Finally, on Oprah yesterday

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they were discussing the Virginia Tech shooting. I found it very interesting for a number of reasons. First they had NBC explaining why they did what they did. Now, I found the constant running of the video disturbing and annoying. But at first I really wanted to see it. It wanted to look at lunacy and see what it looks like. I wanted to hear what insanity sounds like. I don't know why. Maybe to insure I'm not crazy myself??? Who knows. But the constant airing of it got to be too much. However, that was not NBC's fault. All the other news outlets picked it up and ran with it.

NBC explained that they received the package at 11 a.m. and no one but the FBI knew they had it until the news at 6 p.m. They sat on it and went over it all and debated and decided what to do. I think they did a fairly decent job of handling considering the unique and bizarre situation. Of the 25 minutes of tape, they used 2. Of the over 400 pictures, they used 7. And of the 23 pages of written stuff, they used a few sentences. I think they did okay.

What I did find interesting was this lady who swears this could have been avoided, as could Columbine. That it should have been caught when he was younger and this tragedy could have been prevented. To her I ask, how?? Clearly the parents did nothing so they are out. Anyone who noticed he was odd as a child would have had to get parental permission to do anything, again they did nothing so I don't think that's the way to go. Once he was older they did try to do things and he wouldn't go. Because of the protection of everyones civil rights, no one could force him to get help even thought everyone who came into contact with him knew he was disturbed.

Besides, how do you know for certain that someone is going to go homicidal??? It's not like you can put a littman stethoscope to them and hear their thoughts, "I'm going to kill someone." Human beings being the complex creatures they are there is no way to guarantee that someone is or is not going to do anything. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

Comments

Unknown said…
I'd have to agree that it would be a huge civil rights violation to 'lock up', 'send to treatment', or whatever anyone that someone thinks might be a potential threat sometime in the future. This is probably even a very unpopular opinion, but I think guaranteeing our civil rights in this country outweighs locking up a bunch of potential (but unproven) threats...even if it means loss of innocent lives. What is sad, is that this tradeoff has to happen. It's sad that there are people so disturbed as to take out innocent lives in the first place. :(
6:10 PM
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