It worries me becuase it is becoming a trend. I have to question how many of these individuals would have had selected a school if they hadn't been prompted by the media coverage to do so. It's all a question of advertising.

While "shoot up a school" is a far cry from "drink Miller not Bud" or "Chevy not Ford", the effects of advertising are pretty simple to understand. And people who are "emotionally disturbed" (aka, nuts) usually want to fit in, and media, particularly the instant, no thinking required gratification of TV, helps to define what is "in", what is "cool". So if all the cool psychos are shooting up schools, guess what, the looser psychos are going to do it to to be just as cool.

The way the "news" is handling these is just sickening. They've gone past being obscene. Unless it's local to you, it isn't really news, I'm sorry, ten dead kids really isn't, and the families should be allowed to mourn. And the intrusiveness is just... "pornographic" is the best adjective I can come up with, like a socially acceptable snuff film. Look, unless you were family or a friend, you don't need to be at the funeral; if you have a satellite uplink and a camera crew, you really don't need to be there.

I know that's just my two cents. If it was my kid's funeral, news crews would be buried right next to them. There would be no politely worded request, or order, to leave. So let's call it two cents and shovel.