MADD?

No, this post isn't about Mothers Against Drunk Driving. It's about an epidemic sweeping our nation, Media Attention Deficit Disorder. This is when the news media pays absolutely no attention to something that they were consumed by 48 hours earlier.

The nation spent six days consumed by the story of Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, who killed three people in a rampage across New England before killing himself a couple of days before police found him in a storage unit in New Hampshire.

For six days, you couldn't sling a dead cat without hitting a reporter trying to find someone who could identify the killer. Depending on your perspective on competence, the Providence police may or may not have been spearheading a search for Valente. 

Valente came to the United States and to Brown University in 2000 to study physics. He was not happy with the education offered at Brown, so he left there some time in 2001. In 2017 he became a legal permanent resident in the United States. On Saturday, December 13 he killed two and wounded several more students at Brown University. On Monday December 15, he killed an MIT Physicist at his home in Massachusetts. Following that, he drove to a storage unit in New Hampshire and killed himself.

Two people who were classmates of his at Brown have commented to the media about Valente. I wouldn't rate either's comments as being complimentary of the deceased killer. In a nation of 350 million people, apparently there were only two people who knew him.

It appears that the media has lost all interest in the murderer. They are suffering from a case of "Media Attention Deficit Disorder". Once he was dead, nobody cared anymore. On to another media created crisis. 

We haven't seen such a sudden loss of interest in a killer since Donald Trump was shot in Pennsylvania. A few days later, the media was no longer interested.  What was the shooter's name? Rather than take a chance that you will quit reading this to go look it up, I will tell you that his name was Thomas Crooks. Actually, his full name was Thomas Matthew Crooks. I threw in the middle name to heighten the chances that you will remember his name. If you don't believe that will help you remember his name, who allegedly killed JFK? Lee Harvey Oswald. Who allegedly killed MLK? James Earl Ray. The memory retention rate is higher with the middle name. At least, that's my theory.

But back to Claudio Valente, what do we know about him today that we didn't know on Friday? Not a damn thing. The news people have lost their interest in the case. In their world, it's just one more immigrant killing a few people. That happens on a regular basis in this country. So, they don't want to talk about it anymore. 

I am a little more curious than the alleged "reporters" covering this story. Here are a few thoughts. What has Valente been doing the last 23 or 24 years? Did he have a job? What kind of work did he do? Was he a physicist somewhere?   Was he teaching? Was he married? Had he remained living in this country, or did he go back home? Did he live anywhere? Did he have neighbors? Did he just spend the last 23 years planning these murders? Did anybody in this country know him? Isn't anyone who "identifies" as a reporter the least bit curious about this guy?

I am inclined to believe that none of these questions are being addressed by the news media because they are afraid of the answers. They are afraid of any more bad publicity about immigrants. Rather than address the issue, they avoid the issue by not reporting.  That's one of the problems with a "free" press.

There is one fact concerning Valente about which I am certain. Valente is certainly not a follower of President Donald Trump. How can I be certain? Because if he was a Trumper, it would be on every television news show in the nation. There would not be a newspaper in the country published without that story on the front page! I can see it now; MAGA Maniac Murderer Slays Three Scientists!! Film at 11:00.