TheOtherView
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The recent sniper attacks have paralyzed most of Virginia and Maryland. Schools have shaded windows and people have been instructed to walk in a zigzag pattern in order to avoid a sniper attack.

Such precautions should display the fear in which these people are living and the grief in which their families are enduring.

In times of such somberness and high alert it seems strange to try to turn a profit on fear, however many have been doing just that. Gas station owners are hiking up prices for “Pump Angels,” who come out, greet you at the pump and fill your tank for you. Some owners have put up blue tarps in hopes of detouring the sniper from having a clear shot at their stores and subsequent customers.

There doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with making a dollar on the fear and restlessness of anxious citizens. After all there wasn’t much said about the enormous amount of flags and bumper stickers sold following the events of Sept. 11. Wal-Mart was sold out of flags, red-white-and-blue ribbons and even candles after the attacks on the World Trade Center. Nevertheless, this is America, where everything has a potential price.

But we believe that the newest of the disaster-profiting gimmicks, steps over the line. As a take off on the slogan, “Virginia is for Lovers,” a new shirt is being printed with the slogan “Virginia is for Snipers” on the front. There is another one produced by Hell’s T-shirts which says, “I went to Washington D.C. and all I got was this lousy shirt,” which has a bullet hole through it and now reads, “shot by the sniper.” For a mere $17, someone can buy the shirt and make light of the entire situation.

Obviously, the shirts are witty, which will catch the attention of many.

Regardless of how the shirts might strike a person’s perverse sense of humor, it doesn’t justify the making or profiting from such a sensitive situation. There is no reason for people to try to turn a buck on another’s distress. We aren’t calling for censorship, yet it would be nice for people to think twice before buying a novelty item that plays off the misfortune of the nation as a whole.

Shirts of a negative nature did not seem to leak out after Sept. 11, as they are via the sniper shootings. That could have been a result of integrity, patriotism, honor or many other things that make the loss of life on Sept. 11 different from the loss of life in Virginia and Maryland by way of the sniper.

This is a staff editorial from the Technician at North Carolina State University.
This editorial was distributed by U-Wire.