On The Media: Roanoke Catastrophe!

The subject that I wanted to focus on is the shooting of TV Journalist, Alison Parker and Adam Ward who were killed on live television (WDJB TV) in Roanoke, Virginia. Brooke Gladstone was explaining that the shooter obviously recorded it on video from his iPhone (which spread like wildfire) and tied a simile into it by comparing it to the view a player has in a first-person shooter video game. She then started to list some questions of interest like, “Are video games culpable?” but she came back with a rebuttal saying, “Video games don’t make murderers”. Also she said, “Is the allure of social media to blame?” but she was contradicting that point as well. Gladstone was explaining that when informational tools are granted to everyone then they can use it and she brought up past cases like Walter Scott’s murder by an officer in South Carolina, and Eric Gardner’s death after a police choke hold in New York. She ended with a great quote, “Our cell phone’s footage shows us who we are…..and reminds us what we could be…….lunatics have cameras, but more important, the rest of us do too”.

My opinion of this unforgettable and tragic situation is the simple fact that racism is still strongly prevalent in our society. So many of these heinous and violent acts seem to stem from the color of a person’s skin tone. The question that spurs around in my mind is, “Why does it matter?”, instead of #BlackLivesMatter, the focus should be on #AllLivesMatter because at the end of the day everyone is eventually going to die and I feel like God created each individual to be unique in some way but not to be hateful towards each other.

Brooke Gladstone made some excellent points about the killings but something that immediately came into some conflict with is when she basically concluded that video games weren’t to blame for some of the shootings. Now, as far as this shooting that might’ve not been the case, but I do think in some twisted fashion that video games can make murders of some sort. I am someone who plays video games and didn’t think about that he put the phone right next to his hand where his gun was and started shooting which if you play a game like Call of Duty then you’ll experience something similar (not shooting reporters). Games like Grand Theft Auto, Just Cause where the game encourages for rage, destruction and violence can be translated to a younger child/adult that committed crimes like these are fine.

Physical: The shooting happened live on set during an interview Wednesday, August 26, 2015 in Moneta, Virginia.

Psychological: Vester Lee Flanagan aka (also known as) Bryce Williams (the shooter) worked at WDJB TV but was fired for personal reasons after a year had mysterious motives to walk on the set and shoot Alison Parker as well as Adam Ward then himself to send a message.

Cultural: Small town in Roanoke, Virginia and Williams said the shooting was a response to the mass murder in South Carolina which is obviously sparked by race and ethnicity is the main motive for this crime.

Social: Bryce Williams was born and raised in Oakland, CA. but later moved to Roanoke to pursue his dream as a Television Journalist. He claimed he was fired because he was African American and also gay.

Temporal: Williams felt discriminated against and lashed out his anger by adding some more recognition to his name by shooting Alison and Adam on live television. Everything centers back to racism because Williams believes that he killed some Whites then it levels the field when in fact it enhances more violence.