A number of conservative sources have a policy of never saying the name of a mass murder/shooter in their media. My policy is the same, I hope that J.Kb. and Miguel follow.
When some asshole murders people in mass their name and deed gets splattered across the media. This leads to more people trying to get their names in the news papers.
There have been three kids suspended from the local high schools because they made threats of shooting up the schools. They will not be allowed back until the investigations complete.
From what I know of the situations, all three of them were just mouthing off and had no real intention of doing harm to themselves or others.
So, moving forward, expect to see the salty language “Some asshole” when events happen.
There are enough other place out there plastering their names and pictures in headlines that we don’t need to contribute to the social contagion.
Comments
14 responses to “The some asshole policy”
Variously known as Anathema, or as “Very Proper Charlies” (Dean Ing’s long-ago suggestion for covering terrorist attacks).
I’m inclined to take the Anathema approach, but sometimes lapse into using a variety of insulting names.
Indeed, Dean Ing, “Soft Targets”. Still a great novel. For one thing, it contains one of the strangest religious cults in literature, apparently based on a real one (though I have idea how much he modified it).
I’d only encountered the short story, in an anthology. Book is on order now, and will go in the queue… for my copious free time. (One thing about the peaceful country life – there’s little opportunity for boredom.)
“damnatio memoriae”
Chumbucket/buckets has served me well up till now.
I avoid using [alleged] murderer’s names in my letters. They don’t deserve the publicity.
Why even say “Some Asshole”? Just forget about the POS, not even worth talking about in 3rd person. Some Asshole should be gibbeted and forgotten about. And that is all.
I wish that was the case. Unfortunately it is the case that this blog talks about politics. Some asshole did something in Texas isn’t quite enough. The Uvalde police department refused to engage some asshole is a little clearer. I, personally, will work to remove the PoS from our vocabulary and wish we didn’t have to discuss them and their deeds at all.
Your Farm sir, therefore, you pick the animals.
I Don’t Agree, but I Think as Reasonable people we can do that.
My thought, Mentality from not shying away from there names..
It’s just more American Make believe.
And myself, we got enough of that with the..
Sex Identity Cult Klan.
Not to mention The Politicians, Racism Cult, The Economy…The Military.
Respectfully Posted
I appreciate where you’re coming from Awa, but I don’t agree at all. From my own perspective, the point of a forum like gunfreezone is to compile, compare, and correlate data that feeds our understanding of the world and the wacky things going on it everyday. This data informs our day to day decisions and long-term planning. I’ve read and internalized enough of Miguel’s and J. Kb’s posts to prove that true. See every video they’ve posted of a violent breaking and entering attempt, guy getting perforated with a random melee weapon, or woman getting punched in the head and concussed (or worse). I know that because of them, I’m more aware than ever of my defensive posture and how I conduct myself in any situation let alone potentially violent ones. With all that in mind, consider the following.
From a sociological perspective and for my own planning purposes, I want to know all the particulars about the “some asshole”, including their name, age, origin, and life story. Without all the information, I’m not able to draw a complete picture of assholes over time. If I can’t get a clear picture of the origins and behavior of individuals who commit these crimes, how can I hope to be on the alert for behavior like it? Certainly crazy is as crazy does and we should all be on the lookout for it. However, if I’m aware of a fourteen year old neighbor kid matching the origins and life events of a well known mass shooter who is showing signs of the kind of pain and mental illness that may someday drive him to commit mass-murder, maybe there’s a way that I can make a difference in his life before that happens. I believe that our duty as thinking men and women, and especially as people reading a blog like this, is nothing less. Speculating on a much wider scale, perhaps the Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Unified School District could have helped the asshole in question if they thought about him as “Sal” instead of “some asshole”.
As a parting example, the profiles of Salvador Rolando Ramos, age 18 from Uvalde, Texas, Frank James, age 62 from New York, New York and Stephen Paddock, age 64 from Mesquite, Nevada, vary from each other in nearly every way except for intense mental illness. With the perspective that comes from knowing everything else about them, I can make better decisions on what to watch out for in the people around me. Thanks for the post and for considering my two cents.
P.S. Those media outlets who don’t mentioned the asshole’s biographic information do so in order to distract from the fact that a PERSON committed the crime, not a gun, car, bomb, airplane, etc. Thanks again.
I don’t recognize your handle but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you gave a very clear reason why we should name names.
I think you have it right in part and wrong in other parts.
You are absolutely correct. We do need to know who, what, when, where, why and how of an incident. Naming some asshole in order to know what we actually seeing. Knowing it is another person “known to law enforcement” or another story that will disappear from sight because they are a protected class is very important.
Where I’m coming from, and the policy I’m working out, here with you, is the “name in the headlines” stuff.
“Some asshole shot children and teachers in Texas” is the headline.
At the bottom of the article is:
_Name_ entered _location_ at _time_ where he killed _number_ children and _number_ teachers/adults/staff.
Some asshole was 18yo with a troubled past. He was constantly in trouble with the school system. He was living with his grandmother and shot her before moving to the school to continue murdering people….
He gets his name mentioned that one time. We give the details, but it isn’t echoed over and over and over again.
Hopefully this makes sense.
Yes, your comments have made me rethink my position on this policy.
Thanks for the read Awa! Understood on the your policy. Hope to interact with you more in the future.
Back in the day, Paul Harvey would often avoid saying the name of people who did something to get into the news just for the sake of “being famous”. Of course listening to Paul Harvey gives my age away. I do miss his verbal talents. He was the master of the “pause”.