An interesting observation: Red Lake vs. Columbine

[mzmolly]

"In April of 1999, the Columbine shootings occurred. Television shows were stopped for live cuts of the scene. Stories were printed on the front page of papers regarding the shootings for weeks. Every news station and show had Columbinemania for months. In the end, 12 children, a teacher, and the two shooters died. It was a tragedy that shook the nation. President Clinton addressed the Nation with specific regard to Columbine and school violence. He later would visit multiple locations in Colorado, including Columbine to discuss gun control and school violence. Stories of motive began to surface. The conclusion was . . . society. The video game "Doom", Marilyn Manson, bullies and maybe parent involvement but definitely Doom and Marilyn Manson. No reports of details of the boys lives or of their families has been part of the front page story. Then GOP hopeful, Gov. George Bush Jr., calls for a system of "moral education"

Oh and Vice President Gore AND Amy Grant attend a memorial service in Columbine.

In March of 2005 an Indian shot some other Indians on an Indian reservation (in Minnesota). 10 people have died, again a horrible tragedy. In the local paper, it made the front page the first 2 days, never the lead story, but a side story. On the top side of the front page day 1, bottom corner on day 2. Today is day 3 . . . nothing. CNN.com . . . Nothing. I finally went to the BBC website, and there you have to click on "America" but at least a mention. Also, ironically, the BBC was the only website that I found that listed the story as the head news story the day after the shootings out of the 4 websites I checked, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, FOX.

Motive . . He's Indian, had a hard life on the rez. His dad commit suicide, his mom was in an accident and has a brain injury so severe she's cared for in a nursing home, raised by his grandfather (a tribal police officer) and his grandfather's girlfriend. The shooter was picked on and loved Hitler. All this personal information given in the only 2 stories carried by the local paper."

http://www.rlnn.com/ArtApril05/ObservationByKevin.html

[NNadir]

1. I noticed this right away. Our media's crazy. Guckert, all of them.

[Radio_Lady]

2. The Schiavo story drove out other news stories.

Now the death watch for the Pope is driving out the Schiavo story. Very little mention of Michael Jackson at this point.

Does anyone recall the hours and hours that were spent on Gary Condit and Chandra Levy? Scott Peterson? This is the way TV and radio news work.

If you want depth, read lots of newspapers and books -- and you can get a great number of stories on the Internet.

[mzmolly]

3. I would think a major school shooting would have drown out the Schaivo

case. I am certain if Columbine happened recently instead, it would have.

Thanks for the tip on reading the paper/internet, I am aware of alternative news sources. However, one didn't need to "dig" on the net to find information about "Columbine."

[Patrick ONeill]

4. If you want to mention race

I won't argue with you ;)

[mzmolly]

8. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[newyawker99]

11. Hi Patrick Oneill!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Radio_Lady]

5. Yes, that's true. It's not the first school shooting --

When any type of event becomes routine, it assumes less significance. We had the shooting here in Springfield, Oregon in 1998 and it was covered rather extensively, but probably not as much nationwide.

The shooter was Kip Kinkel, now in jail for the rest of his life.

[mzmolly]

7. Red Lake was the second worst shooting in the history of the US.

I disagree that it's become "common place" ..

I am familiar with the Oregon shooting as well.

[riverwalker]

6. after Columbine

there were hundreds of hours of airtime and articles about who and why.
I have been stunned by the national lack of concern for the Red Lake victims. Even a cynic like me did not imagine such racism still existed, it has been a wake up.

[TwilightZone]

9. I commented on this in a similar fashion the first couple of days.

A couple of white kids in a rich, suburban neighborhood shoot up a school and it's 24/7 coverage.

An American Indian kid shoots up a school on the reservation and it's an afterthought on the evening news. If even that.

[Dunedain]

17. I'm from Minnesota

I don't think this was a "oh who cares anyways, it just a bunch of Indians killing themselves". The tribe council wanted a lid kept on it as well as the Federal Authority.

All this bullshit about goth and Hitler is just that. Rational so we can go back to our regularly scheduled coma.

There's a lesson here and it isn't the race bogeyman, it's that some of our kids are angry at ever being born, and we better figure out how to stop making them that way. I don't excuse that young mans actions, I just look around my own town, see the lives of my own children's friends, and it is not to hard to see why this ever happens, irregardless of whether the kid was into piercing or Pokemon'.

[mzmolly]

22. I'm from Minnesota too.

Welcome to DU! :toast:

[TwilightZone]

23. My point was that the media didn't treat the events the same way.

There is no doubt that the tribal council wanted to keep this quiet, but that's never stopped the media before. If they wanted to cover it, they most certainly could have, regardless of the lack of cooperation from the tribe.

