“Mass murder is wrong. But if I were a mass murderer, I’d be Mickey and Mallory!” – An awestruck fan, Natural Born Killers
The news division at NBC must have been thick with crack smoke yesterday, because apparently a critical mass of People In Charge thought it would be a really nifty idea to broadcast the manifesto, photos, and videos of a raging psychopath. This madman, whose name and image I will not use to avoid contributing to his Google footprint, was therefore perversely lionized, exactly in accordance with his wishes.
Hey, any of you aspiring mass murderers out there: be sure to send your posthumous spittle-flecked ravings to NBC, because the stupid sons-of-bitches will actually broadcast it.
I realize that many other news organizations also showed this footage, but NBC’s hands are dirtiest. They had the power to prevent this material’s proliferation, and willfully elected not to.
Where was the good sense that kept the decapitations of innocent civilians at the blades of radical Islamic fundamentalists off the air? Where was respect for the victims’ families? Where was simple decency?
There was no legitimate public interest in NBC showing this material. To do so was dangerous, irresponsible, and indefensible.
Possibly related posts (automatically generated):
- Potemkinlympics! See the fireworks? They’re from the opening ceremony of the Olympics. They’re beautiful, aren’t they? Are you sure? It seems the Chinese inserted computer-generated animations,...
- Spinning up… Tonight is the eve of the first broadcast of the Dark and Stormy Book Club! Listen live tomorrow morning at 8:30 CDT here, as we...
- IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon dead at 33 IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon died of injuries he received in a 15-car crash early in the IndyCar World Championship race at Las Vegas this afternoon. ...
- Just letting you know… …all the cool kids are reading The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. You know, because that’s what the Dark and Stormy Book Club is reading....
- Tomorrow looks like this: It’s mine and Lea’s 11th anniversary. I love you, Lea. We’ve got our Dark & Stormy broadcast in the morning. This time we read Enchantment,...
bigdave on 
Bo on 
BamaDan on 
Jack Eason on 
I for one wanted to know what was going on in the killer’s mind and what it was that caused him to go on the rampage. Playing the video showed that he was basically mentally ill. If NBC hadn’t aired it we’d still be speculating on the motive for the next couple of weeks. This puts closure to the speculation. It would be different if NBC displayed video of the actual killings. I guess I just don’t see this as being that big of a deal. I believe there will be copy cat incidents regardless of whether NBC showed the clips or not.
Bob230
We’d still be speculating? So the jury would still be out as to whether this guy, who by many accounts was a loner, severely disturbed, suicidal, and had violent fantasies, was mentally ill? Perhaps you’re talking about the speculation that this was some sort of terrorist act, but the timing of the video’s airing was just in poor taste either way.
Basically the guy got what he wanted – making him even more infamous. He wanted to be remembered for this horror. I don’t like it either. It jsut tempts more disturbed people into thinking about doing the same thing – just to be known. NBC didn’t need to promote his image.
I think they could have turned the images and clips over to investigators and left it at that. But death and terror draws big ratings… and TV is out to fatten their wallet.