stop the fame for the infamous

before michael moore had the "audacity" to question and challenge bush's motives for waging war on iraq, thus incurring severe wrath from...well not above, but somewhere (moore, not bush), he was fairly widely celebrated for Bowling for Columbine. in it, he examines the violent culture of america - especially america's youth - and the myriad factors that might contribute to disasters like those experienced at columbine high, virginia tech, and now northern illinois university.

particularly piercing in his work is the difference between our media and that in other countries. most, if not all, mainstream media religiously follows the maxim "if it bleeds, it leads." but i'm starting to wonder if the immense attention and fame (or perhaps infamy) heaped on the perpetrators of these acts isn't becoming a massive incentive. we can blame the increase on the severity and regularity of these acts on many factors, but certainly it seems that the more coverage these acts have received, the more they have occurred.

most of the people who commit these acts are suicidal. but rather than simply kill themselves, they want to make as big a bang as possible. so they kill many others. and then, we give them just what they wanted to begin with: massive attention. in essence, we grant their final wish - and we honor them with attention far above their poor, innocent victims.

criminals, especially of this caliber, should not be made celebrities. we should completely deny them this awful fame. don't mention their names or anything about them. don't show any photos of them posing with weapons of death. withhold from them all glory, and declare once and for all that those who commit these atrocities will receive no attention. i find it deplorable that during sporting events cameras will cut away from people running on baseball fields or across tennis courts because "we don't want to encourage that kind of behavior" - but apparently we shouldn't question whether or not we are encouraging mass murder. just once it would be encouraging to see ANY news outlet that wanted to try and be part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem.

think i'm exaggerating about this? i'll bet you know the names of the murderers at niu, va tech, and columbine - or could at least describe them. now try describing or naming any of their victims.