Fox News Contributes to Demonization of Shooter & “Others”
April 19, 2007
The photos above have been taken from the front page of news from CNN, Washington Post, Seattle PI, New York Times, Chicago Tribune. Many of the photos I saw around the internet today depicted mourning students, photos of some of the victims, students holding prayer vigils for those whose were killed in the shootings.
However, FOX News had a different image they wanted to portray yesterday. The image of a MADMAN.
It looked like it was Cho Seung-Hui’s ID card photo, with MADMAN scrawled in large, bold letters above his photo (they have since taken the image they had on their website down before I had a chance to grab a screenshot of it).
What does an image like this do to our perception of both Cho Seung-Hui and other people whose clinical depression and other issues may drive them to act out violently? How is our perception dramatically changed because of media, especially media sources like FOX News? We had an interesting discussion about the travesty at Virginia Tech today in my pastoral care class. I brought up this photo on FOX News and we talked about what it means to call someone a madman. Immediately, you are able to separate yourself from the person; they become the Other. It also distances us from thinking about the possibility that we too have the potential for doing such violent acts.
To other Cho Seung-Hui is to demonize him, to elevate ourselves and look down on him with disdain and hate; all things that seem to be very un-Christian, considering we’re supposed to love even our enemies.
To say all of this does not lessen the sadness, the hideousness and the viciousness of the crime that Seung-Hui committed. It does however have to do with how we respond to both Seung-Hui, to the victims and to the situation. Unfortunately, this is not the last school shooting we will encounter in the states. But it should cause us to stop and think about how we may have demonized or “other”ed Seung-Hui and “others” like him. In what ways do we “other” friends at school, co-workers in the office or even the homeless woman you walk past every day to get to school or work. Now, to live with such a fear that anyone at any moment could point a gun to our head is not healthy, and no way to live. It only continues to contribute to the culture of fear this country has been told it must live under.
But it could only be a good thing to become more aware of the others in our lives, how we treat them, and how we, if we are people of faith, should be treating them.
Tags: Cho-Seung-Hui, Ismail-Ax, Shootings, Virginia-Tech
Posted in 
Adam Walker Cleaveland: I am a 28 yr old 
April 19th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Amen Adam.
Unfortunatley, CNN.com has jumped in on the dehumanization too. Originally they posted a photo of Cho holding guns in each hand but late last night they posted a photo (which was still on their homepage this morning) of Cho pointing the gun at the camera and essentially anyone who visits the site.
I was so disgusted I wrote them an email for the latest photo which is extremely sensational and insensitive and only contributes to the problem and culture of violence in this country.
Peace,
Andy
April 19th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Adam, your transparency shouldn’t amaze me but it does. You jump the “conservative” outlet as if all the others aren’t doing it as well. Did you watch CNN and MSNBC last night after they all had copies of the pics and videos of Hui? IT’S ALL ANY OF THEM RAN ALL NIGHT.
What is sad is that folks like you are politicizing this. And yes Adam, by jumping ONLY the conservative outlet, that is what you are doing. You are trying to advance your ideology. You can talk about the “other” all you want, but when you are so biased and short sighted, you tell everyone exactly what your motivations are.
Funny thing is this, I do agree with you that this is a bad bad way to handle this young man. Especially this early in the game.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Rich - I did realize this morning that there were similar types of photos posted on CNN as well, which is unfortunate.
I think it was just that FOX News was the first one to do it, and to “brand” Cho as a “Madman” through their use of text and photo.
I am glad that you do agree that this is a poor way of handling this story.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Adam - For one I really appreciate your comments. I had that same feeling while watching Geraldo go off on a tear about Cho, using every nasty name he could get away with. Like you said, it doesn’t gloss over the viciousness of the act, but treating someone as less than human is no way to get at the root causes for acts like this. I think Jesus had a few choice words about this - like pray for your enemies, etc.
April 19th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Adam… I agree with Rich that it was not just Fox. MSNBC had the same picture up yesterday.
But I completely agree with you about the demonization of the killer. I am not sure how it us helpful to demonize anyone, especially a young man who had obvious issues and needed help, and in turn has now killed himself and many others.
Unfortunately in these incidents we often forget that there are loved ones of the killer who are also suffering and in mourning. While we rightfully focus on the victims, we also need to remember that the killer’s family are also victims in this.
