18 replies to this topic

[SportsGuy]

http://www.baltimore... ... 5105.story

[DJ MC]

Got Perry Hall trending worldwide on Twitter...

Sounds premeditated, and sounds like bullying.

[ChaosLex]

My father-in-law's daughter just moved up from the Carolinas and today was her first day of schooling in MD. She's a senior at Perry Hall high school.

Supposedly, the child that was shot was DOA at the hospital. *sigh*

[DJ MC]

https://twitter.com/... ... AIRM_4.jpg

This is being passed around on Twitter as a status update from the suspected shooter this morning.

[SportsGuy]

So, the thought is that the shooter was bullied by the kid he shot?

[Oriole85]

Just terrible, it's not even so surprising anymore that theres a school shooting (that's pretty bad), but when it's right around here, it much tougher to take.

[RShack]

Just terrible, it's not even so surprising anymore that theres a school shooting (that's pretty bad), but when it's right around here, it much tougher to take.

As long as they keep putting these a-holes all over TV, there's just gonna be more and more of it. They should learn from what MLB did about not showing jerks running out on the field. Now, I know they can't just ignore shooters in the same way, but they should not show his picture even once. After mentioning his name exactly once, they should never mention it again, just call him "the Perry Hall shooter" or whatever. But they won't. They'll repeat his name and show his picture again, and again, and again, and again... count on it...

[DJ MC]

So, the thought is that the shooter was bullied by the kid he shot?

From what is being reported it sounds like the kid was expecting something to happen, was bullied when he walked into the cafeteria (apparently some food was thrown), and walked out to get and assemble his shotgun. When he came back in he fired a shot that hit a random student*, then a guidance councilor in the room grabbed him and caused a second shot into the ceiling. That's when the students ran, and the school police officer responded and arrested the kid.

*I don't want to complain about this too much, but all of the news reporting I have been watching has really pounded home the fact that the shooting victim was a special-needs student. As though somehow that makes it worse than if it was the prom queen or the president of the drama club or the overweight kid reading by himself in the corner. That bothers me.

[Oriole85]

As long as they keep putting these a-holes all over TV, there's just gonna be more and more of it. They should learn from what MLB did about not showing jerks running out on the field. Now, I know they can't just ignore shooters in the same way, but they should not show his picture even once. After mentioning his name exactly once, they should never mention it again, just call him "the Perry Hall shooter" or whatever. But they won't. They'll repeat his name and show his picture again, and again, and again, and again... count on it...

I agree to an extent with what you are saying give them as little coverage as possible I don't think in all cases, they are simply trying to get their 15 minutes of fame. You can put as many deterrents as possible, stuff still happens.

And with your MLB example, people still run on the field, despite the TV networks not showing it.

I'll admit the first thing I did was look up the suspect, it's only natural to be curious about such a thing.

[ChaosLex]

Glad to hear the kid wasn't DOA. Obviously.

Still in critical condition.

[Oriole85]

*I don't want to complain about this too much, but all of the news reporting I have been watching has really pounded home the fact that the shooting victim was a special-needs student. As though somehow that makes it worse than if it was the prom queen or the president of the drama club or the overweight kid reading by himself in the corner. That bothers me.

If it were the star QB on the football team or the prom queen, I think it would be getting more attention. I got no idea who the victim was, but depending on the severity of the student, s/he could've been more vulnerable. The original thought was of course he shot the person who bullied him(in no way is that acceptable). Also, the fact, people still feel like it's acceptable to use derogatory words towards those with intellectual disabilities really bothers me(I think it's far less acceptable to use racial/sexual orientation slurs). (end of my rant)

[DJ MC]

As long as they keep putting these a-holes all over TV, there's just gonna be more and more of it. They should learn from what MLB did about not showing jerks running out on the field. Now, I know they can't just ignore shooters in the same way, but they should not show his picture even once. After mentioning his name exactly once, they should never mention it again, just call him "the Perry Hall shooter" or whatever. But they won't. They'll repeat his name and show his picture again, and again, and again, and again... count on it...

That's what people want to see. Even if most of them wouldn't want to report that information, somebody will because:

1) It is newsworthy
2) That outlet will get the eyes/ears of newswatchers

So they all will.

Hell, all you have to do is go on Twitter or Facebook right now and you can find out who the students are calling the shooter, because they are passing his Facebook page around. Assuming that is the correct person, the information is already out there.

[Oriole85]

That's what people want to see. Even if most of them wouldn't want to report that information, somebody will because:

1) It is newsworthy
2) That outlet will get the eyes/ears of newswatchers

So they all will.

Hell, all you have to do is go on Twitter or Facebook right now and you can find out who the students are calling the shooter, because they are passing his Facebook page around. Assuming that is the correct person, the information is already out there.

