Some are claiming that the vast difference in the nature of the coverage between the Colorado shootings a couple of weeks ago and yesterday’s shooting up of a Sikh temple right near where I was recently vacationing in South Milwaukee is racist and cultural. However, to be honest, I also think there may be an element of fatigue – the Denver event having been so recent, that there may be a certain level of numbing effect. Still, the question has to be asked, and some attempt must be made to answer.
Pat Robertson isn’t blaming the Devil as he did with the Haitian earthquake. He’s not blaming gays or feminists. He’s blaming atheists because it’s the same whether they’re shooting up a Sikh Temple or a Baptist Church. Only, Baptist Churches don’t often get shot up, unless they’re promoting civil rights. More recently it’s a Sikh Temple and a Unitarian Church, of which many of the members are atheists. Go figure.
The Onion already has something up. Is it too soon?
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August 6, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Forest Queen
Perspective. Colorado, Anaheim, and now Milwaukee – beta test performed by the Manchurian children. Remember when babies were being left in cars with the windows up? Then there were mother/fathers drowning their children? The school shootings?
Just to keep us separated – gee, I wonder what group did it? Who can we blame? And the old by-stander – fear – false evidence appearing real.
August 6, 2012 at 7:16 pm
tra
Or maybe it’s exactly what it looks like: A violent white supremacist who finally snapped and went on a racist killing spree.
August 6, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Ernie Branscomb
At least Pat offers a solution. Just “talk about the love of God, and maybe it’ll have some impact”. I never realized that it was that simple.
August 6, 2012 at 10:40 pm
eddenson
I don’t see any racism or any other ism in the coverage. Horrible as the Sikh shooting is, it is much less dramatic and shocking than the movie theater shootings. No costume, no smoke bombs, just a nut job with a gun.
August 6, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Eric Kirk
The question Ed is about the relative lack of coverage, and what appears to be a diminished level of concern. It’s being treated as a more run-of-the-mill story – less shock. And some are suggesting that the culture and skin color of the victims is a factor. Kind of like the difference in levels of concern for Kent State shooting victims and Jackson State shooting victims. It’s hard to shake the conclusion that it’s at least a factor in the difference in treatment by the media and general public response.
August 6, 2012 at 11:08 pm
Unk John
“Or maybe it’s exactly what it looks like: A violent white supremacist who finally snapped and went on a racist killing spree.”
You’re absolutely right, it was. The one before that was probably the act of a deranged sort. The one before that … well, you know what I mean.
The problem I have is that it seems like the amount of time between these isolated events is rapidly diminishing. That is at least disturbing. Theoretically, if the “non aggressive” periods continue to shrink at the present rate, then it seems that in less than a lifetime the isolated events will blur into one continuous event.
What to do? We might do well to really try to find out what is common among all these isolated events. That will require tough questions and tough decisions.
Like Ernie, I have little faith that the “love of God” will be of practical use in solving the problem at hand. It doesn’t have a great resume in the field of conundrum resolution.
August 7, 2012 at 7:02 am
moviedad
These events just happen to be horrific enough to make the news. But, people are “snapping” all over the country and there are killings happening every hour that only make the local news in the cities where they occur. Sure, gun ownership is a factor, but I think emotional stress brought on by financial hardship is also a factor.
August 7, 2012 at 8:02 am
eddenson
Eric, I watch Peter Jennings, and he led with it at least 2 nights running. I know we don’t count Democracy Now, but they covered it fully. My internet aggregators, like Memorandum and Google led with it at least 2 days. I’ve seen a number of survivor interviews – all the usual stuff. And lets not forget that he shot a cop, too. Surely the media are not suppressing stories about cops being shot. I’m skeptical of the idea that this story is getting less coverage than similar ones.
August 7, 2012 at 8:24 am
eddenson
One more thing. Google led with the story today and provided links to stories in these publications:
Chicago Tribune
Washington Post
Christian Science Monitor
LA Times
Philadelphia Inquirer
plus the
Associated Press
and
Wikipedia.
For a story with suppressed coverage that’s pretty impressive.
August 7, 2012 at 8:26 am
Eric Kirk
I don’t think they’re suppressing it. It’s just not getting the 24-7 of the other one, where we were all waiting with baited breath as dribbles of information about the shooter came out, and microphones were being shoved into the faces of second cousins three times removed of victims and round the clock replays of the accounts of the survivors. As the article noted, it wasn’t the primary headline on many papers across the country. There isn’t as much talk show chatter making it to the Internet – certainly not from Rush Limbaugh and company. I had to dig for the Robertson clip. I know that Obama said something. Are the flags flying at half mast for this one too? I don’t know. I knew immediately with Aurora.
