Spring Break
School shootings don't suprise us anymore
Amanda Heidman
Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: Opinion
It is a sad fact students of this generation must deal with something that was absolutely unheard of 20 years ago, but that is the situation we are placed in and all we can do is react. The fact that someone would enter a school campus - a place for learning, freedom and the cultivation of young minds - with a weapon and open fire on a group of people who are just trying to better their lives is sickening.
Since everyone knows what happened on Feb. 14 at Northern Illinois University, I do not feel I need to recap the events. But one simple question remains: Why is it after I first heard about it through a text message, it took an hour for me to find it on television? And why did it not take over all news stations like the similar events at Virginia Tech last year? There are two possible answers, and neither of them is a good sign for our society.
First, the general public and the people representing them (the media) value quantity, not quality. Every life that was lost or even touched by these horrible events is equally as important as the next, but because the numbers weren't as devastatingly high as they were in the Virginia Tech shooting, the news stations didn't take the time to cover the story thoroughly.
Some stations remained locked on the situation, while others covered it briefly like they would a football game or an approaching thunderstorm. Chances are, it will not be hot in the media for too many more days. Similarly, many people have not heard of the multiple other school shootings that took place last week, including one in the DeKalb County School System in Georgia and one at Louisiana Technical College. Why? Though the lives were equally as important as everyone else, the number of victims was low.
The second possibility that explains why this may not be covered as in-depth is because many people have the mindset that this already happened. Last April when the shooting took place at Virginia Tech, people were shocked and devastated. The shooting at Northern was deprived of its shock factor. It is sickening to think this is becoming a part of life that we are getting used to, but really, it is.
We are all becoming desensitized to these horrific events without even noticing it. It is hard to say what should be done next in a situation like this, but one thing we must do is stop thinking, "It already happened," and stop accepting the hatred and violence as a part of our world.
Since everyone knows what happened on Feb. 14 at Northern Illinois University, I do not feel I need to recap the events. But one simple question remains: Why is it after I first heard about it through a text message, it took an hour for me to find it on television? And why did it not take over all news stations like the similar events at Virginia Tech last year? There are two possible answers, and neither of them is a good sign for our society.
First, the general public and the people representing them (the media) value quantity, not quality. Every life that was lost or even touched by these horrible events is equally as important as the next, but because the numbers weren't as devastatingly high as they were in the Virginia Tech shooting, the news stations didn't take the time to cover the story thoroughly.
Some stations remained locked on the situation, while others covered it briefly like they would a football game or an approaching thunderstorm. Chances are, it will not be hot in the media for too many more days. Similarly, many people have not heard of the multiple other school shootings that took place last week, including one in the DeKalb County School System in Georgia and one at Louisiana Technical College. Why? Though the lives were equally as important as everyone else, the number of victims was low.
The second possibility that explains why this may not be covered as in-depth is because many people have the mindset that this already happened. Last April when the shooting took place at Virginia Tech, people were shocked and devastated. The shooting at Northern was deprived of its shock factor. It is sickening to think this is becoming a part of life that we are getting used to, but really, it is.
We are all becoming desensitized to these horrific events without even noticing it. It is hard to say what should be done next in a situation like this, but one thing we must do is stop thinking, "It already happened," and stop accepting the hatred and violence as a part of our world.
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