[ExI] question not being asked in Alec Baldwin shooting

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Oct 24, 2021, at 1:25 AM, Bill Hibbard via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> I am interested in manipulation of opinion by the media
> and the Alec Baldwin shooting is a good example. All
> the media coverage I can find is focused on the question
> of how a live round made it into the gun Baldwin used to
> shoot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
> 
> I have not seen any coverage that asks why Baldwin fired
> the gun at Hutchins. She was acinematographer not an actor
> so it is unlikely that Baldwin fired the gun as part of a
> scene for the movie.

That came up quite early in the reports. See, e.g., this:

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/explainer-guns-movie-sets-work-80732360

It should be obvious too that this happens a lot in film and TV: prop guns are pointed at the camera for effect. 

> As a child I was always taught to
> never point a gun at another person, even if I was sure it was unloaded, and certainly to never fire a gun at another person.
> 
> It seems an obvious point that the media should be raising, about why did Baldwin fire the gun at Hutchins and what is his responsibility for this gross breach of gun safety.
> Surely this is the crime of reckless endangerment.
> 
> Has anyone seen the media raise this issue?

The above link is from two days ago, but if you google ‘why was the gun pointed at the camera’ you’ll find pages of mainstream media reports answering just this question. The question is an extremely obvious one and was answered early and often in coverage.

And there’s also been media coverage of how this particular movie set was likely reckless or at least lax with gun safety. Just google ‘ rust movie set safety issues’ and you see mainstream reports and opinion pieces on this. For instance:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2021/10/22/alec-baldwin-rust-safety-complaints-before-death-reports/6141302001/

So the media, the mainstream one, for all its faults and biases (real or perceived), covered just the issues you’ve raised. This is like on Quora: one should find out if something has happened before asking why it happened. (Just change that here to asking if something didn’t happen before asking why it didn’t happen.) See:

https://www.quora.com/Can-you-explain-Before-you-ask-why-ask-if-in-details-with-an-example/answer/Liz-Stell?ch=17&oid=42553502&share=1eeaf790&srid=3cPZk&target_type=answer

Regards,

Dan
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