"Sam O'Nella" wrote in message
...
The issue is the people doing these acts aren't exactly mentally mature,
and hearing about people doing this on the news gives them an idea that
they WOULDN'T have had otherwise. The media can certainly control and be
RESPONSIBLE for what they print.

Using that logic, we'd never hear about any bad news. Not that *I*
personally would necessarily mind that, but it does seem to be the primary
bread and butter for journalism to report bad news.

Like it or not, the media reports on any number of things that could be
copied by immature and/or stupid people. That's their job. It doesn't make
it their fault when someone else decides to do the same thing.

The airplane/laser story has shown up occasionally, and of course with the
recent arrest, a little more often. But around here, the "bad news"
reported is mostly car chases, armed robberies, and assault cases. All of
which are just as likely, or perhaps more so, to be emulated by someone
exposed to the news. I don't see you guys complaining about the news media
reporting *those* stories. Why not? They are much more common, much easier
to imitate, and much more likely to result in bodily harm to someone.

How would you feel if you walked into your kid's room and saw him on the
floor with his arm blown off from building an explosive from plans he saw
in a newspaper? Which party do you believe had the onus of
responsibility?

The party who had primary responsibility would be the hypothetical "you".
The parent who failed to properly educate his child on avoiding losing an
arm to explosives, and who apparently had no clue that their child was
gathering the necessary materials to build an explosive device. A close
second in line would be the kid who was so deficient mentally that, in spite
of having the technical wherewithal to actually build a bomb, didn't have
enough of a clue to take the necessary precautions that would help him avoid
bodily harm (the primary precaution being to just NOT DO THAT). Way down at
the bottom of the list would be the source of the plans for the explosives.

That said, it's not like the news media is printing plans for how to build a
laser, or instructions on how to target and track an airplane with a laser,
or even names and phone numbers of sources for lasers that could be used in
these attacks. Your analogy is pretty far off base, even if it did prove
the point you're trying to make (which it doesn't, not even close).

Pete