Deranged shooters, psychos, terrorists, serial killers, cult leaders, etc. One thing that I believe these sick individuals have in common is a desire for large scale attention. These disturbed individuals ( predominately men) suffer from mental disorders and want to be noticed, Since they have no redeeming characteristics ( or don't believe they do) they seek out attention by other means.

This , I am sure , is well known among people who study psychology and behavioural patterns.

My feeling is the media is doing a severe injustice to soceity by over indulging in every story of this nature.

The message: If you crave attention and can't seem to get it, do something that will get you massive media coverage. Of course, only someone who is sick to begin with will commit a despicable act for this reason. But, soceity is loaded with sick people.

From the time that 24 hour a day cable news started glorifying acts of violence ( in the 80s) until now there is a definate upswing in this kind of activity. The Unabomber, David Karesh and his Waco , Texas cult, the Oklahoma City bombing,the Olympic bomber, the O.J. Simpson murder trial, 911, Aurora cinema murders, the shooting at Sandy Hook, The Casey Anthony trial , the Marathon bombings and countless others.

In this era of 24-hour a day news coverage these deranged people have the perfect vehicle for the attention they crave....and they give it to them!!!, they give these people exactly what they want- NOTORIETY, and they give it to them in an over-the -top manner.

This is why it will never end until the media learns to stop glorifying despicable acts by giving them more coverage than it deserves. They are feeding the twisted egos of these sick people by giving them unrelenting attention and turning them into legendary figures. This is what is happened with the Marathon bombers. Please stop already!!!!

I agree, and do we really need updates on how this guy is doing...all day long!

I've turned to the radio, WBUR/NPR to try to get away from it a little.

Are they still giving all day updates about the marathon bombing suspect? I don't watch the news during the day so only hear a little in the morning and sometimes at night. I didn't get the impression thre was still multiple updates. It's not even the lead story on the morning news anymore.

That being said..I agree with you Zillagod to a point. I will add that I wish the news broadcasts would show a better balance of positive stories on a regular basis. There are good things happening everywhere..and every day..but we only hear about the bad stuff on the news. You never hear of one's accomplishments in a news broadcast..only their sins.  The excuse is "that's what drives ratings". If that really is true..it's a sad commentary on society.

I was having this discussion with my kids the other day.

When I was their age we had the three major networks for news, and the three local stations. Today, you really can not escape the news completely. Even logging onto your email account the home pages are loaded with up to the minute stories. While I like to be aware of what is happening, I think there needs to be a happy medium. I was a huge Drudge Report reader for quite some time, I know find that Drudge is dangerous. His site is nothing but a popularity contest for himself. Sadly this is where most of the younger generation is getting their facts from.

Remember when you would grab the Globe or Herald and read it from cover to cover? How ofter do you see this new generation reading a paper? Yes, it is available online, but I doubt anyone reads it cover to cover even online.

I was explaining to my daughters that now adays it seems people just go for the quick one or two sentences following a headline and do not read the whole story or take the time to research a story. I feel like this is polluting society and putting instant ideas in the younger generations heads. If they read a full story and formulate an opinion after all the facts are gathered, I am sure they would come to different conclusions on the headline grabbers.

I absolutley agree that by posting these attention grabbing headlines it fuels the fire of the deranged. Then from there their popularity follows.... I read that the Marathon Bomber has over 100,000 fans. FANS! Does that not tell us that something is seriously wrong?  There are Facebook pages with thousands of fans raising money for his defense. Unfortunatly the social media and MSM is not going away, and will only grow. I take the time to talk to my kids about the roll the media plays, I only with other parents would do the same.

I have a DVD of the movie Network from the 70s.

It is quite interesting to watch this movie today and see how what seemed so ridiculous back then does not seem impossible now. If you are unfamiliar with the movie, Faye Dunaway plays a young woman who is hell bent on climbing to the top of the corpaorate ladder and will do anything to make it happen ( including hiring terrorists to have a shootout at a predetermined place so that her network can get an "exclusive.", she breaks up the happy marriage of her boss by seducing him...all in an effort to get to the top.

Also there is a song 'Dirty Laundry' by Don Henley, formerly of the Eagles , from back in the 80s which more or less sums up the media and how they are always so eager to report anything that is shocking or sensational.

The big problem is , we as a society are becoming numb to acts of violence and immoral behaviour because the media floods our PCs, TVs and radios with 24 hour coverage of every story that involves carnage, murder, violence and pedofilia ( see the Jerry Sandusky non-stop media blitz of last year). We are not so easily shocked anymore...at least I'm not. But, I should be. I guess I've become Comfortably Numb , like Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.

In response to ms_obstinate's comment:

One thing that is important to keep in mind is that although the marathon bombers may have 100k fans....the number of facebookers who find such things disgusting and distasteful is in the millions.

MSM has changed for the worse over the last couple of decades with the onset of 24 hour cable news stations..it's crazy. Ironically..some of the overseas news agencies do a better job reporting actual US news than the US station.

As with any other broadcast , it's all about ratings. In the movie 'Network' , they are more concerned with nightly ratings than actually reporting accurate news stories.

I am so sick of HLN ( a supposed "news channel" ) and there non-stop coverage of the Jody Arias trial. I am thinking their ratings were so good for the Casey Anthony trial that they just had to have an encore. Some of the graphic details of the sex life of this sick woman and her dead boyfriend are suitable for an X-rating....certainly not fit for a news channel which can be viewed by minors. But, the ratings must be good, because it just goes on and on in sickening , graphic detail night after night.

I remember that the ' Dick Van Dike Show' wouldn't even show husband and wife Rob and Laura sleeping in the same bed ( they had twin beds....somehow they managed to have a kid....gee, I wonder how?). Now, however , anything goes with these news networks. The Arias trial and the Sandusky story brought sexual deviance into our homes, CNN turns violent criminals and sick people into folk heroes. It is quite amazing how far television has come since the days of censorship. Now , I even wonder if they won't actually show a murder or a sex act on network news if someone happens to film it.

Speaking of "censorship", I had to change the spelling of Dick's last name in my previous post.

Surprisingly they let the spelling of his first name alone....hilarious!!!

Here we go again, wall to wall coverage, of what?

I don't have cable, but at least I have a couple of rerun channels I can turn to.

 The front page of The New York Times today

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/us/dzhokhar-tsarnaevs-dark-side-carefully-masked.html?hp

In response to Robin39's comment:

I see a mini series or a movie some day soon.

In response to ZILLAGOD's comment:

Did someone say ..?

"Media giving them exactly what they want."

  It's also known as 'Dirty Laundry' .. (satire)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHimia_Fxzs

~ 'TRY IT' - 'YOU'LL LIKE IT' ~