Further, two things really scare me in this. One, we are creating a reverse stereotype of what a killer is. Typically stereotypes form by perceived trends in groups of people. But here a stereotype is forming of a perceived trend in ONE person. We see Mr. Cho as a young man who was lonely, depressed, isolated, aloof, etc. In turn people want to say, “See, there were obvious signs.” Yet there are thousands of people who match that description, and what worries me is that people will overreact to these thousands with similar characteristics.
The other thing that really scares me is that the anti-Korean (and anti-immigrant) backlash that could ensue from this. People make assumptions way too easily, and that is really, really scary.
By the way… just as bad as the demonization of the killer is the blaming the victim trend that has been seen by the Right. I wrote about it here and here, but people like Boortz, Derbyshire, Steyn, and Blake have all attacked the victims for not “rushing the shooter.” Some have even blamed it on liberal ideology for not “fighting back.” It is sickening to see people attack victims by saying if it were them, they would be “ashamed” for not trying to stop the shooter.
Unbelievable…
April 19th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Do Madmen Exist
Certainly, all outlets served the function of mobilizing our capacity for collective hate. They functionned as the leader of a continental, virtual lynch mob. Most of us willing took part in the action.
Little was known about the mental health of the perpitrator, his background, physical well-being etc. My question to this group is “Was he, indeed a madman”? or more to the point “was he simply evil”
Can anyone be simply ‘evil’ ?
April 19th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Adam, I appreciate the thought you are putting into this; but I see an inconsistency. Just as we seperate ourselves from ‘others,’ it appears that those who suffer from mental illness seperate themselves from others, and well themselves.
Mental illness can contribute to the cause of such acting out, but it never should be a justification.
And not to detract from your excellent comments of ‘other’ness. How does your sense of treating someone as ‘other’ mesh with your relationship with Mark Discoll?
April 19th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Thanks for another thought-provoking post Adam! The media here (Albuquerque) carried a story about public school teachers who are using the events at Virginia Tech to press their agenda for being allowed (as educators) to carry weapons to school. I find it it offensive that groups are using the early hours after this tragedy to further their own agendas. Let’s allow this time to be about those who have lost so much-not about ourselves, our goals, our “ratings”.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
I think the example of the Amish and how they responded to the shooter of their children is one we should consider emulating. To return hate with hate does not even the score .. it just creates an “echo” that seems to go on for a long time.
April 19th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Oh, the mass murderer was “demonized”, boo hoo hoo!!!
MSNBC has become Cho’s PR agency, but Fox is the problem. LOL. You people.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
By the way, are you EVER going to graduate seminary? Get a job.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
John, thanks for your comments - it’s always a joy to hear from you. And thanks for taking such an interest in my education. I am just now finishing up my 3rd year of seminary (which is the normal amount of education for a Presbyterian) but I have one more year because I am in a Dual Degree Program - so after 4 years I’ll get my M.Div and an MA in Youth Ministry. So I still have one more year until I can get a job.
But thanks for asking.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:01 am
This whole notion of “Boo hoo, we were mean to the poor crazed, demented killer” is a bit over the top. It implies that somehow, that this mentally ill lunatic (lunatic is as lunatic does) was merely deficient in people being nice to him, and that somehow, we could have prevented this. This is actually quite a “modern” view of the world - “if we only had all the information, we could surely have prevented this.”
Really, mad, lunatic people do mad, lunatic acts. We can barely even begin to understand the roots of depression, mental illness and madness (oh, I’m sure nobody is actually diagnosed as “mad” any more, of course), so how can we possibly know what could have prevented it? In fact, trained counselors had worked with the guy yet failed to truly identify how much of a threat he was. How much less is the general population equipped to do so?
This is so far beyond the bounds of “normal” that you couldn’t even see normal with a telescope, even if you knew which direction to look.
April 20th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I found it far more disturbing for NBC and almost every (if not all) media outlets showing the video captures and/or video excerpts from Cho’s homemade manifesto video. That’s getting much more flack, and I’m surprised that your comments did not address this — which many have called “giving him what he wanted — a platform to his own legacy and immortality.”
April 21st, 2007 at 2:49 am
Here you go, Adam. A man after your own heart:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/20/221859/375
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:19 pm
What’s wrong with calling him what he was? I see nothing wrong with calling him a madman. He was very methodical as he planned all this out, he knew what he was doing, so I doubt that he was a paranoid who just snapped one day. He was planning this for a while and he deserves the blame he is getting. Society and the other student’s didnt make him do this as he pulled the trigger. The school got him help, people talked to him. But he isolated himself, he turned away from people. The school, which I attended at one point, did the best they could within the legal limits. The guy was a madman and should be blamed solely for this atrocious act of wanton killing.
