The Wisdom of Morgan Freeman

Just shared this on Facebook; thought I would share it with you guys, too.
Makes sense to me.

TURN OFF THE NEWS.......


Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

I don't know. This implies there was enough rational thought in that guy's head to even think that much. Who knows what was really in his head, the Columbine heads or any of their heads. Might just have been a big static buzz.

I do think we give them, the shooters, way too much press.

Rational or not, Mr. Freeman has a point. It's their names we remember - not the victims.

That's scary.

Everyone wants to see a monster.

It is even worse when the monster looks like every kid next door.

Love,

Betty

Even Darth Vader started out as little Anakin Skywalker.

Nobody is born evil.

I am glad his mother is gone and does not have to deal with this.

I am having a hard time working up that kind of compassion

So much we still don't know, but I'm not getting very many sympathy vibes

12/15/2012

Morgan Freeman is right ! I admire him as a great actor

and a genteman. All day I've been busy doing my photography,

watching home and garden, food channel for ideas for my

Christmas dinner ( Always changing my mind ,) We just have

to keep these children and their parents in our prayers. And I

hope ad pray that the "PRESS !" LEAVES THEM ALONE !

Cheers..Joe

CNN said they wouldn't bother naming the shooter tonight because people would remember him and not the victims.

Hiya All,

long time no chat.
I am usually a big fan of MF, but am not thrilled with the statement that he has made here. The part that I find especially disturbing is that he is giving that "next nut," the perfect idea how to top the last tragedy.... hit a day care or a maternity ward.... REALLY?

What I find even more disturbing is that with that statement - once again- a scapegoat is found to explain why someone would do something like this.... the media. Next we are going to blame video games, violent movies, and rap music... sigh..... I wonder how many more people have to be shot dead by nuts, how many more times do we have to hear stupid statements like - it is not guns that kill people, it is people that kill people- until we smarten up?

Honestly, even though I think that this attack and all the others were sad and despicable, I cannot say that I am surprised.

I have made a bet with my husband that I am going to share with you.
Instead of addressing the gun laws.... some nut is going to suggest that teachers - or the principal- or the security staff at the schools - should be issued a weapon.

Anyway, back to the original statement by MF - I really like the man, but I think he should have been smarter than making a statement such as the one that he has made this time around.

Huggles,
Katja

Katja,
I think you need to re-read the statement by MF. What he said makes good sense.

@ Abe,

I have read it again and I still feel the same way about it. There might be truth in it, but that does not change the fact that these acts of violence were the choice of the individual, and that MF is planting the idea of what he would consider a more sensational crime than the one that just happened.

IMO the statement just finds another scapegoat, in this case the media, instead of focusing on the actual tool that enabled the shooter in the first place - the guns that he or his mother had stashed.

Huggles,
Katja

Since the tool, the gun, is defended by the well-financed lobbyists, and that any politician who proposes legislation to control guns is committing political suicide, alternate ways to discourage the use of guns is sought.
We are hearing much about the psychological reasons behind this evil behavior, but it is all after-the-fact analysis. How to identify the insane person before he/she commit these acts is not so easy. Profiling has been tried by security firms. We have seen people running onto a football field to gain attention. When they stopped showing those incidents, it stopped.
It appears that many of those committing crimes seek attention. MF is suggesting that we deny them that attention.

I'm seeking answers just as you and many others. Trying to identify the cause and means for prevention will continue. I don't think that providing more arms/guns for security is a solution. Taking away the toys used to commit crimes makes more sense, however we don't know if that will work UNLESS/UNTIL IT IS TRIED.

Quote :

It is even worse when the monster looks like every kid next door.

He didn't look like the kid next door, though. How curious that the media is showing a decade-old photo of a kid next door instead of the 20-year old who did the shooting. Instead of admonishing us, Morgan Freeman ought to be taking up his thoughts with the HuffPost.

My perspective - all of us here have one thing in common: We are shit-scared because it has happened again, and the circumstances are scarier than ever.

If our elementary schools are not safe, is there any safe place?

My best answer is no.

Safety and security are illusions, and whenever our illusions are shattered, we go nuts, even to the point of pointing a finger at those who use obvious analogies to clarify a valid position.

