Has anybody noticed that the shootings at virginia tech seemed not to be as "famous" as columbine?

Are we desensitized? Twice as many people died. Columbine there were reports and storys for about a year after.





Weird.

Has anybody noticed that the shootings at virginia tech seemed not to be as "famous" as columbine?
I agree that there has been far less coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings than there was (and continues to be) of the Columbine incident.





A cynic might say that it's because the perpetrator wasn't a white kid from a middle- to upper-class socioeconomic group who wasn't "supposed" to behave as he did. Not enough "why did he do it?" mystery to contemplate.





An optimist might say that the media is acting on a widely held belief that many school shooters are seeking long-term celebrity more than anything else. To deny that desire is thought by some to be one way to discourage future events.





A compassionate person might hope that the lack of publicity is attributable to the sense that Cho was truly suffering from mental illness and doesn't deserve the sort of infamy that Harris %26amp; Klebold achieved. Similarly, it could suggest a consensus that his family deserves compassion and privacy rather than finger-pointing.





A news expert might conjecture that even though more deaths resulted from the Virginia Tech shootings, the incident was basically an imitation of the 1999 event and therefore not worthy of a lot of news coverage. (This may reflect the desensitization you mention....)





For whatever reason the news coverage hasn't achieved the level created at Columbine, I would say that the low-key media approach to this incident is far better for all concerned.
Reply:on 4/20 we had a moment of silence for ringing the bell at our bell tower for VT but that was the anniversary of columbine. But our principal never mentioned them.
Reply:Yes I have noticed that, and it is very strange.
Reply:I would pretty much say what fuzzylizard said. Plus it is just common news now I guess because there have been so many. On a parenting board a few weeks ago a parent wanted advice as to what to do to a boy threatening her child with a knife on the playground and the police and school chalked it up as boys being boys because I guess they dont watch tv. These boys were like 3rd and 4th graders not highschoolers. The no tolerance for Bullies motto all school say they have is a load of crap because they keep letting the bad kids get away with all the crap they pull.
Reply:I think that their is a good reason for that ... One being that the nut jobs that do this sort of think are looking for recognition they want attention and the media is all about giving negitive attention. Like Al Gore said the news media was all over Anna Nicoles death and Brittany Spears break down that they should focus on real problems like Global Warming.


That is not what people want , people want to hear stupid crap and it's the BS that sells.
Reply:Yes, I was just going to say that. We are desensitized to this type of violence. Since Columbine its happened again more than once. I think we just expect that it will happen again and our efforts is to increase security. Instead of getting to the root of the problem. We try to build safeguards against it. Its like we accept it and know that it will happen again, instead of being shocked by it and trying to make society better.
Reply:Maybe it is because at the current time we have been directly or inderectly responsible for at least 64,000 iraqi civilian deaths and it seems kind of hypocritical for us to gnash our teeth and tear our hair over 33 dead Americans.
Reply:It's like the moon landings. The first one captured the imagination, the rest less so because it's been done already. I know this isn't a perfect analogy, and I do not want to appear insensitive, it's just the first one that sprang to mind
Reply:Its the sympathy for the guy with the mental problem v. the stone cold killers. VT should have had a better villian if they were looking for noteriety.
Reply:i was just thinking the same thing yesterday... one minute it was all over the news... and then u dont hear a word about it. maybe because columbine was more or less the first school shooting... its really sad... i feel for all the familys involved in any school violence.
Reply:We are becoming desensitized to violence. People think it's all just the next version of "GTA - Blacksburg," or something.
Reply:I don't think we should make that kind of stuff famous anyways.
Reply:i do think we are desensitized. colombine was the first school shooting in years and years but since then they have been happening almost yearly
Reply:Yes we have become desensitized to things like that. They happen much more frequently now. After 911 where thousands died, some people are not going to get upset about 35. It's wrong and scandalous but that's the way it is. When something else happens like 911, I'm sure it won't get as much publicity as 911 did. Today's world is sick.
Reply:Columbine happened during a slow news year.





VA tech was not as important because Britteny shaved her head, Anna Nicole died, Paris is going to jail, Lindsey is an alcoholic, Angelina adopted a baby, Sanjaya was on Idol, Rosie was a fat dyke,Cheney shot a buddy,Bush lied,and was lied to,and Osama is still running free.


Who the hell cares if 32 people were murdered.


There is more important crap going on.
Reply:Sadly to said school shooting is old news now.


I would not call it being famous more like a tragedy, we have to look at the time when that tragedy occur. Right now the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Republicans and Democratic jumping into political arena those are the headliner for the news.


Debate on making school safer will be apart of to do list for the upcoming election
Reply:i think that it is the samething and it is famous as the columbine.
Reply:Yep - the media has desensitized us. I used to be a news junkie, but - now - I limit myself to catching up with the headlines in the morning and the evening. Why? Because I found myself shrugging over stories that, at one time, would have had me in tears.
Reply:Maybe they are letting this story "die" no pun intended - so it does NOT get too much media attention - - - after all the media attention that Columbine received - there were still many school shootings. People tend to imitate life.





If the media does not make such a big deal out of this - perhaps there will be less shootings. Although I doubt it - but I can hope.





Columbine got more attention because those 2 nuts PLANNED this for months.





This Virginia Tech guy was just a Few Clowns Short of a Circus and was in need of help and finally lost it.





Too bad nobody recognized this BEFORE he took all those innocent lives.
Reply:Pretty much. Note that the way the media spins it, this virginia tech incident is almost a replica of Columbine. Take a look at the checklist. Awkward loner who got picked on throughout his life, who made a spectacle of himself and elevated himself to some self perceived higher level, who harbored an extreme grudge against his perceived enemies, and has a history of mental illness. In addition, this happened at a college campus while Columbine was a high school, and we all know that in America, a child's life is worth more news fodder than an adult's
Reply:Maybee some poeple don't want to talk about it ,it's hard on certain people, but i have seen a couple of things on tv when it hapened...but im sure it will stay in viginia tech's students hearts forever...and it will not be forgotten....