For what it's worth....

[mattjohnston87]

I sat down and typed out this fairly lengthy email to MSNBC and it's editors after reading some of the information on their webiste. I figured I could post it over here, well, just becasue I guess.

Enjoy...

This email message is regarding the tradgedy that has occured in our nation recently.

Not to be rude, but I suspect that it will be overlooked and another American voice will be crushed because of MSNBC's lack of caring about what it's viewers and listeners have to say.

I first want to make light of this poorly written and extremely biased article, School shootings reignite gun control debate (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15386044/). Reading throught he article I could not help but be filled by anger as I saw bias and inaccurate reporting. It seems the main goal of your recent coverage on this incident in Virginia is to strike fear and retaliation into the hearts of American citizens. With quotes like “It’s not guns that kill people,” the gun lovers’ mantra goes, “people kill people”, it is easy to see that MSNBC has an agenda to brainwash American citizens and not give them the full story.

As to the facts of the article, you say that 30,000 people die each year from gunshot wounds. While that may be true, you neglected to report it fairly and weigh it against other means of death in this country. Let me clue you in:

43,200 people (give or take) were killed in traffic fatalites in 2005.
452,327 people died of heart related illness in 2004 (1 out of every 5 deaths that year)

As you can see, MSNBC is purposely steering the vision of citizens away from other important issues, and trying to construe numbers into something more than they are.

It seems people forget about places like Chicago and New York City and Washington D.C., who all have bans on firearms to a certain extent. Yet for some reason, the crime rates in the above three cities is outrageous, and many of those crimes are committed with firearms. So it would seem that the criminals of this country don't listen to bans on firearms, and continue to invoke violent acts with them. Make any ban you want, but gun violence isn't going away anytime soon.

Let me say outright that I am a supporter of gun rights in this country, as it is written in the Constitution of the United States of America. MSNBC and other news agencies have the ability to cloud the minds of MILLIONS each day because of that Contstitution as well, because freedom of speech and expression is protected, and immeadiately following that right is the right to bare arms. Somehow, the two aren't equal in the media's eyes...

I URGE you to research ANY news event that involves firearms and report on them with the upmost accuracy, as MSNBC any all other news organizations fail to do this, and will put false and downright ridiculous information on the airwaves or the internet. Instead of lying to the public, why not do your jobs right the first time, so you don't back yourself into a corner that you cannot get out of.

Statements like this, from the same article mentioned above, “There are signs of changing attitudes towards guns, particularly among younger Americans, said the Violence Policy Center’s Rand" are completely true. The only reason that this is true, however, is because of biased reporting by the media and untrue portrayals by Hollywood. It is this reason, and this reason alone, that today's young people are brought up with violence in their lives. Parenting is another issue their, but that topic is for another day.

Remember, you have a huge impact on America. Don't screw it up.

Matt Johnston

[mattjohnston87]

Let me also say, most, if not all, was written in the heat of the moment. I'm sure that if I re-read it, I will regret that I left something out, or added something that would have taken away from the email's topic.

Matt

[jednp]

sounds good to me

[Pltybx]

Run a grammar and spell check first though.

[mattjohnston87]

Originally Posted by Pltybx

Run a grammar and spell check first though.

I ran a spell check through hotmail after I typed it. What is wrong?

Matt

Edit: I cut and pasted it into Word, and I see the mistakes. Thanks for pointing them out. Like I said above, it was all written in the heat of the momment, so I'm not surprised that I made some errors.

Matt

[Pltybx]

No worries mate. Good luck!

[rev-arb]

Thanks for taking the time to write that matt.

[mattjohnston87]

Originally Posted by rev-arb

Thanks for taking the time to write that matt.

You're welcome, Rev.

Matt

[ExSniper]

Several good points. I have started writing these types of e-mails in Word, doing spell and grammar check, and then cut and paste to e-mail.

One point on the "30,000 gunshot deaths" is that number includes everyone shot by policemen during commission of a crime or pursuant to an arrest, everyone shot by citizens defending themselves during a robbery/rape/murder attempt, every gang-banger or drug dealer that kills his competitors, and every suicide by gun!

[Bycyclist]

Originally Posted by mattjohnston87

You're welcome, Rev.

Matt

Good stuff Matt - I'm doing the same type of thing here vs. Sac Bee.