I can't be the only one who finds it startling how quickly this story went from tragedy to the blame game.  We hadn't even been offered the name of the shooter before media whores, in a quest to put some sort of provocative spin on the story, were asking pointed questions.  "Did campus security do enough?", "Should the president be fired?",  "Why is there no alarm system?".  All this before we were given the basic five W's any freshman journalism student would ask.  No time to grieve or even digest what we'd just heard.  9/11 showed that the mainstream media can do a respectable job of providing insightful, riveting coverage as long as there is enough footage to keep us glued to the screen.  Unfortunately for NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox, there were merely a couple grainy, hard-to-decipher cell phone camera shots to replay time after time.  There in lies the problem with 24 hour news coverage.  We have too much time to fill with facts, just straight to speculation and indignation. 

My estimation is the shelf life on this is half that of the Imus story that had a full eight day arch before its finale last Friday.  Why, there is no outrage at a group or idea on this.  At first we thought maybe it would be an illegal immigrant so Bill O'Rielly and Geraldo Rivera could go 12 rounds again.  No, the was a student and in the U.S. since he was a litle boy.  Gun control?  Not enough legs.  Most reasonable people (Rosie O'Donnell does not in any way fit the description of "reasonable" or even that of "person") are not against the second amendment but don't think that a felon should be allowed to buy a 9MM semi-automatic weapon as easy as a carton of milk.  Not to mention, the shooter bought one of the guns 36 days ago, not in the heat of his bloodlust.  It's not a real sexy topic to debate whether the waiting period in Virginina should be 30, 60 or 90 days.  Lastly, violent video games.  We dare not question those in the entertainment industry, even Hollywood's ugly counsins at Electronic Arts or Rockstar Games.  No, those same impressionable kids who were so weak-minded that they could be lured into smoking by irresistable Joe Camel could never be influenced by hours, days, even months of sensory-stimulating murder, rape and mayhem that make even TV and sports seem dull by comparison.  That debate, along with that of Imus-related gansta rap, is always at the same slow simmer with few flare-ups.  

No, my guess is that the story goes the way of the sordid details of Cho-Sueng-Hiu's horrible upbrining which are likely to be few.  Chances are he was just one seriously screwed up kid who felt like a loner and an outcast, like about a quarter of all people from ages 12-22.  Nothing that will boost ratings, make GE money or be worth the evening news' precious time for very long.