Friday
Dec072007
Why the MSM Chooses to Cover Selfishness instead of Selflessness: Alexis Goggins and Robert Hawkins
Friday, December 7, 2007 at 8:22AM The Blogmother
Read our post "Why Aren't the Lives of Black Women Treasured"
Mainstream media is once again enthralled with the death of a young, angry, and murderous Caucasian male. While Robert A. Hawkins was preparing to make his mark on human history and SELFISHLY grab 15 minutes of fame by mowing down innocent civilians, Alexis Goggins a 7- year-old first grader from Detroit, MI was SELFLESSLY throwing her body in front of a gun to save the life of her mother. She took six bullets.
Um so tell me what is newsworthy about yet ANOTHER disaffected White male taking psychotropic drugs and committing mass murder before committing suicide? Cue the cameras to the family members who had NO IDEA what a homicidal little maniac was living under their own roof and can't fathom where he got an assault rifle from. Cue the statements from friends, neighbors, and classmates about how quiet or moody or introverted the gunman was. Cue the profilers who basically say , "Yeah, we could have seen this coming." Been there done that.
For those who say that the victims of these mass murderers are newsworthy, I AGREE! however, in the immediate wake of the mass slaughters, the first picture you see repeatedly on every news outlet in every newspaper is that of the KILLER not the victims. Name two victims of Columbine. Name one victim of Virginia Tech. Since these killers are now leaving press kits so that they can speak from the grave, it appears now that the news media has to do some soul searching about the role they are now playing in these homicides. The suicidal attention seekers now know that they'll finally get what they longed for in life by taking a few innocent people with them.
In my humble opinion, the news agencies ought to treat these homicidal young men in the same way that they treat juveniles and victims of sexual assault, REFUSE TO DISCLOSE THEIR IDENTITIES! If people want to know, let them look it up. Refuse to paste their pictures on every front page and news website in America. Yep, they've decided not to divulge the identities of juveniles and sexual assault victims as a matter of editorial policy. I think they need to add a category to the list: suicidal mass murderers.
There is a precedent for NOT covering suicides. In San Francisco, the newspapers stopped covering jumps from the Golden Gate bridge:
Why not do the same thing at the national level. Report the deaths, have a media blackout of the suicidal killer.
While mainstream media is basically ignoring the Alexis Goggins on a national level - She can't even get on the Associated Press national wire- the Blogosphere is hailing her a the hero she is and some are contrasting Alexis with Hawkins . A Google News Search brings up only 31 stories about Alexis Goggins. Robert Hawkins ( 5,423). When you type in Alexis Goggins in the Google Blog Search, you get 251 results.
Here is an interesting take on the few articles that have appeared about Alexis- Saying Nothing Charmingly appears to be upset with Fox News' article mentioning that the shooter was Alexis' mother's boyfriend twice. She thinks that it appears that they are blaming the mother:
"Why Aren't the Lives of Black Women Treasured"
Mainstream media is once again enthralled with the death of a young, angry, and murderous Caucasian male. While Robert A. Hawkins was preparing to make his mark on human history and SELFISHLY grab 15 minutes of fame by mowing down innocent civilians, Alexis Goggins a 7- year-old first grader from Detroit, MI was SELFLESSLY throwing her body in front of a gun to save the life of her mother. She took six bullets.
Um so tell me what is newsworthy about yet ANOTHER disaffected White male taking psychotropic drugs and committing mass murder before committing suicide? Cue the cameras to the family members who had NO IDEA what a homicidal little maniac was living under their own roof and can't fathom where he got an assault rifle from. Cue the statements from friends, neighbors, and classmates about how quiet or moody or introverted the gunman was. Cue the profilers who basically say , "Yeah, we could have seen this coming." Been there done that.
For those who say that the victims of these mass murderers are newsworthy, I AGREE! however, in the immediate wake of the mass slaughters, the first picture you see repeatedly on every news outlet in every newspaper is that of the KILLER not the victims. Name two victims of Columbine. Name one victim of Virginia Tech. Since these killers are now leaving press kits so that they can speak from the grave, it appears now that the news media has to do some soul searching about the role they are now playing in these homicides. The suicidal attention seekers now know that they'll finally get what they longed for in life by taking a few innocent people with them.
In my humble opinion, the news agencies ought to treat these homicidal young men in the same way that they treat juveniles and victims of sexual assault, REFUSE TO DISCLOSE THEIR IDENTITIES! If people want to know, let them look it up. Refuse to paste their pictures on every front page and news website in America. Yep, they've decided not to divulge the identities of juveniles and sexual assault victims as a matter of editorial policy. I think they need to add a category to the list: suicidal mass murderers.
