Little things that irk you.. (no swearing please)

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

I have another film irk - Platoon.

Most people rave about it but I didnt care for it tbh. The dialogue from Sheen is a great (if a little OTT & too poetic) insight into his mind.

Full Metal Jacket was a 100 times better.

[abigsmurf]

The number of times the word 'community' has been used by the news reports covering this horrible shooting spree.

You always hear this after a big tragedy. How the community as a whole is coming together and so on. I bet the majority of people in the area barely even know their neighbours let alone someone living a few streets over.

The press ask leading questions to the random people they interview ("how do you think the community as a whole feels about this...") to which they're going to BS their way for an answer (they're a random person on the street, it's 2 hours after a tragedy, are they really going to know how 'the community' feels?).

The whole 'the community is coming together' basically means a few people will talk to their neighbours about it, some people may turn up to see the funeral procession or remembrance service (so they can be part of a big event rather than actually knowing the people).

Sounds cold hearted but I would find it insulting if I had a family member who was part of a tragedy suddenly being mourned by people who wouldn't have given them the time of day when they were alive and won't remember their name in a years time.

I wonder how much of the Liverpool 'community' marked or even knew about the fifth anniversary of Ken Bigley's death in October?

[Nif]

Sky News/BBC News 24 again.

So here they go again, endless speculation, pointless on-location reports & interviews with police who tell them in the first answer that they can't speculate, but they still ask another half dozen questions that they know they won't answer.

[merf]

agreed, rolling news channels add very little to the mix other than hours of pointless vox pop speculation and in sky's case hours of helicopter shakey cam shots.

the sort of event that cries out for a Newswipe deconstruction of the coverage (not the events themselves which are of course an abysmal act).

the bbc were filling airtime by asking the local vicar how god could allow such events to happen, theres a debate with a quick answer that will inform viewers.

[Spatial]

I'm finding the media coverage of this to be annoying too.

In order to fill air time it's apparently all about trying to understand why this happened.

Why, why, why?

Gets on my wick because with acts of violence like this there's usually no chance of truly understanding how and why someone snaps.

But that hasn't stopped them trying to sideline comment and drum up all sorts of theories. The day wasn't even over and they were screaming on about this countries gun laws.

Best example of the frenzy was on C4 last night when, in the blind scrabble to one up other channels, they interviewed one apparent witness who was either making it up or in shock because he completely contradicted himself about what he'd seen (to the amazement of the presenter).

[QualityChimp]

the sort of event that cries out for a Newswipe deconstruction of the coverage.

Charlie's already got it covered...
(Swear words within)

[dataDave]

If everybody, within good reason, was allowed a firearm I'm guessing this guy would have only killed one or two people maximum. Instead he had three hours of free time. The gun laws here are a joke, as are the police.

The 'community' BS gets on my nerves also. Things will be back to normal next week.

[dataDave]

Charlie's already got it covered...
(Swear words within)

CLASS!! I'm going to see if I can show this to the kids I work with (Creative and Media Diploma).

[speedlolita]

I find my girlfriend's comments on her Twitter really sodding annoying:

A celeb dies - Theres news everywhere on social networks. Yet the deaths of 12 people by the Cumbria Gunman gets zip. *slow clap to society*

The fact Britains Got Talent trends higher than the horrific events in Cumbria today just says it all really...

SO annoying.

[randombs]

Charlie Brooker dealt with mass murder sensationalism on Newswipe:

[QualityChimp]

It's scarily accurate isn't it?

I flicked on GMTV this morning and one reporter was outside the street where the gunman lived and another was in the town centre. There was also interviews with his cousin and people he drank with. Everybody was saying what a nice guy he was.

Here's a great item from Michael Moore's TV Nation where he notes how the neighbours of mass murderers always say what a nice person they seemed and they always kept themselves to themselves. He then moves a reporter into a neighbourhood who dumps "mysterious body-shaped packages" and plays "Sympathy For The Devil" on a loop at full blast at midnight...

Will the neighbours notice?



I do, however, disagree with your gun theory, Dave. America has guns and there's shootings all the time. There's only been 3 mass shootings in the UK that weren't gang-related. This is because of the stringent gun laws in the UK: Gun Control and ownership laws in the UK.

I'm a bit confused that nobody seems to be blaming violent videogames...yet.

[fuse]

There were many good bits in Newswipe, another that came to mind recently was where there was a clip of a psychologist condemning the media's reaction to mass-murderers - high school shootings in particular. In short, making huge news out of every aspect of these stories, delving into and over-analysing every aspect of the shooter's life and turning them into anti-heros is not a good thing as the infamy and attention then sparks copycat incidents. All the while this is interspersed with clips of the media doing exactly that. Would find the clip myself but I'm at work.

The recent trial for the murders in Ipswich made me very angry - the guy responsible clearly thinks doing this makes him some kind of twisted celebrity, and lo and behold the next day he has his wish with headlines of "I AM THE CROSSBOW CANNIBAL" etc.

[Brats]

I was just about to post that - it should be part of the national curriculum.

Love Gavin Essler's reaction at the end.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Tories - A classic case of Labour's Broken Britain

Greens - We warned you about the effects of Nucelar Power

Labour - Law and Order falls apart under the Tories

Shocking as it is the gun laws are still too lax. Exactly why did he have a licence, in his capacity as a taxi driver? Gun enthusiasts as they are called always seem to be the same type - loners/nutters/social outcasts.

[QualityChimp]

*argh*

A girl at work (who confused Columbus with Columbo and claimed Girls Aloud's version of "Walk This Way" is better than Aerosmith/Run DMC's version) has just bemoaned the fact that they didn't show Coronation Street (which featured a gun seige) after the Cumbria shootings.

*sigh*