About Inanimate Objects Used for Deadly Purposes

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The horrific murder of two Roanoke journalists on live television this morning has stirred a multitude of reactions–from shock and sadness for the victims…

…to rage and hate toward the (now-dead) killer.

There are calls from people and groups with partisan agendas.

There are politicians who are driven to push those agendas…

…and who have the power to achieve their goals, exercising control on a law-abiding populace in the process.

There are agitators who jump to conclusions and make utterly obtuse statements before all the facts are known…

…and there are numbskulls who want others to think that the murderer was the victim.

And there are many, many others with reactions, thoughts, and observations too varied to form a complete list.

One important aspect that could be overlooked has to do with social media. People are already covering the angle of how the shooter took video of his act, an act that words cannot properly express how evil it was.

Yet that is not the part about social media this post concerns. This isn’t a straightforward commentary on the ways that evil men and women utilize social media in our modern age. Rather, the aspect I feel that needs to be mentioned is more of a cautionary consideration.

Like the guns that are used to kill innocent lives, social media is inanimate. It does not kill. It’s how people use it that can lead to unpleasant events, including death. As with guns, responsible usage of social media is necessary.

Take, for example, the tweet that WDBJ morning anchor Kimberly McBroom sent about a half an hour before her co-workers were murdered.

The murderer was active on social media, and he very likely saw McBroom send out that message. This gave him the ability to know where to find his victims.

It is possible that the WDBJ morning show had a preview of the tragic segment that told viewers where reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward would be ahead of time. At this afternoon’s press conference, the sheriff was asked how the shooter knew the location of Parker and Ward, and he wasn’t able to answer that question just yet. We might find out that it might not have made a difference that the public was alerted to the whereabouts of the two victims ahead of time on Twitter. Then again, it might have.

I do not dare accuse McBroom of being responsible for the death of her friends. But we all could maybe learn something here. For those who use social media, we might keep something like what happened today in mind when we’re tempted to tell the online world where we are going to be. Of course we can’t always carry out our lives in fear of disclosing our whereabouts, but it can be wiser to err on the side of caution.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a little something in your possession to protect yourself whenever and wherever possible.

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