Overinflating his importance.

Ever the urge to jump on a hot news story, this new breed of 21st Century "journalists" proves no different.

Remember a few weeks back, when in Wisconsin, a crazy man ticked off about Palin's daughter on the dancing reality show shot out his tv screen? Was it because nobody died that we had enough brains to laugh at his actions, and didn't waste a single minute seriously giving voice to his "complaints" ?

Mentally ill man. Laugh and move on...

Why -- because this younger one has naturally proven more deadly -- do we have 3 NYT reporters giving this sick man's motivations serious consideration? Because he can kill?

I know journalism is a business, and I know this story "has legs". It's good copy, and some people will consume whatever you can throw at them on bloody bad stories like this...

But this?
Bloodshed Puts New Focus on Vitriol in Politics
By CARL HULSE and KATE ZERNIKE
The shooting focused attention on the degree to which inflammatory language has become part of the political culture.
and this?
A Turning Point in the Discourse, but in Which Direction?
By MATT BAI
It’s hard not to think the shooting was partly influenced by a debate that often seems to conflate disagreement with Armageddon.


Newspeople:
he can only steer this discussion with his violence if you, predictably, take the bait and give his unformed opinions extra points because he had the audacity to accompany them with gunfire.

One hybrid expert pundit has reacted by shutting down his open comments forum, telling us he saw this climate of violence coming, after just telling us how much he values free speech and honest discussion on hot-button national issues.

Telling that the violent actions of one caused him such fear and only reinforced his political conclusions, it seems.

If there's any "message" to be unearthed in these stories of mentally ill men and guns is should be this: No Effect, No Turning Point in the Rational Discourse, in either direction.

This mentally ill killer deserves no more a forum for his political thoughts than the Wisconsin "tv killer" was taken seriously for his dance criticism.

Skip the laugh, but let's do move on...

--------------


ADDED: This is a self fulfilling prophecy we don't need, no matter how determined some seem to make these killings representative of the national discourse on controversial issues* like healthcare particularly:

WASHINGTON — The shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and others at a neighborhood meeting in Arizona on Saturday set off what is likely to be a wrenching debate over anger and violence in American politics.

While the exact motivations of the suspect in the shootings remained unclear, an Internet site tied to the man, Jared Lee Loughner, contained antigovernment ramblings. And regardless of what led to the episode, it quickly focused attention on the degree to which inflammatory language, threats and implicit instigations to violence have become a steady undercurrent in the nation’s political culture.

*If you thought it was hard to talk about Bristol Palin and dancing reality, wait until we continue confronting budget issues, with serious national choices, in the years to come. To pretend the hard discussions won't happen because there's a fear somebody could go off and shoot out a tv, or even an innocent child bystander, that's a fool's wish no matter how you're inclined to spin it.

Let the victims of this senseless tragedy rest in peace, without having to find greater meaning for basic killing actions (doesn't take a genius to shoot out a tv, afterall), or overinflate the importance of mentally ill people on serious national discussions.

** More melodrama ("A Prayer for Owen Meany"), as the new mediums explore ways to exploit deliver the news in popular commercial packages to their young readers.

A prayer too for the dark and twisted soul who committed this act, because it is also a Christian duty to see the human in him as well.

And a prayer that, whatever the precise dynamic that brought this evil to the surface, we can get past the violent rhetoric of our time and the poisonous polarization that fuels it. It has been ugly; it has been cruel; it has been reckless.

And it has to end.
...
More tomorrow as we recover more facts.

Heh. After Arizona indeed.