DC Comics and Film Stars React to Colorado Shooting Tragedy - Orlando Comic Books | Examiner.com
Yeah. Now, here we go.
First of all, I might be done reporting on this subject altogether. Unless it involves something positive (and no, I don't count the depressing stories of those who had so much to live for yet were gunned down in an act of heroism), I may well be done with this. You've probably noticed a pattern--hell, more like a glut of Examiner articles hitting this thing lately. There are (mostly business) reasons for that, but I have to draw a line at exploiting something like this for that purpose. Kinda like the Bret Michaels run I did when that dude had a stroke. But I digress.
I might be done with this because now the story is wading in to that dense, muddy swampland where there are monsters around every corner. Like the media (particularly ABC news) driving in to the ground as much as the ground the idea of James Holmes being called "The Joker". They take one witness statement and alluva sudden, they have their "hook". Makes me want to punch someone there in the dick for not only being un-creative enough to make the too-obvious comparison, but for forever associating that character and Batman as a whole with this nonsense.
You know, ABC...I was born at night, just not last night. (Actually that's a bald-faced lie; I was born on a rainy Monday morning, which explains quite a bit in terms of mindset.) You're owned by Disney, who now owns Marvel, who would love nothing more to crush their competition. But stop polluting and poisoning an iconic character just to sensationalize a tragedy and use it as a crass business move.
The next turn for the worse is Torrence Brown, Jr. You may not know the name offhand, but you will soon because he's filed the first lawsuit in regards to the shooting. A guy who saw his best friend die. But didn't take a bullet himself. And isn't related to anyone. Waited an excruciating five days to sue somebody.
Now, I'm all for a good lawsuit. If it were someone who actually got shot or a family member of someone who did, I understand it. This is uhMERR'ka, dammit. We have the right to haul infidels in to court and makes ourselves richer off the suffering off of others. And by suing the theater for not having a guarded back exit door (because what theater does?), Holmes's doctors (because they were just dying to conduct a psychological experiment on the man), and Warner Bros (because Holmes allegedly mimicked the content of a movie that he'd never seen before because it premiered the night this happened), that's exactly what this feels like to me.
Hate to say it Torrence, but if this is a cash grab off the misery of others, you're just as sick as ABC News for exploiting this for your own gain. And I can't be in the same company as either of you.
It's hard enough living with myself sometimes having to do several stories about something like this. There's a fine line walked between covering the news and exploiting it. I've always busted my ass to make sure I don't cross that line. Sometimes to extremes of ignoring said news altogether because I don't want to walk in to that trap. There aren't many "journalists" (and I use that term very loosely, especially when dealing with mass media) that have any kind of integrity, much less enough to realize when enough is enough in dealing with a particular kind of story and walk away. It's one of the reasons I did the piece on Steve Vai about the same time; something - and someone - I can at least respect and balance out this aberration to society. And that's to say nothing about the shooting and James Holmes himself.
So, no more Aurora for me. Done. I'm letting these victims and families - including that of Holmes, who had to have no idea this was coming and are living in their own private hell right now - get some peace in peace.
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