It's somewhat similar to how the media covers kidnappings. If an attractive woman or cute girl is kidnapped (Levy, Smart, Sjodin, etc.), then we get widespread media coverage. Meanwhile, thousands of other kidnappings that happen every year get nearly no coverage.

[bush_is_wacko]

10. Without a doubt our media is under someones TOTAL control.

I am old enough to remember when the last pope died as well. The whole process was covered 24 hours a day on television. Every step of the process! Not that it compares to the Red Lake incident. but it just gives you a n idea of how much television coverage has changed over the past 4 years! I can not believe Americans haven't figured this out yet!

One of the things you missed about the Columbine incident in comparison to the Red Lake incident is the religious aspect, BTW. I live here and have met several of the parents and friends, I even met a student who still has a bullet in him from the incident. THESE people were already religious fanatics before the incident occurred. They now EXPECT special treatment EVERYWHERE they go and they STILL talk about it on a near non stop basis. They ALL introduced themselves to me as I'm so and so. I was in the cafeteria at Columbine, or I had a child in the Columbine incident, or my niece was at Columbine. These people live and breath an incident that took place 6 years ago! I have to tell you. I don't want to have anything to do with them. They seem to have a sick belief that they deserve " something" for having gone through that and don't have a clue that THEY are only a few of the people in this crazy world that have gone through something like this!

[bloom]

16. That they would have such a "celebrity" attitude over it is weird...

but probably does reflect the extreme coverage the Columbine story got.


The Red Lake tribe kept some (all?) of the media out - at least for awhile. Perhaps they didn't want to have this to become all that the tribe is about - besides just protecting people's privacy (which seems reasonable).


But like in the OP - assigning different motives - like family/situational instead of video games, etc. does seem to suggest a warped, perhaps racist attitude.

[bush_is_wacko]

24. I believe it is about race, sadly

But it is also about the fact that the people involved in th Red Lake incident don't WANT celebrity status. Like I said the people involved in Columbine do. I met all these people at a St. Patrick's day party! I kept wondering why the hell they found it necessary to tell me their "Columbine status?"

I had to walk away from a religious discussion regarding the Boy Scouts with them. I just couldn't bring myself to inform them that they were sadly mistaken if they believed pedophiles and homosexuals were one and the same. Studies really show a pedophile is more likely to be a married white male in middle age, but for some reason THAT conversation came up and that is when I told my husband I had had enough and needed to get the heck out of dodge before I lost my cool.

I guess I understand these people have been through a trauma and they need to talk about it, but I felt like Alic in Wonderland at that party. It was everything Columbine or "religion" all the time. They are a strange bunch.

It seems to me the Red Lake incident is being handled in a much more "normal" way by those that were involved. I have no doubt that they will most likely be able to go through the grieving process in a much more productive way and learn to function in society without using the incident as a crutch for the rest of their lives.

[Harlequin]

12. I believe it's racist. But things changed since 9/11 as well.

Firstly, the Columbine was the first and most horrible of those events. Not to mention the drama of the black trenchcoats -- all great grist for the media machine. So it was an entirely new kind of story for the public to look at.

Secondly, 9/11 changed our scope of national tragedy. A story like school shootings, which once might have been considered national news, now becomes more of a regional story, or an example of "another Columbine."

I don't agree with how the media and bsuh has dealt with it. But when I start thinking like a disgusting newspaper editor, I see the reasoning behind it. It's still wrong.

[mzmolly]

13. Good points. But the "copy cat" tendency is a new story that begs

attention. These kids apparently looked up to the Columbine kids, watched movies about the shootings and dressed in like "black trench coat" fashion.

[Harlequin]

14. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

[morgan2]

15. the difference between Columbine and Red Lake

Columbine was the first large one. The other copy cats in the next few months got less and less attention. Now its just old hat, and not going to get the enourmous coverage Columbine got.

[mzmolly]

18. The other such shootings had far less victims. Also, if this were another

lily white suburb - you can bet it would get enormous media attention.

[adwon]

19. True

Though I think 'rich, white suburb' is the complete phrase. Rich white kids get shot, it's a tragedy. Poor kids get shot, they must have been up to something.

Columbine coverage pissed me off because a production was made out of a declining phenomenon. Where were the goddamn talking heads in the early 90s, when it was a real problem.

[Mr_Spock]

20. I can't get over this "death culture" that * has brought upon us

We are used to people dying violently - just don't die peacefully while in the care of a medical professional :eyes: :eyes:

[mzmolly]

21. Heh.

Sick ey? It's like the frikken stepford nutballs have taken over the world. ACK!