We turn our serial killers into celebrities

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Mitch Albom observes that the sniper in VA/MD/DC is just the visible manifestation of our popular culture:

I noticed the No. 1 movie in America is "Red Dragon," a film about what? Serial killers. We went in droves. We always do. We lionize its madman, Hannibal Lecter, so much so that the actor, Anthony Hopkins, has reprised the role three times.

I noticed a coming attractions preview for a film called "Phone Booth" in which a sniper holds a man hostage by threatening to shoot him if he hangs up the phone.

I noticed the biggest drama on network TV is "CSI," in which detectives try to find killers by examining the evidence left at the murder scene.

And, I might add, the most popular musical genre on the radio is supercharged with a plasma-hot anger that smashes the listener upside the head:

I'm sick of you little girl and boy groups, all you do is annoy me
so I have been sent here to destroy you
And there's a million of us just like me
who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me
who dress like me; walk, talk and act like me
and just might be the next best thing but not quite me!

And every single person is a Slim Shady lurkin
He could be workin at Burger King, spittin on your onion rings
Or in the parkin lot, circling
Screaming "I don't give a fuck!"
with his windows down and his system up
So, will the real Shady please stand up?
And put one of those fingers on each hand up?
And be proud to be outta your mind and outta control
and one more time, loud as you can, how does it go?

Now don't get me wrong -- when I hear Eminem do his Slim Shady thing, make no mistake, I crank it up loud. I believe it is healthy for artists to express themselves in whatever way they feel is appropriate.

And if you can dance to it, so much the better.

And, no, I don't think Eminem is serious. Yes, he is angry. No, he is not a murderer.

And, no, the sniper will not turn out to be some lunatic rapper wannabe.

By extension that means that I do not think that Eminem's music (or someone else's movie or book or whatever) caused the sniper to kill anyone.

And, no, the sniper will not be a terrorist, not in the conventional sense: he is not killing innocents to make a political point. Yes, I know witnesses have described someone with olive skin. But that could describe about 20% of the people in that area. Hell, it describes me.

No the reality will be far worse: he is killing innocents for the entertainment value. He wants to ascend into the pop-culture pantheon of villains. He wants to be the real Slim Shady, the authentic Hannibal Lechter. But he can't do it artistically. Or even politically. So he does it the easy way, by getting on the news.

He knows that the news media will oblige him by transforming events like this into a ratings bonanza.

So here's the thing: we're being stalked by a sniper who is transfixed by what he sees on TV. He knows that the more he kills, the better the ratings get. And the better the ratings, the more famous he becomes.

Why not? It's a win-win situation. The news media has become expert at transforming it's news content into entertainment content. In a quest for ratings (and the accompanying advertising revenue), the line between news and entertainment becomes blurred. And you get ... the sniper. It's a symbiotic relationship.

The news media gets big ratings and the sniper gets into that pop-culture pantheon of villains.

So the next time you tune in your favorite cable news channel, the next time you see a barking head speculating about what the killer was thinking, rest assured that he's watching, too, and getting his rocks off, just like you.