August 7, 2012 at 10:02 am
Dave Kirby
I agree with Ed. Plenty of coverage. Granted it is not as bizarre as the Aurora shooting. No Batman/Joker connection. Just a neo nazi loser who probably doesn’t know what a Sikh is. With the number of racist militias out there its a wonder we aren’t seeing more of this .
August 7, 2012 at 10:30 am
Eric Kirk
Ed and Dave – Don’t know if you’ve hit the first link yet, but it’s what inspired the post.
August 7, 2012 at 10:32 am
suzy blah blah
-the main difference besides the the number of victims is the randomness of the Aurora killings. That’s what makes it seem more terrifying to your average American. It could be me or you sitting in a theater whereas the Oak Creek killings were planned out and done to a select group of Sikhs in
their temple. You can imagine it happening to you or your friends in the case of Aurora, but the Oak Creek scene doesn’t seem as personally threatening.
But as to the larger social significance, i don’t know, the Oak Creek killings could be seen as being even more terrifying because of their ethnic violence and the history of that. As Dave pointed out, we may be seeing more of this. And what could that lead to?
August 7, 2012 at 11:45 am
Eric Kirk
suzy – That’s actually a good point. Another difference is the fact that the Aurora killer is still alive, and his motive is still a mystery.
August 7, 2012 at 1:25 pm
alley
To Ed: You watched Peter Jennings? I believe that good man died a few years back. Are you sure you saw him?
Rachel Maddow led with the story of the Temple last night, but I really do believe that there is far less intense coverage of this murderous crime than there was of the Colorado killings.
And yes, Eric, flags are at half mast.
August 7, 2012 at 4:26 pm
eddenson
Alley, you are right. It is Brian Williams we are watching. Peter Jennings died in 2005, it says on the internet.
Eric – read the article. and it doesn’t seem to have been worth starting a discussion about. Quotes like this are just silly “But you can bet some observers will also surmise that the setting of the shooting — a worship space used by followers of a religion that may seem foreign to many American viewers — makes the story less “relatable,” in industry parlance. And while no one would dare admit to similar thinking about victims like Amardeep Kaleka, son of the temple’s president, such charges will undoubtedly be forthcoming from some quarters.” I did like the images of the newspapers, for some factual support for his premise that there is less coverage. But I attribute it to nothing more sinister than less bizarre elements in the story of the Temple than the Theater. And, perhaps, that the theater shootings are so random. Not even any hatred behind them, if that makes sense. We all could be targets of random shooters even if we changed our politics or our religion. Anyway, much ado about nothing I think.
August 7, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Anonymous
There is a total difference of attitude. The media can’t handle racial issues.
August 7, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Daevasongh
Anyone remember how the MSMedia shut down international news in the wake of 9/11 and the war on Iraq as part of the usual practice of demonizing the “enemy”? Can’t have an informed, discerning, or compassionate populace when a country is going to war.
There is a meditation center in central Oregon led by a man from northern India with the regionally popular last name of Singh. A number of posters with pictures of the soon to visit from India meditation teacher papered the local towns. As is normal with this and the Sikh religion, his picture showed the usual white attire and turban. This was in 2002 or 2003. When I shopped at the nearby little mom and pops country store, the proprietor was still laughing over an out of the area electrician who had had a repair at the meditation center and afterwards arrived at the country store pale and shaking with fear. He claimed that pictures of Osama Bin Laden were everwhere and this was a terrorist group. The teacher looked nothing like OBL but in the eyes of this man the association was made. The very straight store owner set him straight about the benign nature of the group and wrong ID of the man in the picture. As has been mentioned in the press, after 9/11 many turbaned Sikhs were attacked by Americans, as white racial prejudices were stirred by a press intent on demonizing, not educating Americans about Muslims.
Would there be more coverage if the church was a Catholic cathedral or a Jewish synagogue. You betcha!
I feel so sorry for the many victims of these crimes and their families
August 7, 2012 at 7:19 pm
suzy blah blah
- Marilyn Manson in Michael Moor’s Bowling for Columbine .
August 7, 2012 at 7:39 pm
tra
I think Suzy’s nailed it, on both counts.
August 7, 2012 at 10:14 pm
suzy blah blah
-thanks tra. In the big picture, the question of what causes the cultural disease these incidents are symptoms of, i think has to do with separation and alienation. And suzy believes the antidote is (at the risk of sounding like a cross between a woowoo hippie and Pat Robertson) –love.