In light of recent events..
If you havent heard / read about / seen it, The Boston Herald on Friday, 23 October, printed a picture of Victoria Snelgrove lying face down on the curb, where she basically spent the last moments of her life, behind a couple of police officers.
I recently posted my thoughts about this in my friend Chris's Journal. (Prfktear on my friends list). Here is a repost of what was said there..
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The fact of the matter is, it [the death of Victoria Snelgrove] happened. I'm willing to bet that 3/4 of Boston didnt even KNOW the name Victoria Snelgrove before that article was printed. I DO know that people know something bad happened, and that someone died.. but I am VERY SURE that, like myself, A) People didnt know it was diectly because of the Boston Police Department's use of force (will touch on that later) and B) didnt know anything other that someone died in a riot.
To prove my point? Fox 25 called her Victoria Schilling; even admist the controversy, they cant get her name straight; maybe it was a teleprompter's fault, but those people get paid BIG BUCKS to not screw up stuff like that, especially when it's the big news story of the day.
I have yet to see page 71's pics. Fox 25 showed the cover on TV but censored where her body was. I will admit like anyone else here, what happened was absolutely unecessary, and completely ridiculous, and I feel HORRIBLE that ANYONE had to die during a time of such pure celebration.
Truth of the matter is, it wasnt the celebration that killed her. It was the use of a 'less lethal' mace soaked projectile that was fired into the crowd via the discretion of one of the hundreds (I believe) Of officers that was dispatched to the scene. Maybe the crowd got rowdy... maybe the police were worried... but irreguardless of something being called less-lethal, when you use it and an innocent bystander gets killed, you fucked up.
For the most part, it was the negligence of the Boston Police Department that took Victoria Snelgrove's life, and that hs been publically acknowledged by the Boston Police Department; sure, she may have been there celebrating.. but I doubt at female 21 y/o journalism major is dumb enough to do anything crazy that would warrant getting shot by a cop with a 'less-lethal' projectile..
How much less lethal can they be if even one person, especially an innocent, dies?
But that's not all of my argument. The Herald could have used more discretion, if you ask me.. I think they could have censored the pic.. or not printed the pic... I think they could have easily printed an alternative title and gotten basically the same point across; unfortunately, they didnt. And although they're receiving fallout from all sides for it , which is understandable, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that as gruesome as it was, and as inappropriate as many people think it was, I think it's pretty much the only way that any real reform or real action towards anything like this happening in the future can occur. I wont go as far as to applaud the Boston Herald, that would just be lunacy; but I think that although they are catching an inordinate amount of heat for it, it's done, and I think that even through all of this badness, it will hopefully help the way that the Editor in Chief of the Boston Herald wanted it to.
Fact is, even though the Boston Police took responsibility for it, it's NOT all their fault. I blame every single person that let things get out of control at those 'celebrations' for the death of Victora Snelgrove, MORESO than I blame the Boston Police Department. Everyone's glad to have beaten the Yankees., but see what going crazy will do?
An innocent young woman lies dead because of the result of a professional sporting event. If that's not a dumb reason to die, I dont know what is.
Instead of focusing on boycotting a newspaper, why dont we try to ensure something like this never happens again, so the Herald cant 'fuck up' in the eyes of the public and be forced to choose how to cover a news story like this in the future? I personally would rather lose the World Series and ensure that we're not celebrating for the safety of my friends and the innocent in Boston than win it and be happy for one of my favorite fucking things on this planet, the Boston Red Sox.
If we do lose though.. we'll call it the Curse of Victoria Snelgrove.. and it wont even be her fault.
I recently posted my thoughts about this in my friend Chris's Journal. (Prfktear on my friends list). Here is a repost of what was said there..
***
The fact of the matter is, it [the death of Victoria Snelgrove] happened. I'm willing to bet that 3/4 of Boston didnt even KNOW the name Victoria Snelgrove before that article was printed. I DO know that people know something bad happened, and that someone died.. but I am VERY SURE that, like myself, A) People didnt know it was diectly because of the Boston Police Department's use of force (will touch on that later) and B) didnt know anything other that someone died in a riot.
To prove my point? Fox 25 called her Victoria Schilling; even admist the controversy, they cant get her name straight; maybe it was a teleprompter's fault, but those people get paid BIG BUCKS to not screw up stuff like that, especially when it's the big news story of the day.
I have yet to see page 71's pics. Fox 25 showed the cover on TV but censored where her body was. I will admit like anyone else here, what happened was absolutely unecessary, and completely ridiculous, and I feel HORRIBLE that ANYONE had to die during a time of such pure celebration.
Truth of the matter is, it wasnt the celebration that killed her. It was the use of a 'less lethal' mace soaked projectile that was fired into the crowd via the discretion of one of the hundreds (I believe) Of officers that was dispatched to the scene. Maybe the crowd got rowdy... maybe the police were worried... but irreguardless of something being called less-lethal, when you use it and an innocent bystander gets killed, you fucked up.
For the most part, it was the negligence of the Boston Police Department that took Victoria Snelgrove's life, and that hs been publically acknowledged by the Boston Police Department; sure, she may have been there celebrating.. but I doubt at female 21 y/o journalism major is dumb enough to do anything crazy that would warrant getting shot by a cop with a 'less-lethal' projectile..
How much less lethal can they be if even one person, especially an innocent, dies?
But that's not all of my argument. The Herald could have used more discretion, if you ask me.. I think they could have censored the pic.. or not printed the pic... I think they could have easily printed an alternative title and gotten basically the same point across; unfortunately, they didnt. And although they're receiving fallout from all sides for it , which is understandable, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that as gruesome as it was, and as inappropriate as many people think it was, I think it's pretty much the only way that any real reform or real action towards anything like this happening in the future can occur. I wont go as far as to applaud the Boston Herald, that would just be lunacy; but I think that although they are catching an inordinate amount of heat for it, it's done, and I think that even through all of this badness, it will hopefully help the way that the Editor in Chief of the Boston Herald wanted it to.
Fact is, even though the Boston Police took responsibility for it, it's NOT all their fault. I blame every single person that let things get out of control at those 'celebrations' for the death of Victora Snelgrove, MORESO than I blame the Boston Police Department. Everyone's glad to have beaten the Yankees., but see what going crazy will do?
An innocent young woman lies dead because of the result of a professional sporting event. If that's not a dumb reason to die, I dont know what is.
Instead of focusing on boycotting a newspaper, why dont we try to ensure something like this never happens again, so the Herald cant 'fuck up' in the eyes of the public and be forced to choose how to cover a news story like this in the future? I personally would rather lose the World Series and ensure that we're not celebrating for the safety of my friends and the innocent in Boston than win it and be happy for one of my favorite fucking things on this planet, the Boston Red Sox.
If we do lose though.. we'll call it the Curse of Victoria Snelgrove.. and it wont even be her fault.