Do police and media unintentionally encourage a romantic view of mass shootings and terror acts by the use of certain words and phrases. The romance of the gun culture , and Hollywood movie themes of “old west shootouts,” going out in a “blaze of glory”,a “last stand,” a “rebel without a cause”,or words that are used by law enforcement to profile these crimes like “lone wolf” or “homegrown” all add comfort and support in the eyes of desperate ,depressed or otherwise unhinged person contemplating these violent and tragic crimes against humanity.
The inherent message to those contemplating violent acts are with words that resonate like , “glory,” “rebel,” “home,” and “wolf.” These words stand out to give encouragement to the demented minds of these particular persons. There seem to be more and more every week.
Does every crime have be described as the “worst mass shooting...” with accompanying qualification , that town, that state, in the US,this year , this month or ...Is there a score card or unhelpful record keeping that may be driving these murderers to better planning, better weapons , more lethal results.
Is there is a fame element , maybe this persons actions will result in gun laws changing in their mind and they will be remembered by these terrible acts? Who knows what that person is thinking , and no one will ever know. Is there logic or organized madness.
Both police and media have to be careful in the terminology used to describe anyone who is contemplating these crimes.
These crimes are getting to all to common and language matters, future shooters are listening, we in media and law enforcement might consider that we are talking directly to the next perpetrator of such violent acts.
This is not to excuse violent acts because of environment, social status, heredity but to offer a strategy for prevention. There is a trend and it is moving upward.
There is no condition that cannot changed in the favor of a peaceful outcome. But, these events seem to push for more guns not less. Opinion by Ken Gigliotti