In the above video, Jennifer Hill share three encounters with “gun violence” with WTNH. Her advice to other victims in the Live Free or Die state? Don’t be a victim! Carry a gun to defend yourself! JK. It’s actually “Don’t hide. You gotta live your life.” What was the real point of Gun violence hits terrifying notes in life of performer? Gun violence sucks! There’s lots of it! And here’s a human interest story to prove it!
More accurately, here’s some sensationalism to suck on. Suckle? This kind of “report” is infantile, appealing to the simple-minded part of the viewer’s brain, famously and accurately summed-up by Homer Simpson’s internal dialogue “Mmmmm…donuts.” Or, if you prefer a more active description, squirrel!
Sensation — as opposed to intellectual argument — sells. And I’m OK with that. It is what it is. Free market and all that.
All I ask is that the mainstream media devote equal time to the “sensation” of defensive gun uses (DGUs). As the lowest estimate of annual incidence pegs DGUs at 55k, it shouldn’t be too hard to find and report on law-abiding armed citizens who faced down, countered, or eliminated bad guys posing a threat of death or grievous bodily harm .
To be fair, the number and frequency of mainstream media DGU reports has increased dramatically, as more and more states have liberalized their concealed and open carry laws. But there’s another byproduct of all this this post-Orlando bloody shirt waving: the glorification of victimization.
What did the musically talented Ms. Hill do that warranted a camera crew and air time, aside from surviving three attacks? Nothing, really.
While I respect Ms. Hill’s strength of character, again, what of the strength of those who actively defeated attackers? Don’t they deserve at least equal exposure? Who’s the better role model? And what’s the effect of celebrating enduring passivity over victorious aggression on our national character?
After the Orlando attack, the mainstream media focused on the killer. Again, I’ve got no problem with that. We need to see the face of evil to recognize and counter it. But I would have liked to have seen at least one report celebrating the American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines on the front lines, actively working right now to eliminate the threat to our lives and liberty.
Truth be told, survival requires aggression. For the future of our country and our children, that’s a fact our mainstream media should celebrate. The fact that it doesn’t is deeply worrying.
Yep have a gun…going to Cabelas to look at ’em as I type..
That’s a pretty interesting train of thought — the focus on “Victimization”. We seem to have a lot more of that recently. In the case of this poor woman, it’s true, but the point of the piece is to make it seem like victimhood happens way more frequently than it does. Everyone’s a victim! Outrage all the time!
I suppose it subconsciously affirms the Social Just Warrior mantra that victimhood is rampant. After all, if you have a this huge swarm of victims, there must be someone or something (in this case guns, gun owners, the NRA, Charleton Heston’s ghost, etc.) causing the oppression of said victims. Works with other things too, like race, gender, etc. If there’s rampant oppression and victimhood (never mind that the data shows otherwise), well that’s why we need “permanent revolution” to coin a phrase from some famous bearded philosopher.
This is about CT AFAIK.
While I agree, unfortunately many who have defeated attackers are probably afraid to speak out and share their stories due to fear of legal reprisal (civil and criminal), safety concerns, or social reprisal; the last thing anyone wants to be is the next George Zimmerman.
Focusing on something that happened to someone else that you don’t want to happen to yourself is very appealing for people because they think (usually subconsciously) by watching such reports they can learn all about the experience. Through that they mistakenly think they can know how they could avoid such a situation or emotionally cope with it if it did happen to them. There is also a morbid kind of curiosity and it hits an emotional nerve that most topics can’t. It’s somewhat like watching a horror movie, it’s only scary when you can place yourself in the situation and imagine going through the same thing.
It also makes people feel better about their lives. They can then think “wow, I thought my life sucked, but at least I’m not that person”.
The news has been “reality TV” long before reality TV was a thing.
RF, Connecticut is, ironically, the Constitution state. New Hampshire is “Live Free or Die”.
And many, many moons ago, I also worked for WTNH in the news room.
Always wondered why I didn’t fully fit in. I never “got” a lot of our editorial decisions.
