James Holmes. James “Whitey” Bulger. Dzhokhar “Jahar”
Tsarnaev. I’m sure you’ve heard of at least one—if not all—of these men. But
what is their claim to fame? Well, they are a theater shooter, an organized
crime figure, and a suspected bomber, respectively. With the power of media criminals are
reaching a new celebrity-like status.
On July 20, 2012 James Holmes walked into a Century movie
theater in Aurora, Colorado and opened fire on the audience, leaving twelve
people dead. While few people can recall the names of the victims of the
shooting, many remember the name “James Holmes.” With criminals getting this
vast amount of recognition, potential lawbreakers have a new reason to perform
crimes: fame. An article posted on cbsnew.com (regarding the Aurora shooting) states,
“So-called ‘normal’ motives for murder are things like jealousy, revenge. We
don’t normally think of power…people who want to be a big-shot, be a celebrity.
And unfortunately, we give them what they want.” People who perform atrocious
acts, such as shooting at a crowd of moviegoers, are becoming celebrities.
James “Whitey” Bulger is another murderer whose name has
been splashed all over the front pages of newspapers across the nation. On
August 12, 2013, Bulger was found to have been involved in eleven murders.
Bulger is infamous. Several books have been written about him, including Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted
Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice by Kevin Cullen.
Cullen’s biography received praise from the Washington Post, the Boston Globe,
and the Los Angeles Times. The 2006 blockbuster The Departed, which won four Oscars and had a gross value of $130
million, was also loosely based on the life of Whitey Bulger. With the amount
of recognition Bulger has received, one might consider him to be a celebrity,
for murdering people, nonetheless.
Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev is known for one thing: allegedly
perpetrating the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013. Two bombs
detonated on Boylston Street and left three dead and 264 injured. Instead of
shunning Tsarnaev for his inhumane actions, Rolling
Stone magazine plastered his face on the front of their August 2013 issue. The
cover made an alleged criminal look like a rock star. The media should not be
glorifying criminals for performing such heinous acts.
Holmes, Bulger, and Tsarnaev are well-known names. Their
celebrity-statuses are based on criminal offenses. In an article on
foxnews.com, Joshua Rhett Miller writes, “’if they [Tsarnaev’s supporters] want
to be famous, kill somebody,’ Northeastern University criminologist Jack Levin
told MyFoxBoston.com.” Killing has its consequences, but with media it also has
the possibility of nationwide fame. Unfortunately, this is the message that the
media is sending by glorifying criminals.
Works Cited:
Dahl, Julia.
"Colorado Theater Shooting: Does Uttering the Name "James
Holmes"
Glorify the Alleged Killer's Crime?"
CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 24 July 2012. Web. 12 Sept. 2013.
"The
Departed." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2013.
Miller, Joshua
R. "Rolling Stone Blasted for Giving Rock Star Treatment to Accused
Boston
Bomber." Fox News. FOX News Network, 17 July 2013. Web. 12 Sept.
2013.
Micaela, one of the objectives of the course is to make students more aware of the potential flaws that taint their sources of information. The news media, digital and print, are a major source of our information. Last week in class, I presented one reason why we need to remain suspect of the news media. You have presented another. The American news media is a capitalist, profit-oriented industry, and as such, it will do whatever it needs to do in order to generate revenue. Regretfully, this often means giving celebrity status to ruthless criminals. I have to ask, though, if there is anything we can do about this? The media only provides news that the American people want to read. As you wrote, The Departed was a phenomenally popular movie. Did you research how many people bought the Rolling Stone magazine with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover? There is an implicit statement about humanity, or at least American culture, that underlies this issue. You don't explore this.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, this is an interesting post. The one complaint that I have is that you don't really connect this issue to a real problem. You clearly do not approve of this celebrification (if you will) of criminals, but you don't really explain why. You simply tell us that is is bad. I agree, and most probably do too. Why is it bad? What can we do to change it?