Exactly on the latter, not to mention people are RTing all over Twitter and yes, I've seen it "shared" on Facebook.

To ignore it entirely isn't realistic anyways.

[Why Not?]

As long as they keep putting these a-holes all over TV, there's just gonna be more and more of it. They should learn from what MLB did about not showing jerks running out on the field. Now, I know they can't just ignore shooters in the same way, but they should not show his picture even once. After mentioning his name exactly once, they should never mention it again, just call him "the Perry Hall shooter" or whatever. But they won't. They'll repeat his name and show his picture again, and again, and again, and again... count on it...

I would like to know if this really plays a role. Somehow I don't think it's fame or noteriety that these kids are after. I think an acceptance of the "shoot up a school/workplace" scenario has developed, which is terrible. But I don't know if keeping the killer anonymous would help or not.

[RShack]

To ignore it entirely isn't realistic anyways.

I didn't say ignore it. I said don't plaster his face and name all over TV.

Yes, people who wanted to know could still find out... just like you can find out about the jerks who get tackled by cops on the ball field. But when they stopped being all over TV, the incidence nose-dived.

I'm not talking about making the guy a secret, I'm just talking about a socially responsible code of conduct. TV-people don't respect their medium, and they don't honor any kind of code of conduct... they're like a gun owner who treats his gun like a toy instead of a powerful tool that needs to be handled responsibly.

[Why Not?]

I didn't say ignore it. I said don't plaster his face and name all over TV.

Yes, people who wanted to know could still find out... just like you can find out about the jerks who get tackled by cops on the ball field. But when they stopped being all over TV, the incidence nose-dived.

I'm not talking about making the guy a secret, I'm just talking about a socially responsible code of conduct. TV-people don't respect their medium, and they don't honor any kind of code of conduct... they're like a gun owner who treats his gun like a toy instead of a powerful tool that needs to be handled responsibly.

If evidence existed that the publication of names in this situation truly encouraged others to commit similar acts (which is doubtful), the police/FBI would likely request that the media refrain from publishing the names. That request would be honored.

Reporters regularly sit on certain information at the request of law enforcement. I know all members of the media are spawn of the devil, but if people can take tangible action to stop murders, they generally will do it.

[RShack]

If evidence existed that the publication of names in this situation truly encouraged others to commit similar acts (which is doubtful), the police/FBI would likely request that the media refrain from publishing the names. That request would be honored.

Then the FBI oughta ask them.

Look, this isn't a science lab thing where there's unambiguous proof. This is messy real world stuff. If you go looking for evidence, you can readily find various times (like now) where these things go in spurts. That's more evidence than MLB had when they told everybody to quit showing guys running on the field, and that sure dried up compared to what it was getting to be before they did it.

And, no, I am not saying people decide to do these things to get on TV... just like I bet most jerks who ran on the field didn't go to the game for that purpose... but they got some beers in them and decided to do it. It still happens but not nearly as much. I bet the same thing would happen with this kind of stuff if these guys didn't have the promise of going out with a big famous bang on nationwide TV.

We should do it for a couple years and see. There's nothing wrong with trying it, it's not like censorship where you prevent people from knowing the truth of what happened. You still look up the name and photo if you wanted to. The *only* thing it would be doing is depriving the murderers from having their faces and names getting massive instant fame from being broadcast to everybody on a hundred million TV's. I don't see anything wrong with doing that.

[Why Not?]

Then the FBI oughta ask them.

Look, this isn't a science lab thing where there's unambiguous proof. This is messy real world stuff. If you go looking for evidence, you can readily find various times (like now) where these things go in spurts. That's more evidence than MLB had when they told everybody to quit showing guys running on the field, and that sure dried up compared to what it was getting to be before they did it.

We should do it for a couple years and see. There's nothing wrong with trying it, it's not like censorship where you prevent people from knowing the truth of what happened. The *only* thing it would be doing is depriving the murderers from having their faces and names getting massive instant fame.

And, no, I am not saying people decide to do these things to get on TV... just like I bet most jerks who ran on the field didn't go to the game for that purpose... but they got some beers in them and decided to do it. It still happens but not nearly as much. I bet the same thing would happen with this kind of stuff if these guys didn't have the promise of going out with a famous bang on nationwide TV.

I don't think the running on the field incidents have decreased since TV stopped showing them. If that decision EVER made a difference, it's cancelled out by the presence of smart phones and YouTube.

I think we all want to be able to do something about these shootings. But you really can't demand that media not report the facts of a crime based upon a theory this vague. If you're going to so clearly circumvent the Constitutional right to freedom of the press, why not just skip right ahead to eliminating the right to bear arms? THAT would solve the problem.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Another senseless tragedy. Our best to the victim and their family.