same time! Think about it, a whole society thinks two wars is a reasonable situation for their country. Why do I say we consider this reasonable? Because we are not actively opposing it. Silence is consent. That phrase has never been more relevant to us than now. Morgan Freeman has given us a way to protest how the media is acting but can we go farther to change society as a whole? That is up to each and every one of us.