Writer’s note: To show your support for victims of hate crimes and bring attention to the issue, please attend a vigil at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in front of Curtiss Hall, in memory of Lawrence King – the 15-year-old from California who was shot and killed at his middle school, all because he wore women’s clothes.

In light of recent events, the issue has come up as to whom we should and shouldn’t acknowledge in the mainstream media. The moral dilemma proposed by many voices is the idea that “publicizing” – which is not the same as publishing – promotes the negative situations that cause the news in the first place.

The cycle of news in regard to bad situations and events is a necessary evil. While television and radio may take it too far, repeating the tragedies over and over, they also spur the next step of the process. How many times have you seen a feel-good piece on a news broadcast and wondered what it really had to do with being newsworthy? These “achievements” are really just the solution to the problems.

We don’t put criminals in the spotlight because we’re praising them, or because we want to encourage others to copycat. The continuous stream of attention is intended to provoke people who can do something about it to actually do something. If we stay silent, aren’t we promoting a lack of initiative?

Take the Northern Illinois shootings, for example. Many are outraged at the amount of press covering the event because it focuses more on the shooter than the victims. Some think giving the now-deceased gunman attention in the form of conveying information is immoral because it perpetuates criminals who just “want the attention.” This is ridiculous. Victims and their families are allowed a certain amount of privacy from the media in the form of respect. They can mourn in peace; they don’t have to be an event in themselves.

The same goes for people that we just don’t like or accept. Everyone has his or her own personal devil – the people who fight for causes we abhor, or have managed to find loopholes to further their indecency legally – who they fear may feed on the attention we give them, even though it’s negative and insulting. No news is good news for these people. But just because we don’t say something doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen, or isn’t happening right now.

The idea that even negative attention satiates these people is a common irrational fear, but the fact is that’s not why they continue to commit crimes and be jackasses. If we can all agree that we don’t like this, can’t we bond together and find a way to stop it, or at least lessen it? This common perception that ignoring the bully stops the assaults is outdated. We all know how the end of that episode plays out: Someone actually stands up to the bully and the gathered crowd finds a leader to support.

We can’t insinuate that ignorance is acceptable. We cannot let officials and citizens alike forget about what we hold dear. That’s a big problem in the nation today. Instead of standing up and fighting for justice and change, Americans would rather watch and wait. Nagging our leaders into submission is one of the great principles that has helped establish big positive developments in this country.

How dare any of us turn a blind eye instead of calling these people out into the open. We are not doormats! Change begins and ends with the millions who have the backbone to demand it, and who show the courage to stand up and force our opposition to back down or pay the consequences.

By having and covering events that commemorate and rehash our problems, we tell the perpetrators that they cannot go by unnoticed and a wrath of circumstantial passion will fall upon them.

While it may be painful, it’s important to show support for victims by focusing on the criminal. These people will not go away of their own volition, or they wouldn’t be here in the first place.

– Luci Van Scoy is a junior in anthropology from Newton.