More Shootings on the Freeways
The recent rash of freeway shootings has been blamed on traffic congestion, hot weather, and TV and movie violence. These factors could explain a few isolated incidents, but not the sudden occurrence of two dozen shootings in little more than one month. None of these factors is worse now than in other recent years.
The real reason for most of the copycat shootings is that the news media, particularly TV, is glamorizing the cowardly and demented criminals who are doing the shooting. So far, I have heard or read the terms “Road Warriors” (three times), “Rambos” and “Cowboys.”
Public officials and the media must immediately begin behaving much more responsibly, and should enlist the aid of competent psychologists to form realistic personality profiles of the misanthropic shooters.
The media must stop parroting the absurd myth that they are just normal folks who are temporarily frustrated.
Potential copycats would cool off if the news media were to present non-sensationalized descriptions of the type of warped individuals who are doing the shooting.
Also, while future incidents must be reported to the public, the TV news should stop showing pictures of bullet holes in cars and interviews with victims. Such “news items” serve no useful purpose, but they do incite the sick minds of potential shooters.
WILLIAM F. ROSENTHAL
Huntington Beach
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