# CNN continues to disappoint **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 4, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089 "2010-08-04T01:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/1 "2010-08-04T01:46:17Z")
Check out this [story.](http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/03/connecticut.business.shootings/index.html?hpt=T1) A guy shot to death 8 people at his place of work. The article is written with an overall story arc, kinda like writing about WWII and including all the petty shit Hitler dealt with before willingly sacrificing the lives of millions. The fucking guy _killed_ 8 people! I don’t care if those people came in everyday and kicked puppies to death while laughing violently; the murder of another person is never a viable option. So this shooter felt he was being singled out for being black. Yeah? Fuck you! I know great people out of work for no other reason than the economy sucks shit. I know people out of work for 2+ years now. You get “setup and fired” and so shoot the place up?! Fuck you! I hope you rot in whatever hell there is! For fucks sake, the guy willingly took the lives of eight others and he’s portrayed in the story as having a possible reason?!! Fuck you CNN and all of american media. You all look for the victim angle in your shitty stories and don’t first consider how fucked up and terrible the crime was. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/2 "2010-08-04T01:58:55Z")
I think we have a strong drive to mythologize mass murder stories, to reduce them all to quick and easy factors any idiot can understand. I think this drive is accelerated by not really wanting to _know_ what drives people to such acts. The knowledge would surely be too costly; it would call too many of our everyday assumptions into question. I think deep down people sense that. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/3 "2010-08-04T02:03:50Z")
The problem is that it downgrades the killing of others. The story would have fit fine if the piece of shit walked in there and killed himself and left everyone else unharmed. But he didn’t. Instead he killed 8 people. I am so sick of the way media makes victims out of perpetrators. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/4 "2010-08-04T02:06:31Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Check out this . . . Whoopsies! I think you’ve confused “journalism” and “writing didactic morality plays” again!! ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/5 "2010-08-04T02:08:20Z")
We generally have a reaction of “WTF!?!?! Why would he do that!?!?!” So, the news (such as it is) tries to provide an answer - who what when where how why. If the reason turns out to be bullshit, a variation of “you made me kill all those people”, I just chalk it up to the guy being one crazy ass sumbitch. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/6 "2010-08-04T02:18:28Z")
CNN only briefly touched on what this was all about. He was caught on video stealing beer, that is what this boils down to, **the dumb fuck lost his job for stealing beer**. But it’s CNN and he is black so out comes the race card so we can all examine how we are all as a society really responsible for driving this poor man over the edge. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/7 "2010-08-04T02:23:44Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > CNN only briefly touched on what this was all about. He was caught on video stealing beer, that is what this boils down to, **the dumb fuck lost his job for stealing beer**. > > But it’s CNN and he is black so out comes the race card so we can all examine how we are all as a society really responsible for driving this poor man over the edge. CNN interviewed his family and reported what they said his motives were. That seems a pretty natural part of reporting their story. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/8 "2010-08-04T02:37:47Z")
How about: “Man caught stealing on the job murders coworkers after being fired”. Leave out race. For fucks sake, leave his pathetic portrait off the front page. Present the facts: a man willingly killed 8 others. Once you kill in cold blood, no one should ever feel a need to list your reasons. That piece of shit should have killed himself, then CNN could have played up the poor-me-victim card. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/9 "2010-08-04T02:54:11Z")
I don’t see any “race card” in the story. The piece just quotes what family members said. It also quotes people rebutting allegations that he was harrassed. What’s wrong with that? Are they supposed to refrain from reporting what those people said if it doesn’t comport with the OP’s racial politics? This is journalism. there’s no editorializing and no “race card.” It’s just reporting what people said. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/10 "2010-08-04T02:55:06Z")
You think the modern news media reports too much information with insufficient moralizing? I’d say thats kinda the opposite of their problem. It not CNN’s job to inform us that murder is bad. And the headline doesn’t reference his race. In the ninth paragraph they interview his girlfriend, and she says she thinks he was discriminated against. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/11 "2010-08-04T03:05:59Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I don’t see any “race card” in the story. The piece just quotes what family members said. It also quotes people rebutting allegations that he was harrassed. What’s wrong with that? Are they supposed to refrain from reporting what those people said if it doesn’t comport with the OP’s racial politics? > > This is journalism. there’s no editorializing and no “race card.” It’s just reporting what people said. My OP came off as having racial political views? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/12 "2010-08-04T03:46:41Z")
Well, it came off as seeing a race card where there wasn’t one, but I concede it was too harsh to insinuate anything else. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/13 "2010-08-04T04:38:24Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > That piece of shit should have killed himself, then CNN could have played up the poor-me-victim card. He did kill himself, didn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/14 "2010-08-04T13:37:20Z")
Yes. Apparently CNN reporting is so bad that the OP didn’t actually read it. > [@](#): > > Within minutes, the gunman and eight other people were dead, and two others were wounded, according to Manchester police and a union official. Police swarmed to the scene, but never had a chance to talk with Thornton, who apparently shot himself to death in an office. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/15 "2010-08-04T13:49:59Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > [@sparky\_1](#): > > > > That piece of shit should have killed himself, then CNN could have played up the poor-me-victim card. > > He did kill himself, didn’t he? I think the OP meant he should have killed _only_ himself. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/16 "2010-08-04T13:55:04Z")
How does the OP feel about the “gun card?” We don’t (yet) know if race was really involved, but we do know that a gun was. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/17 "2010-08-04T14:03:39Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yes. Apparently CNN reporting is so bad that the OP didn’t actually read it. > > > [@](#): > > > > Within minutes, the gunman and eight other people were dead, and two others were wounded, according to Manchester police and a union official. Police swarmed to the scene, but never had a chance to talk with Thornton, who apparently shot himself to death in an office. Your post doesn’t make sense. I read the piece and it came off as so typical of news stories in which the perp is described in the light of the victim. I did not say that it wasn’t reported that he killed himself. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/18 "2010-08-04T14:06:05Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > > He did kill himself, didn’t he? > > I think the OP meant he should have killed _only_ himself. Correct Someone needs to do a PSA: remember, before conducting a gutless, pathetic mass shooting of innocent people, first shoot yourself. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/19 "2010-08-04T14:07:26Z")
I suck at starting pit threads. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089/20 "2010-08-04T14:19:18Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Your post doesn’t make sense. > > I read the piece and it came off as so typical of news stories in which the perp is described in the light of the victim. I did not say that it wasn’t reported that he killed himself. Actually, it makes perfect sense. Your post didn’t make sense; hence the misunderstanding. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cnn-continues-to-disappoint/549089.md?page=2)