Shame on NBC

You won't find pictures on this blog of the loser who murdered all of those students at Virginia Tech and wounded others.

NBC did the families and society a disservice by releasing the photos and videos of this killer. They don't illuminate, they titillate. This guy was a meek, weak, paranoid loser. The videos show a fantasy image of him as avenger.

The images will appeal to other disturbed individuals who have their own manifestoss they want publicized. The proof that these people who do this are insignifcant nobodies is that they crave publicity for their evil deeds. This guy sent him information to NBC, after all.

On October 16, 1991, a disturbed individual crashed his pickup truck through the front window at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas and shot and killed 23 people before killing himself.

When police searched his home, they found newspaper clippings and a videotape of a news report of the July 18, 1984 San Ysidro, CA McDonald's shooting spree by another deranged individual that left 21 dead.

The point is the people who do these kinds of things are mad at the world and feel insignificant. This is their moment. The Luby's killer knew the number he had to "beat" to be the number one mass murderer of all time. It's sick that anyone would crave infamy in this fashion. But publishing their manifestos, their ramblings, not only satisfy their lust for infamy, it inspires future nutjobs to go even further.

There are some things that are painful but important to see. I would argue that the video of a South Korean officer killing a North Vietnamese prisoner, the Zapruder film, the napalm scarred nude Vietnamese girl and the images of Abu Ghraib were horrific but important images for the public to see.

There's no value in letting this killer get exactly what he wanted, unfettered access to the consciousness of the world. His video packet mailed to NBC was the big bullet he fired at the rest of us.