“That’s what stopped the streaking phenomenon in the 70s. The media agreed they wouldn’t publicize any more streaking incidents and it just went away.”
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Makes perfect sense.
People make complex decisions and even people on the verge of rage self destruction do too. Before school shooting because a phenom of it’s own in the social psyche, kids with problems commited their acts against themselves (which is tragic enough, but not the same on a social scale) or turned their rage first against specific targets of their anger. The idea of mowing down innocent would probably have been distasteful too all except the most psychotic, but those are found early. Now you are adding a new factor into the soup of those with antisocial/depression problems above a sense of hopelessness and victimization. There is the extremely morbid concept of achieving a glorious revenge, and the media aids and abets that very process.
I’ve been waiting for this
I have been waiting for this
All you people in TV land
I will wake up your empty shells
Peak-time viewing blown in a flash
As I burn into your memory cells
‘cause I’m alive
Peter Gabriel - Family Snapshot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh9wIVZBhT0