It is Hype and Hysteria On the Rise, Not Violence

[hjmick]

An interesting oped written by a professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University. It pretty much supports what I've believed for many years now. It is not violence and mass shootings that are on the rise, in this age of idiotic social media and twenty four hour news cycles, it is the the hype and hysterics that are growing...

Another mass shooting sears deep into the collective consciousness of the American people. Another school — this time a community college in an otherwise peaceful town in rural Oregon — is devastated by a young man taking aim at students trapped in classrooms...

Within a few hours, President Obama appeared before the camera, reinforcing the notion that America is under siege. “Somehow this has become routine,” noted Obama with obvious emotion. “The reporting is routine.”

Although the sense of urgency may be overstated, Obama is certainly correct about the almost formulaic media response... In the usual rush to offer up some breaking information, news reports were embellished with unconfirmed details about the massacre and the assailant that did little but fuel a contagion of fear.

For context, media folks reminded us of the unforgettable, high profile shootings that have taken place over the past few months, hinting of a problem that has grown out of control. They lumped together rather different types of incidents... as if there is a pattern emerging...

Further adding to the state of alarm and confusion, headlines featured scary yet conflicting statistics from various sources. By reducing the standard threshold in defining a mass shooting, ...the incidence can reach incredible proportions.

...One can take virtually any period of months or years during the past few decades and find a series of shootings that seemed at the time to signal a new epidemic...

I certainly don't mean to minimize the suffering of the Oregon victims and their families, but the shooting spree is not a reflection of more deadly times. Consider the facts.

According to a careful analysis of data on mass shootings (using the widely accepted definition of at least four killed), the Congressional Research Service found that there are, on average, just over 20 incidents annually. More important, the increase in cases, if there was one at all, is negligible. Indeed, the only genuine increase is in hype and hysteria.

James Alan Fox: Umpqua shooting - a tragedy, not a trend


James Alan Fox is the Lipman Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University and a member of the USA TODAY Board of Contributors. He is co-author of Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

It's competition increasing between tv news and online news and thus the rising sensationalism. Compared to even recent history just decades ago it's getting better not worse.

 

[Valerie]

and the hype has become part of the inspiration too...



Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Thursday that he was not going to say the shooter's name because that's what he would have wanted.


"I will not name the shooter. I will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act," said a visibly angry Hanlin.

Sheriff: Don't say Ore. gunman's name

 

[Valerie]

quote of the oregon killer prior to the shooting: "Seems the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight."



Oregon shooting: Gunman a student at Umpqua Community College - CNN.com

 

[candycorn]

There was a reduction in school shootings during June, July and August. Oh wait; school is not in session during those months. The last 36 months....

I'm willing to try something new....

 

[Obiwan]

There was a reduction in school shootings during June, July and August. Oh wait; school is not in session during those months. The last 36 months....

I'm willing to try something new....

Gee, you know something???

That whole "Change" thing isn't working out too well for Obozo, with all these school shootings, is it???

 

[Valerie]

psychos just love when we publicly parse their manifesto of madness as if there could ever be any sense to such violence...




Another intriguing element in the investigation: The shooter is reported to have delivered "a box" to someone during the shooting.

...the man "gave somebody a box, somebody who lived, and said, 'You gotta deliver this.'

Law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation told CNN that the gunman handed his writings to a survivor, telling that person to give it to police, but the sources could not confirm the writings were inside the box.

Investigators said the writing portrayed the shooter as a student of past mass shootings.

Oregon shooting: Gunman a student at Umpqua Community College - CNN.com

 

[August West]

"Sensationalism"? Mass murders ARE sensational. It`s unfortunate that here in the USA it`s getting to be Death By Natural Causes.
Obi...go sit in a corner and when we need one of your idiotic Obama obsessed stupid ass remarks, we`ll ring a bell or something.

 

[aris2chat]

There was a reduction in school shootings during June, July and August. Oh wait; school is not in session during those months. The last 36 months....

I'm willing to try something new....

far too many