Imagine if the media celebrated the lives of the victims in a tragedy instead of putting a microscope on the killer. If the media didn’t print or quote the killer’s manifestos. If they didn’t make the rantings public and give air time to whatever broken ideology the killer espoused.
I wonder how many copycats we’d have if that were the case? If the killer died anonymously, still lonely, with no one forced to listen to their desperate attempt to gain attention. Though that in itself is a tragedy of a different kind.
I realize, this is probably too much to ask. The “normal” people that died aren’t easily sensationalized for the ratings but they’re infinitely more interesting to me.
This is probably why I write the stuff I write – normal people who’d prefer to remain that way. Or people who aren’t people at all who are trying to find normalcy. People might not want to read those stories but it’s what I’ve got to offer.
Yesterday I drafted Chapter One of Crimson Son 2. No working title yet, just thirty chapters loosely outlined and a solid idea of the direction. Spencer is still that normal kid hoping to live a normal life. Sure, he can’t, and that’s where the story unfolds. But what he brings to the table isn’t a laundry list of superpowers like much of the rest of the cast. What he brings is a perspective.
A point of view different than what we like to idolize and vilify. Kind of like you and me, he’s just a smart ass (well, maybe you’re not a smart ass) trying to survive in a world of giants. He doesn’t necessarily want recognition or fame, he just wants to live a life he chose to live and not one thrust upon him.
But out there in the big, bad world we want to focus on the extremes. The easy clicks. Headlines belong to those who aren’t struggling to be normal but are struggling to be outside the norm. Whether they’ve gone off the deep end or are soaring into the atmosphere, it doesn’t matter.
Don’t get me wrong, it makes sense to be fascinated by those outliers. We’re all normal people already and who wants to hear about us, right?
I kinda do.
Categories: Articles
RUSS LINTON 
Such a very good point. (And yay for Crimson Son 2!)
I’m personally so fatigued by the news cycle. It offers almost nothing of honest value anymore.
Thanks for the comment again! Yeah, I’m avoiding most of the US news nowadays and sticking with reporting based overseas. They have enough distance from the issues to offer an honest perspective much of the time.
And Crimson Son 2 will be a slow process – I’m still hammering away at the other fantasy series, but the plan is for all this comes together next year.
Very cool. And yes to alternate news sources!
I have multiple projects in the air at the moment, too. As they say, be prolific or starve. 😉
I used to be a news hound. Still spend too much time on it. But less and less because you’re right.