General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is Newtown Making Such News Because The Kids Are Mostly White? [View all]renate
(13,776 posts)It was raised many times here in relation to the Natalie Holloway case, for example.
I think everybody would be equally horrified by a mass shooting of any children, regardless of socioeconomic class or race, but whether we would be hearing calls of "Something must be done" to this extent... no, I don't think so.
If this had occurred in a high-crime area--whether in a predominately black, brown, or white part of town--I think the MSM's story would be that it's terrible that there are high-crime areas where little children can be massacred in school. In other words, the focus would be on the local culture and not on guns themselves, or even on mental illness, and for people who don't live in those areas, it would still come under the heading of "Terrible Things That Happen to Other People."
In the case of Newtown, people who are fortunate to live lives mostly untouched by violent crime were suddenly made to realize that nobody, anywhere, is safe, and worse than that, neither are our children. And I think that (as well as the fact that these were little first-graders) is what has really gotten into our DNA in this case.
I appreciate your raising the question.