Shooting at Deer Creek Middle School

[Davros]

I think the 3Ds has made a very good post.

To the OP, I think you could just have easily have put almost any state in the nation in your title, and listed shootings from that state over the past decade. If you're getting your news from a Colorado newspaper, you are simply hearing about and noticing the Colorado shootings more than you are noticing the shootings in other parts of the country.

[the3Ds]

Originally Posted by sidburn

Well one thing I've noticed is that it seems like anytime something bad happens in Colorado, it automatically makes front page headlines around the world. Even before Columbine. The JonBenet case, for example, would seem like an ordinary child murder case, but it is easily the most famous child murder case in the nation now. I guess the conclusion that can be drawn here is that the media in Colorado is way too good at getting stories out there.

Again, though, the JonBenet case was scary because this was a girl whose parents had money and let's face it, she was white. There are tons of children who are murdered and/or kidnapped all of the time and don't receive even 1/16th of the attention that this case got. Again, though...it's scary to think that if this could happen to a rich, white kid, it could happen to my kid and that's why the media covers it. Weird childhood pageants aside...this little girl looks like nearly every kid in my neighborhood.

[Davros]

Originally Posted by sidburn

Well one thing I've noticed is that it seems like anytime something bad happens in Colorado, it automatically makes front page headlines around the world. Even before Columbine. The JonBenet case, for example, would seem like an ordinary child murder case, but it is easily the most famous child murder case in the nation now. I guess the conclusion that can be drawn here is that the media in Colorado is way too good at getting stories out there.

I'm sorry, but I don't think that is a very level headed analysis. I don't think the JonBenet case got all the attention it got because it happened in Colorado. Furthermore, I think there are plenty of other tragic child murder cases that have also gotten a lot of attention.

I'm curious, do you get your news from a Colorado newspaper ? Or do you actually get more news about Colorado from, say the New York Times, than you do about other states ?

[sidburn]

Originally Posted by Davros

I'm sorry, but I don't think that is a very level headed analysis. I don't think the JonBenet case got all the attention it got because it happened in Colorado. Furthermore, I think there are plenty of other tragic child murder cases that have also gotten a lot of attention.

I'm curious, do you get your news from a Colorado newspaper ? Or do you actually get more news about Colorado from somewhere else than you do about other states ?

Both local and national sources for me. The Deer Creek incident was front-page material on alot of news sources like Comcast and Yahoo but I imagine that's mainly because it was near Columbine. My idea that Colorado tragedies get more attention than incidents that happen elsewhere comes from my observation of national news sources, not local (that's a given with local sources).

[Davros]

Ok.

[DOUBLE H]

I don't know whether this issue amps the situation or not, but Denver has gotten its name in the paper regarding the sports and entertainment people as well.

Rock musician Mark Cohn was shot in the head while being carjacked in downtown Denver in 2005. Fortunately after surgery he was able to recover. The remainder of that particular tour obviously was canceled.

And not too long after that on New Years day 2007 former Denver Bronco Darrent Williams was shot and killed after leaving a Denver nightclub.

[tfox]

It is certainly true that although there have been many school shootings since Columbine, few of them have gained the iconic notoriety that that incident has. Columbine is almost a descriptor for the type of school shootings, a "Columbine-like tragedy". Similarly, the JonBenet Ramsey case is by far the most high-profile of its kind in recent history for a variety of reasons, few of which were related to Boulder other than the fact that the parents lived in a very wealthy neighborhood.

Put those together and you definitely have a media "story." Of course, a couple of these types of incidents don't mean a trend or anything causative, any more than the idea that Virginia Tech is somehow a breeding ground for shooters simply because Sung Hui-Cho and Major Nidal Hasan both had ties to the university.

[HighlandsGal]

I just think it is so sad, and scary for me as a teacher. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten a creepy feeling about a student...........it freaks me out thinking that could be any one of us having to deal with a former crazy student coming back for revenge. I pray for the victims and their families and for everyone impacted.

[robjfoley]

Originally Posted by sidburn

Well one thing I've noticed is that it seems like anytime something bad happens in Colorado, it automatically makes front page headlines around the world. Even before Columbine. The JonBenet case, for example, would seem like an ordinary child murder case, but it is easily the most famous child murder case in the nation now. I guess the conclusion that can be drawn here is that the media in Colorado is way too good at getting stories out there.

I don't know if you can really jump to the conclusion that if bad things happen in CO that they automatically make headlines "around the world." Really? I do think a lot of weird things happen that stand out (baloon boy incident). Going off of the3Ds very well-articulated points, I believe that because of Colorado's sprawling suburban culture (and comparatively speaking, it's low urban/gang population) when what happens regularly in other places happens here in CO, it's highlighted. On another note, I lived in Birmingham, AL, when Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba. Because I lived there, it was easy to jump to the conclusion that anything bad that happened in Alabama automatically made headlines around the world. It seemed that way at that point in time.

Regardless, humans do very awful things. We are all capable of tremendous atrocities, and yet most of us do in fact restrain our emotions (it's a miracle really), have necessary emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual support, and/or are able to discern reality from fantasy. It is unfortunate that this person was not able to (or could not) choose another route.