The American Spectator

p> VILE VIEWING br> Re: Happy Feder’s NBC Loses It : /p>

I wholeheartedly agree with Happy Feder’s take on NBC and their abhorrent decision to display any of the vile lunatic Cho’s videotaped gloating over his murderous rampage. Any thinking, sane person would have seen the video and photos for what they are — ghoulish rantings of an insane mass-murderer. If I was in charge at NBC news and were I the one to make the decision (if only!) I would watch the video in private, see it for what it is, and then perhaps “accidently” leave it stored next to a gigantic magnet overnight. That would erase it and I could perhaps claim that it was an accident. Then burn the pictures. Accidentally.

p>Giving the murderer the publicity he obviously sought is only going to make other weird loners do bad things. Very bad things. br> — Bryan Frymire br> Louisville, Kentucky /p>

Happy Feder laments that Cho Sueng-Li’s creepy one man show has been broadcast. I disagree on several grounds.

Prior restraints against the publication of any information ought to be suspect. The First Amendment was intended to mean what it says. It’s bad enough that our politically correct speech codes suppress expression and information as much as they do. We were intended to let the mass of the populace encounter even disturbing or hateful speech, and let it separate the wheat from the chaff. That some may seize on such communications as fuel for their own diseased agendas is part of the cost of freedom.

In a nation of some 300 million, there are going to be a few wackos walking the streets. Most of us will never encounter anyone as malignant as Mr. Cho, and unless we are trained psychologists, precious few who do encounter such persons could recognize those who are dangerous. Apparently, officials at VT and local government were unable to make the distinction.