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This Week's Attitude
According to Webster's dictionary, a "copycat" is a person that mimics or repeats the behavior of another. The expression may derive from kittens that learn by imitating their mothers' behaviors. The term when referring to humans is often derogatory, suggesting a lack of originality. Actual copycat crimes and episodes usually occur sporadically after widespread news reports about notorious or unusual crimes. A series of noose incidents have occurred in the metropolitan area during the last month or so. It's reasonably assumed they were most likely spurred by coast-to-coast reporting last summer of the Jena Six case in which six black teenagers were charged with beating a white student after a noose was left hanging on a tree on a Louisiana high school's grounds where white students regularly congregated. That episode sparked a series of racially motivated melees in the rural community. To African-Americans the noose is a repulsive symbol that recalls countless lynchings of Southern blacks in the 19th and 20th centuries. Last week the new principal of Canarsie High School, who began the job at the start of the school year, received an envelope containing a string fashioned into a noose and a letter containing racial slurs that also criticized her ability. (She replaced a popular, black male principal who was dismissed at the end of the last school year.) The letter was signed with the name of a white teacher at the school, but authorities quickly ruled him out as a suspect. Several weeks ago, a noose was found hanging on the office door of an African-American professor at Columbia University in Manhattan. Others were discovered outside a post office near Ground Zero and in four locations on Long Island. Understandably, they have been attributed to copycats (no one ever said a bigot had a mind of his/her own) of the Louisiana incident and are under investigation. There are those who prefer crimes like the noose incidents go completely unnoticed. However, they deserve to be probed and minimally publicized, which is virtually improbable in today's tabloid culture atmosphere. Therefore, when the media gets wind of such events and spreads the news, regrettably, it induces copycat events. Of course, it might be expedient for copycat crimes to occur and get solved without fanfare, but there are some in our society who crave attention and jump at a chance to think they can get away with harmless, victimless copycat crimes without penalty. Then there are the more seriously troubled individuals who engage in more violent crimes, like the copycat shootings and attempts that have occurred at schools and colleges nationwide since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. Media attention for such occurrences is warranted and inevitable. Copycat follow-ups are, every so often, expected, but can hardly be predicted. Nevertheless, a few earnest plots are uncovered before the crime occurs. The media should not be condemned or discouraged for reporting copycat incidents, no matter how instigative it may seem. (There have been occasional complaints from readers about the Courier's regular inclusion of vehicle accident photos, but we continue to report them.) The media is, in spite of everything, merely the messenger. News outlets should not shirk from their obligation to follow up on copycat incidents to determine the motive, despite those who maintain that giving them awareness only results on more. As long as there are crimes and criminals, we can expect a copycat episode now and then. And as long as copycats persist, there will always be those who feel they should be ignored. Rather, it is the critics who should be ignored when they criticize the dissemination of news they prefer not to know.
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