Virginia Tech massacre: NBC receives material from killer

[ncupsscweather]

this is sad and shouldn't have happened.

[brunota2003]

...Well, now the rumors have started flying around my school. The school is supposedly (from what I heard) going to be shot up tomorrow. The police did an investigation all day today into it (including pulling people out of class) and have not found any evidence to point to anything more than just the regular April rumors. Last year at this time there was more of a threat (student writing time/date on girls bathroom) than this year. I'll keep my guard up, but feel, IMHO, it is nothing more than the regular April rumors...

[JonathanBelles]

ABC said they would pull the video from the air and yet they went on for 7 MINUTES explaining why they pulled the tapes!!!

[wxmann_91]

I'm just glad I have school off this week. But I shudder to think what will happen when I go back, hopefully nothing will happen.

[Coredesat]

On Wikipedia, we have an essay called "don't stuff beans up your nose". Basically, it means that if you tell someone not to do a specific thing, you may be encouraging them to do it anyway.

The news networks seem to have done just that for the sake of ratings, and now all this new crap is happening.

[abajan]

I said it before and I'll say it again, the media has no sense they are only concerned with ratings that's all

Late April into May is rating season.

I am rather disturbed by the criticism of the media that seems rampant in society these days. It is the 4th estate and it is also protected by the first ammendment to the great document that is the U.S. Constitution. The founding fathers found it SO critical to have freedom of the press that they inserted it into the most amazing document EVER written. Without the press, we would have had no clue about Watergate, no clue about other various political scandals which I won't get into given the nature of this board, numerous predators would still be on the loose because there'd be no shows such as Dateline NBC's "To catch a predator", etc (far more important things I've forgot to mention such as how bad the war was going in Vietnam when generals said it was going just great)

I for one think the media serves an incalcuable service to society and the criticism is so totally unfair. The Virginia tech massacre is the most horrific shooting in the history of the United States. To ensure that nothing like this ever happens again, I think every element of what led to this needs to be examined by society. We need to understand how people can do such things to prevent it in the future. The media is an outlet that can begin a national discussion as to what is wrong in the U.S. that incidents like these tend to happen so often. Airing the videos gives some insight into the mind of one of the worst mass murderers ever. If somebody had these kind of videos of Adolf Hitler, would it make sense to argue that these should never see the light of day.

Now, I am the first to criticize the media. They are far too quick to give 24/7 coverage to stories of no importance to anybody but the immediate family such as Natalie Holloway (my condolences to her family. god only knows what they are still going through) and provide almost no coverage of events like the death of President Ford. That is one fault I see.

However, I strongly feel that the coverage of this tragedy is neccessary and I commend ABC/CBS/CNN/NBC/MSNBC for their coverage.

Not that I'm not for freedom of the press but I just think it was a very bad idea to air the contents of that package. Sooner or later, other likeminded individuals are sure to copy his modus operandi to acheive notoriety.

Btw, the founding fathers weren't gods. To hear how some speak of them, one could easily imagine that they were. Like anyone else, they were fallible.

[Chacor]

Two MPs who faked a hostage-taking at Taiwan's top university after the US school shootings have been condemned by the island's governing party.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) made a public apology after two MPs reported that students had been taken hostage at National Taiwan University.

Armed police rushed to the campus, only to be told that the call was a hoax aimed at testing their response time.

The pair may face disciplinary action, but have defended their action.

Police who rushed to scene found Lee Chen-nan and another legislator, Lin Kuo-ching, on campus with a number of reporters.

The hoax drew sharp criticism from the DPP, which issued an apology, and from Taiwan's cabinet, which said authorities would investigate whether the MPs broke any laws.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6571361.stm

[Coredesat]

I went to a vigil tonight, and took some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coredesatc ... 096463983/

I also included some pictures of some other small memorials here at VCU. The giant signs were held up at a vigil on Tuesday, and gained some local recognition. I signed the image and added the words "be strong" and the Japanese kanji for "oath" or "vow". I felt it was appropriate since as a college community, VCU had taken a vow to be there for the VT community.

[vbhoutex]

As much as I am an advocate of free speech, I have to commend those in the media, including our local NBD affiliate who have chosen to stop showing the pictures, etc. from the package. IMO, our focus now needs to be on the victims(entire VT community) and their families, not the perpetrator of this horrible crime.