August 26, 2015

"The killings appear to have been skillfully engineered for maximum distribution, and to sow maximum dread, over Twitter, Facebook and mobile phones."

"The video Mr. Flanagan shows is an up-close, first-person execution. It was posted only after his social media accounts had become widely known, while the police were in pursuit of the killer. And unlike previous televised deaths, these were not merely broadcast, but widely and virally distributed, playing out with the complicity of thousands, perhaps millions, of social networking users who could not help watching and sharing. The horror was the dawning realization, as the video spread across the networks, that the killer had anticipated the moves — that he had been counting on the mechanics of these services and on our inability to resist passing on what he had posted."

From Farhad Manjoo (at The NYT), "Virginia Shooting Gone Viral, in a Well-Planned Rollout on Social Media."

MEANWHILE: Jim Geraghty at The National Review says:
But I feel like there’s at least one compelling reason to show the video: this is the actual truth of what happened. The job of journalists is to inform the public of what happened. One of our great complaints about modern media is that it feels a paternalistic need to emphasize certain aspects and obscure others, often in service of a particular narrative, no?...

[I]f you choose not to watch the video of today’s murder – or the Charlie Hebdo attack, or any other bloody video, that’s fine. That’s your choice. But let’s not reflexively denounce news organizations that show the ugly truth, in all its unedited horror.

34 comments:

Bob Boyd said...

Its interesting, the on-air name he chose for himself is so similar to Brian Williams. Coincidence?

DavidD said...

http://theothermccain.com/2015/08/26/gunman-blames-racism-after-he-kills-two-young-journalists-on-live-tv/

cubanbob said...

This guy Manjoo has the subtle eye for the obvious. Fairly young male nut with extensive media background decides to do a video-viral manifesto. Wow. Like no one could ever see something like this coming.

Michael K said...

Charlie Manson would be proud. He probably is.

MadisonMan said...

Seeing death is a very personal thing. It's not meant for strangers.

Paco Wové said...

What flag can we ban to help us all move past this terrible crime? Maybe there's some monument we can pull down, instead.

David said...

I stand with Jim Geraghty. But not too close, lest someone take a shot at him.

AmPowerBlog said...

Well, yeah, and the suspect's a Democrat too. Apparently a homosexual Democrat at that.

See, 'Vester Lee Flanagan, #WDBJ Shooting Suspect, Angry Black Democrat, Disciplined for Wearing 'Barack Obama Sticker' at Work'.

madAsHell said...

Sharing this execution by social media does have a downside. Think of all the copy-cats that will want to go out with a bang.

Hell, they don't even have to be delusional. They will do it for notoriety.

The knock-out game has progressed. All the gangsta wannabes sharing there latest drive-by shooting on worldstarhiphop.com. How gruesome can you go??

Head shots with buck shot?

Got GoPro on the picatinny rail??

madAsHell said...

this is the actual truth of what happened.

Think of all the clicks this will generate!!

GRW3 said...

Considering his history, I suspect we'll find he was taking the same class of anti depressants that all the noted killers, except for the jihadists, have been taking. Seems some like people are depressed because of their inhibitions to not kill themselves or other people. The drugs lift the depression and the inhibition and bang. Some people need to be locked up but protecting their civil rights is more attractive to the right people than the civil rights of normal people.

buwaya said...

Unfortunately this is designed to motivate copycat killers.
The %%(%^%% wanted that.

Mark said...

The job of journalists is to inform the public of what happened.

Yet again the banality of evil. The baby choppers at PP were just doing their job too.

Laslo Spatula said...

"I suspect we'll find he was taking the same class of anti depressants that all the noted killers..."

Or they just leave you commenting uselessly on blog threads.


I am Laslo.

Shouting Thomas said...

Why isn't Little Larry desperately trying to pin the blame on an entire class of people for this atrocity like he did with the Charleston massacre?

Oh... I forgot...

Killer is (1) black and (gay)...

So this atrocity signifies nothing. You can't blame blacks and gays as a class, can you?

