Mass Killers and the Attention Given Them in the Media
Your article “Portrait of a Mass Killer” (by Garry Abrams, Jan. 12) raised some questions.
Would it not have been better to relegate this sad tale (already told too often) of mass murder to the back pages of your View section, thereby decreasing publicity for these sick, severely troubled and unbalanced people rather than increasing it?
There must be a desperate need to be “somebody” deep in these tortured souls, and by catering to this need, yes, even exploiting it, could the news media be fostering the very acts they decry and try to explain?
The problems raised in childhood and/or frustrations that life dishes out are heart-wrenching. A clear call for more available mental health centers for the lost and homeless of this world, and this country, if indeed, these “frustrated beings” would avail themselves of such counseling.
I would much rather have seen the photographs in the article depict the researchers, rather than the perpetrators of these “cluster killings.”
SUSAN WOLFE
Big Bear Lake
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