There is a precedent for NOT covering suicides. In San Francisco, the newspapers stopped covering jumps from the Golden Gate bridge:
For years, local media reported every victim, and the grisly countdown reached a frenzy in 1995 as the 1,000th suicide approached. " The media agreed to stop the count. SOURCE
Why not do the same thing at the national level. Report the deaths, have a media blackout of the suicidal killer.
While mainstream media is basically ignoring the Alexis Goggins on a national level - She can't even get on the Associated Press national wire- the Blogosphere is hailing her a the hero she is and some are contrasting Alexis with Hawkins . A Google News Search brings up only 31 stories about Alexis Goggins. Robert Hawkins ( 5,423). When you type in Alexis Goggins in the Google Blog Search, you get 251 results.
Here is an interesting take on the few articles that have appeared about Alexis- Saying Nothing Charmingly appears to be upset with Fox News' article mentioning that the shooter was Alexis' mother's boyfriend twice. She thinks that it appears that they are blaming the mother:
They chose to start and finish the story with that little piece of information. No mention, though, that she'd already left him, had a restraining order out on him and he had been stalking her ever since. Nope, none of that now.So, here's a question. How many posts does it take to reach the center of the average person's capacity for victim blaming?
Interesting comment. We kind of went into that on the podcast last night. maybe the reason Alexis isn't getting coverage is because they don't find the shooting of Black women and children to be newsworthy... Oops, I'm sorry. We already know they dont.
To read more blog posts about Alexis, go here
"Why Aren't the Lives of Black Women Treasured"
Don't forget to like our Facebook Page. We shut down our NING network. My book More Than Words is now available for download for $3.99 | 7 Comments | Share Article
7 Comments | Share Article tagged Alexis Goggins, Crime
Alexis Goggins, Crime
Reader Comments (7)
Thanks, again; as always you pull my coat so hard it's starting to tear.
Leon Wynter
http://www.theamericanrace.typepad.com
I am not suprised they choose to angle on/imply that he was her boyfreind, ie she brought this on herself. If you read the comments on the previous entry you can see that half the female reponders actually did the same ie citing her faulty personal choices as being to blame.
if bw cant give themselves breaks, who else will.
My hunch is that if she was non-black, our sympathies for her in the tragedy she endured would far outweighed a need to ferret out personal blame. maybe we would find it in our hearts to even entertained the idea that it was possible she didn know and left him as soon as she discovered his past, or they had a brief relatiosnhip etc etc. Not believable? Well that just goes to show doesnt it, that with bw, all those benefit of a doubt scenerios and ready considerations we automatically feel should apply for other females suddenly seems so discordant and inapplicable.
but since it has become an almost necessary aspect of the commentary to 'blame bw' in these situations (for the sake of parity and distributing blame equally between genders which is the necessary framework that needs to be applied here), i guess we are kind of in line with the the big news outlets.
I am fast learning to recognise the various nuances of black female devaluation including this one, which takes the shape of inadmissible consideration and benefit of a doubt when the situations applies to her!
Halima, it may go deeper. I think there are certain elements of society that don't want to have to consider that a small black girl was capable of such a noble act.
It was an act of pure heroism. She did what her heart told her to do. How many adults have the kind of heart that would launch them into the path of a bullet to protect one they loved?
This was an exhibit of one of the highest forms of 'human' bahavior. And how many of the cynical news people, who buried the story, know that they themselves would never do that for anyone? Such people are made uncomfortable at the very thought of human nobility; it's no surprise that such a story would be all but ignored.
I am just going to say it. How come suicidal white folks always have to take people with them before kill themselves??? What is that all about???
God bless the little angel. I have not been watching the news so I missed this story. What a brave little girl!!!
Gina, as always you are on point. The media really, really should be ashamed on this one.
I could not be more disappointed. Let's highlight a crazy killing maniac fool v. the heroism of a young Black child who is a future Content Black Woman personified.
Wake up news media and get a grip!!!!!!!!!!!!
i have been catching up to this story during the week. tragic yet amazing...
Thanks so much for linking my blog. I was more angry at the flat out racist and sexist comments made by readers all over the place. It's disgusting. As if it's standard procedure for people to do a criminal background check before going out on a date. As if Ms. Parker didn't do exactly what she was "supposed" to do when she found herself in this situation. It's all so predictable. Rape in the news? Set your watch for 30 seconds and within that time, someone will accuse the victim of lying. Some f*ckwit hangs a noose? Set your watch for 15 seconds and within that time someone will try to explain why it wasn't REALLY racist. Meh.