Letter to the Editor

Suicide should not be depicted in paper

Editor – I am writing to express my concerns regarding the latest issue of The Californian.

I understand that censorship is an issue, with the newspaper, but I am writing to express my concerns with the portrayal of  Quentin Tarantino.

Although the article regarding “The Hateful Eight” was well written (Feb. 2, Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’ is a bloody good time), the image of Quentin Tarantino is somewhat alarming to me as he is holding a gun to his head and has appeared to shoot himself based on the drawing of blood.

I am not one to be overly concerned with guns nor blood, but I am very concerned with the portrayal of suicide.

Suicide, being the second cause of death in this age group, should not be made light of.

I understand this image was taken from mainstream media, but the media has a long-standing track record for desensitization. In addition, from what I am aware of, this image has nothing to do with this movie.

I would like the students to be aware of the impact this image can have.

I think this is a great learning situation and hopefully this will evolve into at least a discussion with the students. I would hope that images of suicide in our newspaper would be discussed with the students/editors before publishing the paper, even if they appear harmless.

Sometimes the most harmless of things become the most insidious.

-Susan Varela