Selling News In America
Anyone who knows anything about America knows that one of the foundational aspects of the country is advertising - in other words selling. I mean… this is the country that invented SPAM after all. Advertising in America is almost more sacrosanct than the free press!
So it is not surprising that the US media (the usual suspects like CNN et. al.) leapt onto the yet latest sad incident of an American ‘exercising his rights’ via his US constitutional amendment of choice resulting in the Virginia Tech tragedy. Shame about the dead people’s rights, but let’s not get too distracted about that inconvenient piece of truth.
Of course it’s not just the ‘usual suspects’ who licked their lips watching their ratings (sales) go through the roof, every ‘respectable businessman’ out to earn a buck no doubt fell over themselves trying to ‘hitch their wagon’ to this rising star. I mean, c’mon, what a golden opportunity, you have an incident on everyone’s lips, what fantastic advertising!
While CNN decked out their special report on Virginia Tech in a ‘respectful’ black colour (while, no doubt, watching their website hit counter tick over nicely thank you), other less salubrious sellers went for the soft underbelly of the American consumer and dreamt up various SPAMs and scams exploiting to the full the notoriety surrounding Virginia Tech. All in the name of ‘respectable’ business (increased sales) - naturally.
And, also naturally, no story about the situation about guns in America is complete without a comment about that shining beacon of American freedoms, yes… the NRA (National Rifle Association). Not content in their holy quest to put a submachine gun into every home in America (hey I have to protect myself against you don’t I), shortly after the obscenity of Virginia Tech they made the public statement that they want to ensure that every terrorist in America can “exercise their god given second amendment rights - goddammit!” (UPDATE: CNN pulled this page, basically it was a news article which reported that the NRA said that no-one in America should be denied their right to buy guns (killing machines) including potential terrorists. Love that word “potential”, it’s like saying someone is only a “little bit pregnant”).
However I have to leave my final observation as this - for all the hand-wringing in America about this latest tragic incident nothing has changed. They’re all just waiting for the next advertising opportunity…
