Social Media: End of Civilization? (Deutchlander Edition)

This might not be so much just on social media, but maybe rather on the media in general.

Very recently there was a rampage shooting that occurred in Germany. So what went down? I'll attempt to factually summarize this incident. Here's what we know (I will not be naming this bastard because he does not deserve to have his named remembered).

The shooting occurred in Munich, Germany, and carried out by a 19 year old. About 36 people have been shot, with 9 that have died at the time of writing. The shooter is currently dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was subsequently found with a backpack full of 300 rounds of ammo, and a handgun (said to be a 9mm Glock, probably a Glock 17). The incident took place at a shopping center.

The shooter did not have a criminal record, nor did he appear to have ties to ISIS. He was recently treated for depression and seemed to have an obsession with rampage shootings and their perpetrators. Additionally he was reported to have a collection of news articles on various shootings and had a photo of a Norweigian mass murder, responsible for 77 deaths, the day the shooting occurred was carried out on the anniversary of the mass murder.

It has also been reported that he had hacked someone's social media account to announce a fake advertisement for free food at the McDonald's where the shooting began. Likely to draw in more potential victims. 

So that is what is known so far. Now what does this all have to do with social and the media in general? Well it's been reported that he had an obsession with rampage shootings. Now how could he have developed that? Well to have developed an obsession about them, he would have had to have access to information about them. That's where the media comes in. Bad news is what sells, and the the attention the media grants to these losers, the news coverage exalting them from unknown loser to infamy.

Now why would this make someone, specifically this guy, go off the rails and want to murder people? The lyrics of Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law".

There I was completely wasting, out of work and down
all inside it's so frustrating as I drift from town to town
feel as though nobody cares if I live or die
so I might as well begin to put some action in my life

Lets look at this guy again. He was treated for depression and described as a loner. Now I'm not saying that all depressed loners will go out and do shit like this. So, what I suspect, is we have a guy who feels his life is for nothing. He sees all the attention that mass murders are given by the media. Everyone knows their names, politicians don't shut the hell up about what they did, and with the internet, as the saying goes "everything on the internet is forever." In short, by committing the mass murder and attracting the media by your horrific actions to yourself, like vultures to carrion, you leave your mark on the world. 

So what does the media have to do with all of this? Well here's this guy, who likely doesn't feel like he's going anywhere, given that he was in treatment for depression. Probably feeling like he was completely wasting, and felt as though no one cared if he lived or died. As such, he figures he might as well begin to put some action in his life. So he looks to see how he might do that. He then sees ALL the coverage that shooters get. There's the media that covers every single thing about their lives. There's the politicians that cry about something needing to be done about what THEY did. There are victims' families that come on the camera and talk about how the murder affected them. All of this happens in front of a media outlet's camera. 

It might not be intentional, but in a sense the media literally eggs these disturbed individuals on. But how come it's always these events that get 24/7 coverage for like 2 weeks straight? Because it's bad news that sells. It's bad news that gets the stronger emotional responses. And by egging on these would be mass murders, the media is literally getting people killed and ending civilization's status quo.