Luka Magnotta

4 This past week a Luka Magnotta young man, allegedly involved in pornography, committed a horrific crime. He murdered someone and then dismembered his body while making a video of himself, which he then posted online. He then left town, travelling to Europe under an alias. He was finally captured while watching news stories of himself on a computer. His only request to his captors: “Please do not let the paparazzi take random pictures of me. What is wrong with this picture?

My first thought is that the news stations fed into his fever for notoriety. Unknowingly or not, they made him famous. By showing various photos of the fellow and telling his tale, over and over again, he achieved some of what he set out to do. It is obvious from his initial posting online that he wanted to have people know his name. He wanted to become famous.

However, let’s just say he now has become infamous – the negative side of being famous. People will not easily forget what he has done, nor will they forget what he looked like. Even the police, having viewed his video, are appalled and will never forget. But wait – let’s roll back the time line a bit.

When this young man’s video was first seen and reported to police by a journalist, the police stated that videos can be doctored and besides someone was just trying to get attention. It was assumed that it was fake and someone just wanted their 15 minutes of fame. Have we become so numb to outrageous events that we are so quick to dismiss them?