What Do You Love and How Many Can You Kill Doing It?
The Daily Camera had the most horrible headline on a very disturbing story. It seems that three local kids (all in their early 20s) died after a spectacular one-car crash while driving over 100 MPH in Louisville. They were on their way home after a night of beer drinking.
It is tragic enough that they died in this manner. One of them was the mother of two young children and takes care of her father who has Alzheimer's disease. Another was the father of one with another on the way.
What really struck me was the quote from the sister of one of the boys killed. She said, "The thing that really makes me feel much better about this is they died doing what they loved to do -- they were drinking, they were going fast and they were together. It gives me comfort, it does, to know those three things."
It may give her comfort to know that these kids were out drinking and driving very fast on public streets, no doubt egging each other on to do more of the same. And the fact that her brother was recently killed in such a violent manner may excuse a certain bit of insensitivity. But they could easily have killed others along with themselves. The Camera certainly had no call to publish that quote as part of their sensationalistic headline: "Trio loved speedy cars: Families, friends remember three who died 'doing what they loved'".
Let me put this into a bit of perspective, perhaps with a bit of insensitivity of my own. Meredith Emerson from Longmont was murdered while hiking recently in Georgia, but at least she was doing something she loved at the time. There have been five deaths from heroin overdose in the past year in Boulder County, but at least we can be comforted by the fact that they all died doing something they loved. Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before shooting himself at Virginia Tech last spring, but at least he died doing what he loved.
The folks at the Camera may love these attention-grabbing headlines, but the circulation of the paper may die as a result of doing what they love.
It is tragic enough that they died in this manner. One of them was the mother of two young children and takes care of her father who has Alzheimer's disease. Another was the father of one with another on the way.
What really struck me was the quote from the sister of one of the boys killed. She said, "The thing that really makes me feel much better about this is they died doing what they loved to do -- they were drinking, they were going fast and they were together. It gives me comfort, it does, to know those three things."
It may give her comfort to know that these kids were out drinking and driving very fast on public streets, no doubt egging each other on to do more of the same. And the fact that her brother was recently killed in such a violent manner may excuse a certain bit of insensitivity. But they could easily have killed others along with themselves. The Camera certainly had no call to publish that quote as part of their sensationalistic headline: "Trio loved speedy cars: Families, friends remember three who died 'doing what they loved'".
Let me put this into a bit of perspective, perhaps with a bit of insensitivity of my own. Meredith Emerson from Longmont was murdered while hiking recently in Georgia, but at least she was doing something she loved at the time. There have been five deaths from heroin overdose in the past year in Boulder County, but at least we can be comforted by the fact that they all died doing something they loved. Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before shooting himself at Virginia Tech last spring, but at least he died doing what he loved.
The folks at the Camera may love these attention-grabbing headlines, but the circulation of the paper may die as a result of doing what they love.
Labels: Boulder, Colorado, media, stupidity, transportation
posted by insomniac | 9:28 PM
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