Everyone watched...
NBC aired footage of the maniac from VA Tech. Now they are catching all
> kinds of shit for it.
>
> I'm torn.
>
> The messages were intense, and they were alarming. But, they were also
> news. I assume NBC had the blessing of law enforcement to air footage due
> to the ongoing investigations. I don't see what was gained by airing the
> footage, other than selling news, but I also do not see what the harm is
> in airing the footage, other than making some of us uncomfortable. >
> Cho was certainly a deranged individual, and he should have been committed
> to a mental hospital for his own good, not to mention the safety of the
> community. Having said that, how do we confine people like Cho and not
> confine people that ought not be confined? If Cho needed to be in a
> hospital despite his assertions to the contrary, how do we know when
> somebody that resists confinement in a hospital really deserves to be set
> free? It is a slippery slope, my friends. Either we lock up guys like Cho
> and ensnare a few innocent people in the same process, or we endanger
> society by not gathering up our sick and dangerous brethren.
>
> I am reminded of an old Jack Nicholson movie, One Flew Over the Coo Coo's
> Nest. In the movie, Jack checked himself into the funny farm to hide from
> life for a while. He found himself stuck in a black hole from which there
> was no escape. There were mental patients there that were clearly better
> off on the inside, and society would do those people a huge disservice had
> they been turned loose -- we set about to turn them loose in the '70s
> sometime, and we failed them as a result. Clearly, we need mental
> hospitals for guys like Cho -- despite anything that Cho himself had to
> say on the topic. Some mental patients -- most, I think -- need the
> stability that a mental ward might provide, as opposed to the instability
> they find on the streets.
>
> Cho was ordered to a mental hospital, and he sought and received
> outpatient care when there is little doubt that he should have been > committed.
>
> After all of the dust settles, if we can't figure out whom should be in
> mental hospitals and whom should be roaming the streets freely, we are
> destined to repeat this horrible experience. I think it is worthwhile to
> try and figure out how to fix the problem(s) associated with mental
> hospitals and getting people into them against their will, but I do not
> think it is worthwhile to point crooked fingers at the system in an
> attempt to place blame. It happened. It was horrible. We can pray it never
> happens again, but I think it will.
>
> NBC had hard choices to make. Had they elected to not air the footage,
> they would be charged with becoming an arbiter that decides what we see.
> Had they shelved the footage, then they would be facing censorship charges
> today. They would still be on the losing end of bad press. Their job is to
> bring us the news, and they brought it. It was news when they brought it,
> but as an afterthought it was not a particularly good news story. But, NBC
> isn't burdened by deciding what is good news and what is bad, they only
> decide what is news and what isn't. Sometimes the decision is good and
> remains so, sometimes the decision is good when made but turns bad, and
> other times the decision is bad from the start. I think it was good and
> turned bad. It was always uncomfortable, but news can be that way. >
>
>
>