Who can we blame? All of the above: the ease of acquiring deadly weapons, the media for sensationalizing the news for the sake of a bigger audience, anyone who thinks there is a single, simple solution, and each of us here, myself included, who is shocked that this thing has happened.

Where were we when these individuals were going through the experiences that led to their warped conclusions. Why do we not see these things coming?

This was not a normal, quiet, introverted and shy young man, no matter what his relatives and neighbors chose to see in him. Our perceptions are flawed because we do not want to see the sickness.

We live in our quiet communities, often behind gates with guards, and insist that the problems are "out there somewhere" and have nothing to do with us.

We refuse to address our own shadows, projecting the denied darkness onto others - outsiders who do not belong, whom we shun and ignore, and we are then appalled when one of these "least of our brethren" finally cannot take the pain anymore and lashes out.

So, while we try to decide where to place the responsibility, maybe we ought to take a bit of a look inside as well.

We are all part of a collective whole, and when one of us is in distress, we should all feel it, be aware, and hold out a bit of comfort before the decision to "hit back" is made.

Ann,
Well said!

Quote :

This was not a normal, quiet, introverted and shy young
man, no matter what his relatives and neighbors chose to see in him.
Our perceptions are flawed because we do not want to see the sickness.

The Columbine shooters had pipe bombs and all sorts of similar stuff in plain sight in one of their garages. How stupid and unobservant were the parents? "We" the community or the government cannot be expected to monitor everything. I think a return to some of the medieval European systems where the whole family was shunned, outcast, whatever, when a member did something like this might be in order.

I almost hear you, LC, but we ought to know better today. We are supposed to be more "enlightened," we have schools and technology and facilities and books to help us "see" when a family is in trouble.

Modern families do not have the extended support groups a family had in the past.

How many of us know our neighbors?

Obtaining mental health care for an adult is very difficult and nearly impossible.
I speak from extensive personal experience.

Hiya All,

I agree with you all that mental health etc needs to be addressed, I agree with Ann when she says that we are not aware or caring enough about each other to see when someone is in trouble, BUT those are issues that treat the side symptoms of the disease. They are the antibiotic that treats the pneumonia in an AIDS patient. Yes, it offers temporary relief for some, but it does not treat the disease itself.

That is one reason why the MF statement upsets me. He is normally outspoken and right on point. So, while not glorifying the criminal is certainly a good thing - there are also those who just think that if they "go out," they will take as many others with them as possible.

The approach cannot JUST focus on the weapons, but it has to be THE major part of the whole.

I think Abe said that addressing gun control is/ would be political suicide. I agree - let's see if we have voted for the right President who will not give a flip and take that leap anyway - he would have my support for sure. I am curious how "ballsy" he will get with this one, and I am hoping that I will be pleasantly surprised.

BTW, and a bit of topic - in the past - how many of those attacks happened in December?

Huggles,
Katja

Back again

just did my "morning browsing," and it seems that MF says that he never made this statement....

As I have said... he is normally right on target and straight to the point, and to draw attention away from the actual shooting and towards the media - did not seem like MF. Sorry, I am a long time MF fan, so it had just seemed out of character for him.

Curious to see how that one continues.

Huggles,
Katja

A lot of people are saying a lot of things; it happens when our illusions are shattered.

It will take a while for the reality of what happened to become clear.

Complicated situations require well-thought-out, complex solutions.

It would be helpful if we could rely on the media to report their findings in an objective way, so that the decisions made will work long-term.

My point is mental health is difficult to address.
The only one who knows what a person is thinking is the person. Few Of them
have the insight to say "I am nuts, I need help."

If a concerned relative tries to get help, no help is given if the person is above the age of 18.

My brother returned from Viet Nam seriously messed up. He married and had a daughter. He totally unraveled.

He would rant and rave about communism, Jews, conspiracies, sugar and eating. He turned totally against sugar and in favor of honey.

At our dad's funeral, he decided he must take him home, in his coffin, for one last night.

Unbelievably, he was allowed to do it.

After that performance, we knew he was deeply in need of help. We got none.

He was finally jailed for not paying child support. He refused to eat for 31 days and weighed 107 pounds upon his release.

The authorities told me he was mentally ill, in need of help and it was my responsibility to see to it that he got it.

Good luck! Whenever I sought help, I got no help.

“We cannot tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end, and to end them, we must change.” —President Obama