I knew it was coming...

Allow me to rant for a moment, in a similar vein to my good buddy Richmond over on her blog a few days ago. Whenever some lunatic shoots up a school, the "family values" lobby comes pouring out of the woodwork to start blaming violent movies. I knew it was a matter of time. From the article:

"Cho’s video and photos were lifted from movies. The two gun pose, arms spread, straight out of Boondock Saints, or Snatch, or Layer Cake, or The Transporter, or any number of mainstream action movies. The hammer pose, straight out of Oldboy. In a very disturbing way, Cho was doing what the movies told him to do."

What the movies told him to do?! I am usually a fan of the guys over at NewTeeVee, but on this issue, I SERIOUSLY part ways with the author. My comment, in case you don't end up reading the article:

"This article misses the point COMPLETELY. Sociopathic killers have ALWAYS been addicted to the fame. Reference Jack the Ripper and work your way forward. Violent movies “teach us how to kill ourselves”?! The absurdity of that assertion boggles the mind. Movies don't have jack sh*t to do with it! The truly disturbed always get their inspiration from somewhere (books, movies, music, TV), but the reason why they turn fantasy into reality is because they were freakin’ crazy BEFORE they ever turned the TV on!!!

That our culture is one obsessed with 15 minutes of fame for the ordinary Joe Sixpack (a la American Idol) is definitely part of the core issue here. But more disturbing is that our news outlets are GIVING him that posthumous 15 minutes! That’s the warped effect that our reality-based TV obsessed culture has wrought. WE are immortalizing the monsters. It’s pouring in on every TV channel and we can’t seem to get enough…"

This will start to get interesting when the sh*t hits the political fan. Can't wait. And meanwhile, there are truly brave heroes who actually DESERVE air-time amidst this tragedy. The professor and holocaust survivor who died trying to protect his students...

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