By now everyone knows about the Dark Knight Rises shooting in Aurora, Colorado. I’m not going to restate the facts. I am however going to present an opinion on how the news media handles such tragedies.

The next morning I really dreaded going into work. The same exact conversation starts:

Coworker: “Did you hear about [tragedy] at [location]?”

2nd coworker: “Yes I did. That is [negative adjective].”

Coworker: “I can’t believe something like that would happen.”

2nd coworker: “Yes I heard that [hearsay about killer; situation].”

This happens with every mass shooting. The media has wall to wall coverage in the immediate days following the shooting. News producers are quick to bring in guest psychiatrists who try to analyse what little facts we have on the shooters to come up with a Monday morning armchair quarterback take on why it occurred and what can be done to stop it. These pseudo-quacks should be ashamed of themselves. It is only after weeks or even months of therapy with the accused that a psychiatrist could even begin to come up with a theory on why the act happened.

Recognize these goons?

Sure you do, because their faces were plastered all over the television, web, and newspapers following their killing spree. The media feeds on these type of tragedies. It fuels ratings…eyeballs on their broadcasts, websites, and social media accounts.

I ran into this video below which kinda sums up the frenzy to which the media subjects its viewers. The expert at the end hits the nail on the head.

It is only when we stop glorifying these shooters into anti-heroes that these shooting will decline. Deranged potential killers want attention, even if that means negative attention. They want to go out in a blaze of gun fire for the perceived hurt caused by society. Seeing the wall to wall media coverage of mass killings will only spur more mass killings.