This morning, our company lost all connection to email, our network and the internet. And since we don't really have great service in the office (I think because they want people to stay off social media... oops), I had absolutely no idea what had happened in Newtown this morning. And when I found out about this tragic shooting around 1:00 this afternoon, my heart absolutely broke.
This is just a awful, horrific tragedy. Sadly, the reporting of this shooting has also been terrible. The reports were originally stating that Ryan Lanza was the shooter, then they claimed it was his brother. The counts of those involved ranges anywhere from 18-27. And the thing that bothers me the most about all of this is the fact that every major news station is trying to interview the children at the school. At most school shootings, they do try to talk with the students. But most school shootings seem to happen at a high school or college level. Not at an elementary school. Reading and watching these reporters trying to interview children that have just been through such a terrifying and traumatic experience is disgusting.
When something like this happens, reporters and news stations should not be interviewing people for shock value in order to bolster their ratings. Just the same that people should not try to say what the cause of this event was. Not the police. Not the reporters. And most of all, not the rest of us that are watching this unfold. Who are we as the "internet people" to take the news and report on it? Who are we to find a random person on twitter named "Ryan Lanza" and start harassing him for this only to realize this guy just happens to have the same name? Who are we to start telling people they aren't mourning "the right way"? Who are we to try and find the single cause of all of this?
Yes, it seems that this shooter was mentally unstable and needed treatment. No, this is not the time to push your agenda of the failed healthcare system in the US. Yes, it is obvious this man should never have been able to purchase a gun. No, this is not the time for you to say we need to rid the country of all guns. Yes, politicians are the ones that decide which laws are put into place. No, it is not their fault that this man killed so many innocent, young children. People are trying to blame healthcare, gun control, video games, the NRA, politicians and lobbyists. But no, there isn't one single cause for this.
Its natural that we want someone to answer for the loss of life. We can't put the shooter on trial since he was killed during this massacre (at this time it is not clear whether this was suicide or not). We as a country are outraged that this could happen in what should be one of the safest places for children. Children and parents should never have to worry about the safety of a school, an elementary school at the very least. We're all looking for someone to blame for this and there isn't anyone. And this is not the only time this happens. We all know that shootings are a fairly frequent thing and school shootings are also not unheard of here.
Maybe instead of blaming everyone, we lend our support to those in Newtown? Whatever needs to be done for those parents and families should be a priority right now. Maybe we should start questioning how we let 20 innocent children get murdered in cold blood and then turn this into a political issue. Maybe we should look at the fact that within a matter of hours stations were looking to increase ratings by interviewing the fucking children that just witnessed a shooting. Maybe we should talk about what we can do to help the parents and families that were affected and not try to push our own agenda. Maybe we should try to step back and evaluate the facts before reporting on every little snippet of information before reporting it as news to a country that is devastated and looking for answers. Maybe we should question how we as a society know that this is not the first school shooting that we've had.
Or maybe we should all just get together and cry. Because, honestly, that's what I want to do. I want to cry and check on the few kids that are in my life. I want to make sure these kids know they're loved.
My thoughts are with everyone in Newtown.
100% agreed
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