posted on June 12, 2001 10:00:12 AM new
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The media's focus on sensationalism or the public's desire for sensationalism?
It seems to me that sensationalism in the media is nothing new; it helped to sell newspapers. It wasn't the good news the paper boys were yelling to entice buyers.
However, with talk TV, the public's desire increased. Phil Donahue (to an extent); Morton Downey, Jr.; Geraldo Rivera; Jenny Jones; Sally Jesse Raphael; Jerry Springer.
Even Oprah, in her early years, was not immune to it.
posted on June 12, 2001 11:01:55 AM new
What really worries me is where have his lawyers been instructed to scattered McVeigh's ashes??? I have a sickening feeling McVeigh wants them scattered at the Memorial in Oklahoma City. And his lawyers are probably heartless enough to do it.
posted on June 12, 2001 12:03:49 PM new
Femme..I agree with you it is nothing new.
Neither is murder,rape,incest or the plague.
And while I do want to hear about any of the above occuring I don't want any personnal details that the victims may not want to be common knowledge.
If I were still 13 years old I would be glued to the screen right now. But I have matured enough to know that this kind of stuff is not "cool" any more.
Working in the emergency medical field for 6 years I have seen enough personnal tradgedy to fill me up for a life time.
Maybe I just feel that some things are still personnal. If the victims want to tell us how they feel believe me they will write a book about it.
Oprah did do this kind of stuff in the begining but if you listen to what she says about her about face she realized that this kind of muckraking was not good for her soul nor the audience who followed her. She took a big chance when she did that , she had a lot farther to fall than the rest of us.
She matured. She learned to respect herself and her audience.
Some people never will.
Like they said in one of my favorite movies "Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should"
( I know these views may make me very unpopular but fire away I am an artist and used to critisism. 20 years of "Don't you think that tree should be bigger?"
"Do you have anything that would match my mauve sofa?" and you get the hide of a rhino}
posted on June 12, 2001 03:21:32 PM new
Do I detect a note of disapproval, Katy?
Regarding your link:
"He was glad to hear that Tim had taken last rites and that maybe religion had hit him in the last few hours," Michel said.
Maybe the fear of eternal damnation hit him in the last few hours too. Or maybe it was the thought of facing all those he murdered in the afterlife, with no bomb or in-your-face poems or anything at all to use against them this time. Maybe he was afraid.
I suppose the best we can hope for is that he had realized the enormity of his crime for some time prior to his death, and who knows, maybe he regretted it too, but could only overcome his own self-delusion and twisted, self-righteous rhetoric in the final minutes of his life.
It would be nice to think that if there was any remaining shred of humanity left in the man, it triumphed in the end.
posted on June 12, 2001 03:59:46 PM new
I am Catholic, Spaz. It struck a chord in me that he chose to accept the last rites. What was said during those last moments are between McVeigh and his priest. The quote you selected referred to his father's words. I'd like to hope that McVeigh's decision to accept the last rites brought some comfort to his family. Surely no one would begrudge them that.
posted on June 15, 2001 01:42:41 PM new
I've never been a fan of Ronald Reagan's daugter Patti Davis but she's written one of the most thought provoking pieces I've ever read about the death penalty. I hadn't realized what a talented writer she is.
