Why did we announce the name of the gunman in the mall shooting?

I couldnt agree more. Thats why those kids do it. So people can know their name. And the media gave the kid EXACTLY what he wanted.

No, troubled people will always find ways to exit the makings of others, I agree that they should not give the killers name! they don't need a spotlight!

but we should all stop and THINK, why did he do this? could it have been where our world is going that brought him to this point? could it have been anger towards fixed elections, demolition'd towers that nobody cares about, a disposable world controlled by profittiering corporations spreading Obesity through hormones and spreading viruses like herpes that insure a regular pay check with the cure kept in secret for the benefit of a few very wealthy individuals ?

This will continue to happen until we all realize that everyone should have the right to be happy, and a system that doesn't insure this, only insures chaos.

As I've been doing my christmas shopping over the last few days, I've been giving a silent curse to the media for reporting on the shooters name and his home life, and what could have driven him to do it,blah, blah, blah....all the things he knew would happen.

I'm constantly thinking, okay, what unhappy loser in this crowd is going to open fire on me here because he knows he'll get some fame from it.

Also, as a major Beatles fan, I've made a concerted effort to try and block the name and the image of the bastard that killed John Lennon. It's very hard to do, when I think of John Lennon, it's always connected to that nobody who took his life.Which is exactly why he did it, he's been quoted .

Glory-killing would be pretty easy to stop. Give them no glory, keep them unnamed.

Well to start this with he's an adult that's why they name him on camera. ANd the news are more interested in bad news and who does it than why and feelign sorry for the victims. Just watch when the will bury them the cameras will be there just for the rating. SO blame the media for anything that happens because if they wouldn't show it maybe it wouldn't happen.

Yeah I see your point. Many people that do this crazy stuff WANT to be remembered. I think they are so in need of attention from others - they don't care who they get it - or even if they are dead when they finally get it. I don't think we should mention their names - but you know what? That would simply be impossible. Someone would know somewhere and it would only take 5 minutes for the country to know anyway. You just can't stop it from happening.

releasing the name of the gunman is part of journalism. i don't think his name in the paper will do as much damage as the suicide note and the photos. the kid was right. he's f***ing famous, and someone else out there with a warped sense of reality will do the same thing. in fact, there was a mall shooting today about two hours from my town. thankfully, no one was hurt or killed.

I posted to an opinion of how sick I thought it was to show him standing there with the rifle. Number one it glorifies his actions, and number 2, it shows that there we no security guards any where, and number 3, people were dying at the time the picture was taken.

I don't think they should have mentioned about the being famous part. Who needs to hear about that. He's not famous, he's infamous.

Perhaps Americans should do the same as the ancient Greeks did when they had a similar problem with crazies seeking public attention. They should put on public display the naked and rotting body of the guy who did it, and leave it there for a couple of weeks for vultures to dine on.

Perhaps this kind of shaming will discourage other crazies in USA from committing mass murder in order to get famous.

In ancient Greece, there was a time when it became fashionable among women to commit suicide because that made them famous in their society. And to discourage this practice. The government there passed a law saying that women who commit suicide like that are going to have their dead bodies paraded naked in public before their burial. And it worked. Suicides among women decreased drastically in their society.

Possibly. But the media is well aware that we nosy americans are gonna want to know the name of the person to blame, just like in any other event. The media's evil.

this would help to prevent saddos who are looking for a few days in the spotlight

focus on the victims and give a bare outline of the murderers - why search out friends, family etc of these people?

Honestly, I don't think it makes much of a difference. Humans are terribly violent beings with or without naming names this man would have been famous.