Come on, Little Larry. Cry some crocodile tears for these beloved friends and victims you've never met like you did over those black people at Charleston.

What? The fag hags don't care about this atrocity?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chickelit said...

@ST: I haven't seen any Meade comments on the killing. Are you referring to elsewhere?

Shouting Thomas said...

@chickelit

He was all over LEM's site, wailing and lecturing about the Charleston killings and trying to pin the blame on us racist white guys.

He listed the names of the victims and insisted we weep along with him to prove we weren't in on the massacre.

Of course, this absolves him, but not the rest of us.

William said...

I think all these killers have more in common with each other than with whatever ethnic or religious group they are born into. Crazy losers.

walter said...

""I suspect we'll find he was taking the same class of anti depressants that all the noted killers..."

Or they just leave you commenting uselessly on blog threads."

Ah..sir Spatula..you are certain mental illness..maybe even paradoxical response to antipsychotic meds couldn't possibly factor into this?

Known Unknown said...

So we are shocked that a modern media "journalist" uses modern media to give the world his "news?"

Fen said...

"But let’s not reflexively denounce news organizations -"

Fine, instead lets denounce the news organizations for causing this.

The black shooter was radicalized by the constant media race-baiting. If we need to adress the root cause then stop blaming guns and ban ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN etc. They've been trying to gin up a race war to get political traction for the Left, well here is the result.

I also find your position incredibly hypocritical - the media censored coverage of 9-11 victims jumping to their death because they didn't trust the public with that information, worried they would start stringing up muslims. Now you're justifying coverage by claiming its your job to tell the truth?

walter said...

Fen,
I wonder what's the up to date count on number of visits to WH by tax evading/race baiting media perp Sharpton.

But unless someone can provide a convincing reason to do otherwise..I refuse to let the video of this man's actions occupy my memory. It's what he wants..ain't getting it from me.

T J Sawyer said...

From the killer's performance review:

"Bryce needs to incorporate web posting into his daily schedule. ... Photos from the field are also necessary."


Be careful what you ask for.

Rusty said...

I think it's time we banned handguns for democrats.
If you're a democrat or a progressive you shouldn't be allowed to own a firearm.

Mark said...

Like publicizing the killers name, h we lping his video go viral is exactly what his twisted mind wanted us to do.

While Geraghty makes some sense, he does advocate playing along with the killers wishes for fame.

Sydney said...

I intentionally avoided watching the videos. Even the one filmed by the murdered cameraman. But when I opened my newspaper this morning, there was a still shot from the killer's video with his gun aimed at the anchorwoman. I did not want or need to see that. Big media will go for sensationalism every time. And it's that tendency which has brought up these selfie killers and terrorists. It isn't video games. It isn't movies. It isn't the NRA. It's Big Media.

West Texas Intermediate Crude said...

~85 people died in traffic accidents yesterday (1/3 involved drunk drivers).
None of them involved "journalists," so no big mention on national news.
None were white people killing black people, so no mention.
No mention of the multiple gangbanger murders around the USA yesterday.
This is the "news" business.
At least it kept Trump out of the headlines for a day.

bridgecross said...

Every time I see a link to a Farhad Manjoo article, part of me dies a little.

Paul Snively said...

I can't wait for their breathless promotion of the unedited Planned Parenthood videos.

Self-righteous, smug, sanctimonious. lying assholes.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

If Obama had a son at age 13. Maybe he did; they should do a paternity test. Anyway, he and AReasonableBoy must be so proud of their homo homie.

D.E. Cloutier said...

Re: "But let’s not reflexively denounce news organizations that show the ugly truth, in all its unedited horror."

I worked as a newspaper reporter many years ago. Normand Poirier, a star reporter at the New York Post, was my first mentor in the news business. He also was an early influence on Pete Hamill.

"You are the eyes and ears of the reader, not the brain," Poirier used to say. "See. Hear. Don't think."

That remains good advice.

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mikee said...

We don't mind the ugly truth in all its unedited horor.

We dislike and disdain the sensationalizing of this truth, and the glorying in the horror, by the media.