Austin bombings

Twitter is a fucking scourge.

 

Again I ask: Why would a terrorist get a sympathetic portrayal at all, and why would a shooting victim's marijuana use be brought up? Even one time?

The idea that we're surprised a "nice" white kid would be a terrorist is *exactly* the problem.

 

It's not a "sympathetic portrayal." It is a Tweet relaying comments about people who knew him.

 

It absolutely was a huge leap, Rick.

For the record:

I don't have a single other handle here. Not one. I signed up as PW2 to comment on the "Rolling Stone" story when I was suspended for this, that, or the other, at some point.

It's not my M.O. to attack people's families or personal life. It never has been. It never will be. I hate when people do it. I constantly crusade against ad hominem attacks.

Find someone else to direct your accusations at. Don't drag me into it.

 

So are these journalists or stenographers?

 

On the other hand, stories like this is why the media get slammed for liberal bias.

Don't attempt to humanize the monsters after the attacks. They killed people and ripped families apart.

 

That's what Rick is saying, too. But I think it would be misleading to convey that these guys were all clear ticking time bombs. It's important information, or at least a data point, to know that terrorists like Tsarnaev or the Austin guy or shooters like Stephen Paddock in Vegas, can seem like ordinary folk.

For the record, Rick and I have long been in agreement that these things should receive minimal, if any, coverage. Coverage seems to spawn copycats.

 

Write it with a heavier hand, then. Leave out any trace of sentimentality. They derailed hard and took it out on others.

 

Imagine writing a huge feature on someone like Tsaranev, or making them your Area (Insert Sport) Player of the Year ...

... and months or years later the ends up being a mass-murdering monster.

 

Aaron Hernandez.

 

The only headline that should have been attached to a story talking to people who knew him is "Terrorist trained with proto-military group"

 

Future questions for prep features ... "So, what sort of things would your Google search history show?"