I guess it's some thing that say's something about us all, in fact i'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.......... a man has gone completely off his trolley in Cumbria and killed 12 people and injuring many others.
It's a sad, sad situation, but it is what it is.
The media however have a lot to answer for.
Initially brought into the fold by the police to make people aware of Derrick Bird's turkey shoot as he drove around looking for people to shoot at, sometimes randomly, sometimes heading for specific targets. I'm kind of surprised that the B.B.C. didn't manage to follow him live, constant shots of bodies covered in blankets just to bring the the whole horror live to your living room.
Interviews with anyone passing were beamed live into the living rooms of the old and very young off school over the half term period.
Was it sensationalised?
Of course it was, SKY News, B.B.C. and I.T.N. were falling over themselves to bring us the latest horror, the latest news of another blanket strewn body.
Was I drawn in by it all?
Of course I was, car crash t.v. brings in mass viewers, moreso if it's live.
On 9/11 i couldn't move from the t.v. just in case another raghead had managed to hijack another plane and managed to ground it the wrong way up in Disneyland.
Same with 7/7 bombings in London, I spent another day tied up with the main news channels watching not in horror but out of morbid curiosity the unfolding of another mass attempt at the taking of human life, live as it happened from the comfort and safety of my own living room.
So, what am I trying to say?
Well, just because the media can, should they sensationalise every single detail of these tragedies?
I wonder how the families feel seeing this unfold beamed around the world with no thought for them, not knowing if that's their wife, husband or child laying under that blanket, or on that plane/train or bus. Or even worse, knowing.
But then, that's the voice in your head telling you it's wrong to watch.
Problem is it that other voice telling you to sit there, horrified, because that real danger that's happening right in front of your eyes could be you and you just can't help but watch.
So, really, should we blame for the media for showing you the world as it is or you for watching it.
Top right hand button on the remote control = Off Button.
If theres is one upside to this tragedy and there shouldn't be, I was chatting to a prison warden I see daily when walking our dogs. He works at Wakefield Prison, they are currently holding Stephen Griffiths, the self monickered "Crossbow Killer".
"He's gone off on one because he's not the main topic of news, been going off on rants and refusing to eat."
Maybe the media could oblige. Instead of interviewing his neighbours who in comments that don't really come as a surprise described him as a "Loner" they should interview him, show the real horror of a man bent on outrageous, sadistic and often chilling murders.
Godspeed to all those souls who lost their lives on the 2nd of June.