But I was a young kid.
And a conservative, but I just didn’t know it yet.
Same thing happened to me in grad school. I thought I was liberal (and compared to most of my extended family I was), but I just didn’t understand all the other liberals in my cohort. The difference between us became quite stark when 9/11 happened just one month into my first semester in the English program.
Turns out they were mostly the stereotypical Social Justice Warriors, and I actually wasn’t what passes for liberal in this benighted age — took me a while, but I figured out I’m actually a small-L libertarian.
“I’m actually a small-L libertarian”
So, you ARE a liberal. Leftists/Progs are not. They are only liberal in the sense that war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.
I usually refer to myself as a “small l libertarian/classical liberal” in the sense the Founders were liberals, not wanting to live under a tyrannical king and all that.
“We need to see the face of evil to recognize and counter it.”
I agree. Seeing the banality of evil is as relevant today as it was at Nuremberg. It never occurred to me, though, that face would come from a selfie on a gay hook-up site, but hey, it is what it is.
I noted FBI Director Comey referring to the Orlando killer as “the shooter”, instead of his name, specifically to deny killer the infamy Comey claimed these mass shooters crave. I think the Director is stuck in a pre 9-11 mindset and treating all mass shootings the same. They’re not.
Some spree shootings are pathetic attempts by puny people to snatch some kind of instant respect for a phony accomplishment. These are the same people who still drive a POS 1987 Daihatsu Charade and lay on its sickly horn like a lunatic, trying to move the mass of stalled rush hour traffic stretched out before them: “MEEP MEEP, MOTHER F@%&ers! MEEEEEP MEEEEEP!!!!!”
They’re living their own metaphor. As a man once told me, such people have run out of options…..in life. So don’t use their names in the press. Deprive them their infamy and maybe you remove the incentive from the next would-be spree shooter, who just kills himself instead. Fair enough.
Terrorist shooters are a different breed. It isn’t about them. It’s about their insane cause, their evil death cult. They’ve already subsumed themselves as part of that movement to the point of forfeiting their lives. Forfeiting their identity is inconsequential.
No less a loser than any other spree shooter, they nevertheless don’t care about personal infamy in this world. It’s all about their afterlife. To wit, there were two failed, ISIS suicide bombers this year, captured by the Kurds, who begged to be executed promptly, because they were due in Heaven by 4:00 p.m. for a celebration. Let that sink in for a minute.
Comey’s refusal to name the killer is just a disingenuous attempt at taking the high road. What he really wants is just to pull focus from yet another FBI failure and terrorist attack on American soil by a killer with a Muslim name.
He should just be known as Omar the dead terrorist.
Watch any news street interview and you will most likely hear someone say something to the effect of “I can’t believe it happened so close to me”. Victimhood and the culture that worships it has been around for a long time. Its a badge perpetuating self righteousness that earns one the privilege of claiming superiority while absolving the sins of being bad at adulting.
Un – armed victim is celebrated as a Brave and Courageous …………
Armed victim of crime … bad , vigilante , ” Invited Trouble ” , ” should have acted differently . IE :” Surrender “.
Tee – Vee propaganda 101.
The MSM will always glorify women who triumph in traditional “masculine” pursuits, such as business, sports or politics.
But when it comes to self-defense, the traditional masculine response by a woman is considered heresy. The MSM prefers women to demonstrate their moral superiority by curling up into a sobbing ball of pathetic fear.
The media could not survive without victims.
What they left out was what to do about pressure cooker violence, or knife violence, or the violence of the left…
The bottom line is one day, they all will wake up, and the electricity will have been shut off.
They wont have any water or food. This is their future.
Yet the have no idea.
Sort of like Venezuela?
Yeah, the media keeps glorifying the Howdy/Doody puppet along with the puppeter Buffalo Bob.
I am surprised that no-one else has said it, so I will. Bad choices x 3 ?? I am not sure what that makes her. Victim it is not, as these bad situations and relationships mysteriously find her.