I for one am fine with labeling him as such!
Blessings,
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:39 pm
>>”What’s wrong with calling him what he was?
Because he was Korean. So he was “the other.” Hands off the “other” (even if they’re homicidal maniacs).
April 23rd, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Carlos,
I hope that you are being sarcastic. I find it ironic that people, especially in the media and blogsphere, are bringing up the Korean aspect of this as a way to either shame him racially or to paint him as a ‘victim’. Either way it is ridiculous. We need to stop with the racial thing and see him for what he was, a crazy guy bent on evil that was going to accomplish his goal no matter what. We see that and that is not a racial thing on either side of the debate. He did not do it because he was Korean nor did he do it because he was a victim as a Korean. He was evil!
PS, the “other” debate is ridiculous too. Most people who throw that card out are divisionists themselves and are seeking to make an us-them division.
Blessings,
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:58 pm
“Truth Seeker”, mental illness was perhaps the biggest factor that behind the wrongful decision to act out in such evil ways. However, there are many other contributing factors as well, and 2 of the biggest ones are the Asian culture’s shame and stigma against getting psychiatric help, and the subtle and not-so-subtle marginalization and ridicule occasionally (or frequently?) put upon Asian Americans.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:25 am
But here is the problem with the whole mental issue thing. He was ordered by a judge to undergo treatment which he did, so we cannot use the shame thing here, he actually went. He underwent treatment and was released by the institution and was allowed to go back in to VA Tech. I am a Virginia native and am aware of their procedures for mental patients. The institution has to write a report for the school determining if he was stabel enough to return. They deemed he was safe after treatment.
So the problem here is not his mental illness, we cannot put the blame solely on that and we cannot put it on his racial stigma as he did undergo the treatment. The problem is that he allowed his flesh to rise up and he fed it with hatred and evilness. If he really wanted to he could get help and seek attention. The fact that professors and judges stepped in and helped and did what they could and he still did this heinious act shows that he was bent on doing this. Plenty of people reached out to him, but he pushed them away and continued on his own path of destruction of his choosing.
And please stop with the so-called marginalization of the Asian culture. This is a propoganda myth employed by the liberal elitists. A person is only as marginalized as they allow people to make them. If people were treating him harshly there were systems where he could employ to counteract it. In fact as an Asian he has more resources to combat this than a white American has. There are more laws protecting him than white Americans. I was once a student at VA Tech, I know the system there. He had ample opportunity to combat any prejudice. But there is no evidence that he was bullied and harassed by his fellow classmates. He marginallized himself from all the accounts. He did not respond in class and did not participate, even from the first day of classes. Takes time to marginalize someone, he did it to himself from the onset.
I stand by conviction that he was a deranged lunatic hell-bent on murder and noone was going to stop him.
Good Day!
April 24th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
A person is only as marginalized as he or she allows people to make him or her?
I’ve spent enough time with people who have felt marginalized, whether because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or social class, to know that this is simply not the case. As a woman, I can say that there have been situations when I’ve felt marginalized myself. To argue that marginalization is self-imposed suggests a lack of awareness of one’s own privilege (whether in the form of gender, race, class, etc.), which acts as a shield against being marginalized. And where is the evidence that “an Asian has more resources to combat this than a white American”? It seems like a major generalization to me. Moreover, there are other factors to take into account in this situation, such as the intersection of race and gender.
April 24th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
I have privilege….wow! I didn’t know that!! Man and all this time I could have been using it?! I have also spent enough time with people to realize that when people feel marginalized they have the ability to do something about it. If a person of supposed power is “marginalizing” someone, all the other person has to do is either ignore them or stand up to him. If you don’t stand for your rights as a human being than you are participating in the marginalization and allowing that person to do it to you.
When I have some of the kids I work with come to me and say they are being bullied or harrassed, I tell them to ignore that other person and to also stand up to them. Many times when confronted, especially in a non-confrontational manner, the other person will back down or will be shamed into stopping. This pandering to victimhood is ridiculous. I grew up in a poor neighborhood and I could very easily play the victim card, but I choose not to. I could easily claim that I was marginalized growing up, but I decided that through the help of the Spirit I was not going to let people ruin and govern my life. There were times I had to snap myself back into reality and say I need help. I could have blamed society for my ills, but I didn’t.
I just wish more people would stop the victimization of themselves and realize that what they do for themselves will shape and direct the outcome of their life. Yes, society and people will do horrible things, but the attitude and what you do will make the bigger difference.
Good day!