Violence and the Media

The past week's coverage of the carnage in Tucson left me wondering: what of the memorials for Bryan Cirigliano? Or Victor James? You may well ask, "Who the hell are they?" and rightly so. These gentlemen are just two of the nine that were killed in the August shooting rampage in a Manchester, Connecticut beer distributorship. Don't feel badly about not recognizing their names: I had to look them up, too. And therein lies my point.

Public mayhem is nothing new. Whether it occurs in the workplace or society in general, numerous cases can be found regularly. The primary difference between these other instances and Tucson is the media frenzy. So what caused the frenzy? Could it be the number of dead and wounded or the notoriety of those involved? I call it a "quantity or quality" question that apparently determines the amount of media coverage devoted to the scene.

Why does a congresswoman need to be shot, or a Federal judge or a nine year old girl killed before we start to have a conversation about events of this nature? Why didn't the nine folks in Connecticut merit the same attention last August? Were their deaths less noteworthy? Were their memorials unimportant? Have we become so callous to seemingly random violence that the more "normal, everyday" shootings fail to move us towards addressing the underlying issues? It sure seems so.

Don't get me wrong: the memorials and media coverage in Tucson are appropriate. I suggest that the coverage of other, similar events is lacking due either due to a lower number of casualties or an absence of celebrity within the victim list. The saddest part, I'm afraid, is the fact that you and I have little or no control over who the media turns towards and how much coverage is considered adequate.

We do, however, have the option of extolling our representatives to delve further into the root causes of such incidents and seeking remedies. Some would argue for greater mental health support services while others, perhaps, would seek greater control over firearms and ammunition. Both have valid concerns (and positions) and I'm sure that other ideas could equally contribute to the debate.

We seem to be an angry, polarized society these days. Some have an axe to grind while others seek only to swing the axe in a random manner. Regardless, we must strive to recognize the danger signs that each and every incident provides rather than ignoring those that fail to live up to some artificial standard of attention.