I wrote a post on Mental Illness and Gun Control shortly after the Shady Hook Elementary shooting. It talked about how people with mental illness can be capable of owning a gun, etc.
You can find the post here.
By writing that post I learned a valuable lesson. One is that my little blog can and will be searched. And 2) you just may never know who’s on the other side of reading the posts you put out.
It can be exciting, but at the same time, when may it become too intrusive?
A few weeks ago a news media agency approached me with interest in interviewing me and my significant other about the post I wrote. I was excited about what they wanted to hear, their ideas on a story, and about getting our story out there.
However I was also very skeptical about the news media, and how the story may be portrayed, and what angle they would take on it.
After asking for advice, I decided to go ahead with the phone interview. So, we talked the next day, and the conversation was going great. I shared my thoughts, but then the questions got harder and harder.
a) What were my thoughts on people who are involuntarily put into a mental institution on owning guns.
b) Do you think ALL people with mental illness are capable of owning guns, etc.
And then the questions at the end:
a) would you be okay if we came into your home.
b) would he be okay with showing us his guns.
Right then and there I knew this was not the angle I wanted to go with the story. Those guns are protected. And the last thing we’d ever want to do is put them out to the world, “hey, guess what we own, and guess what we have.” Talk about putting a target on our back, right?
But, the other part was the entering the home part. We live in a small space, and that’s when the line got too intrusive.
Needless to say, the story didn’t go any further, and there is a huge sigh of relief that went with it.
But then it got me thinking. How FAR is too FAR when it comes to the media? I understand the need for stories, and the need for news, and they want the numbers, they want to bring the people in.
But at what point does it all become too much?
Have you ever had a close encounter with the news media? Was it a good experience, a bad experience? Share in the comments.
