hclark70:

gracellia:

stole this off a post on Facebook, but i feel like tumblr needs to read this.

Morgan Freeman’s brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

“You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here’s why.

It’s because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed
people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he’ll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN’s article says that if the body count “holds up”, this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer’s face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer’s identity? None that I’ve seen yet. Because they don’t sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you’ve just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man’s name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news.”

(via jmek)

thedailywhat:

Say What Now of the Day: Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman appeared on NPR’s Tell Me More on Thursday to help promote two of his upcoming films, The Dark Knight Rises and The Magic of Belle Isle. The discussion with host Michael Martin took a political turn, and Freeman offered his thoughts on President Barack Obama and the racial qualifications of a black President:

“First thing that always pops into my head regarding our president is that all of the people who are setting up this barrier for him…they just conveniently forget that Barack had a mama, and she was white — very white American, Kansas, middle of America. There was no argument about who he is or what he is. America’s first black president hasn’t arisen yet. He’s not America’s first black president — he’s America’s first mixed-race president.”

However, Freeman went on to say that he thinks President Obama has been unfairly treated by his political opponents since taking office, and criticized the Republican Party for being uncooperative during his first term.

[pink]

(Source: thedailywhat)