Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Okay, So If I'm Just Normally Mentally Defective But Not Criminal....
The F.B.I. is now investigating after an explosion near Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Saturday night during the Kansas State, O.U. football game.
One person was killed in the blast and police there are calling it a suicide. Now we know more about that person.
The F.B.I. has identified him as 21-year-old Joel Henry Hinrichs, III. He was a junior at Oklahoma University majoring in engineering. He was also a member of the Triangle Fraternity. Phone books list him as being from Colorado Springs, CO.
Authorities say that the stadium is searched before each game and nothing was found during that search, and no threats had been made. They also say at no time were any fans in the stadium in any danger. The explosion happened outside a Microbiology building on campus, which is on the west side of the stadium.
An American suicide bomber, unless you think there are at least three Middle Eastern fellows named Joel Henry Hinrichs.
Except for freakin' ESPN, however, the news reports don't call him a "suicide bomber". They make much of how he was depressed.
Guys? Corporate media?
I don't give a fuck why someone's bombing public areas.
I mean, I do, because that's the first and best way to stop them, motive motive motive and all that. But the emphasis in coverage has been how depressed this guy was. Not that he thought that the best way out was to potentially take a bunch of people with him.
Someone who is so angry or troubled or sick at heart that they are willing to kill themselves with explosives in a public place? That's a suicide bomber. That's not name-calling or hair-splitting. That's the definition.
Are you trying to avoid panicking a jittery populace? Are you worried about "providing aid and comfort to terrorists" or somesuch nonsense? Because I think your responsibility is crystal damn clear:
You should be pointing out, loudly and frequently, that it's so easy to get explosives in this country, and so easy to get them into public areas, that a 21-year-old kid who was ready to die got them within 100 yards of a stadium full of people.
Even if you use the excuse that he didn't really want to hurt anyone else -- and if that's the case, why didn't he pick any of the many other possible methods of killing one's self that don't involve danger to bystanders? -- what you should be doing, Corporate Media, is highlighting that someone who really wanted to do some damage apparently wouldn't have all that much trouble. And that maybe somebody should do something about that.
As they said on MST3K, "You'd think, after an eternity of this, they'd be better at it."
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