Slusher: Alexandria and the 'hope nots' of a tragic story

It is a commentary on our times that the moment we hear of an outrage like the shootings in Alexandria, Virginia, last week, one of our first thoughts is, "I hope it's not ..."

I hope it's not an attack by Muslims.

I hope it's not an attack on Muslims.

I hope it's not someone who shares my opinions on gun control.

I hope it's not an attack on the police.

I hope it's not an attack by the police.

I hope it's not someone who shares my opinions about Donald Trump.

I hope it's not someone who listens to my news sources.

I hope ... I hope ... I hope ...

Numskulls can't be numskulls anymore. They have to represent a social or political agenda. They have to reinforce our own prejudices, and if they don't, we must find something in their background to help us put distance between them and us. The Alexandria shooter, it turns out, espoused liberal views. How a man who turns an assault rifle on a field of unarmed middle-aged baseball players reflects the values of the bleeding-heart gun-control crowd is a bit of a mystery, but there certainly were plenty of commentators who couldn't wait to inveigh against "the liberals," who they felt create the atmosphere that emboldened the shooter. And, the same thing happens whenever the perpetrator claims conservative views. There are rants against Trump's belligerence, cries about the acrimony in conservative media. That such visceral animosity cuts across both ends of the political spectrum doesn't dismiss it. Quite the contrary. But it does emphasize the need for thorough and dispassionate coverage of assailants in such cases.

For the Belleville News-Democrat, hometown newspaper of the Alexandria shooter, that meant digging deep into his background. He was one of them, as it were, and for many hometown readers, there were lots of additional geographic "I hope it's nots" to dispel. More important, when the world's attention is focused on any town, it's important for the town's paper to reassure readers with a depth of understanding of its people and its community that exceeds the drive-by coverage of the national media. A story in the Columbia Journalism Review details how the News-Democrat marshaled its 30-person newsroom to tell the story of the shooter's life.

We at the Daily Herald know the drill, unfortunately. We know, too, the delicate balance that must be found to describe the person who commits a heinous act without making him or her the poster child for a cause - or even worse, a heroic one. Such coverage requires uncommon depth at certain times; it requires uncommon restraint at others.

It is our policy in such circumstances to tell as much about an assailant as we think necessary to help readers understand the "why" behind an act, but to restrict references to names or pictures so as to avoid glorifying it in the minds of susceptible, naive attention seekers. We can answer the "I hope it's not" question with the truth of what it is. And, who knows, if we do it right enough times, maybe we'll help readers see that, in the jargon of the psychoanalyst, sometimes a numskull is just a numskull.

jslusher@dailyherald.com