Misandry and xenophobia
Once again I am confused.
There was a rather nasty murder in Ireland this week. Mind you, all murders are rather nasty but that’s beside the point.
A 23 year old primary school teacher was out for a jog in broad daylight and was randomly attacked and strangled. Yes. it’s horrific. Yes, my heart goes out to the family. Yes, I hope they catch the perpetrator and let justice take its course.
But…..
The entire country seems to have gone into some kind of collective shock. Vigils are held far and wide and people turn out in their tens of thousands. Our Pres makes a personal statement and of course every politician gets in on the act. There are calls for a “national conversation about violence against women” and men in Ireland are tarred with the brush of misogyny and brutality against the fairer sex. The is a Watershed Moment they cry and even television schedules are changed to allow for a special programme in commemoration of the murdered girl.
Why?
Last summer a woman was mugged and murdered in the heart of Dublin. It was a vicious attack and I hope the perpetrator gets his just deserts. However I don’t remember any national outpourings of grief. I don’t recall television schedules being changed. There were no mentions of “watershed moments”.
On Christmas Eve, a mother of five was brutally stabbed to death in front of her children by her husband. Another vicious attack that made the headlines for a couple of days and was then forgotten.
There are many other examples but you get my drift?
So what is so different about the current crime? I mean no disrespect but could it be that the victim was young and pretty [23] whereas the others were older [45 and 42]? Could it be that she was a primary school teacher where the others were [just] an office cleaner and a housewife?
Or could it be that she was Irish where the others were “foreign” [Mongolian and Libyan]?
Just askin’.
There was a similar case in Britain last year, made markedly worse apparently because the perpetrator was a serving police officer. But that case, with a young and attractive victim, garnered coverage and controversy out of all proportion to ‘usual’ murders. So much so that everyone conveniently overlooked the fact that the victim had been breaking the Covid lock-down rules applying at the time – if she’d obeyed those rules, she’s still be alive today.
Yet right now, the UK Prime Minster is being pilloried by his media enemies because some of his staff broke the same lockdown rules, although no-one died as a consequence, either from homicide or Covid. But then he’s not young, attractive or female (or dead), so such hypocrisy is allowed.
Ah yes – Sarah Everard. I had the same thoughts about that case. There is something that seems to catch the public imagination in a particular way that elevates one story above all others. It is a rather strange phenomenon.
Last Sunday, low lifes shot dead a cousin of one of my students in his own garden (it’s believed to be a case of mistaken identity, so that makes it all right then).
No-one held a vigil.
Or maybe there is some other story that needs a distraction to keep it out of the news?
It would be a grand time to sneak through some underhand law all right…
“I hope the perpetrator gets his just desserts”
As do I.
But following on from yesterday’s diatribe about pedantry and how you welcome being pounced upon: it’s “just deserts” (not “desserts”). As in what he deserves, not a particularly nasty custard.
Hah! Thanks for that. Wrist slapped. Text about to be amended…
I have had some thoughts about why certain murders,usually of beautiful young women, are pushed to the fore. My theory is that the anti-men lobby, promote coverage of such cases to get their ideas into the consciousness of society.
Any errors in my comment are the fault of google read. I am blameless.
You’re right, those cases are seized upon by the various lobbies for their own PR agendas.
It’s not only beautiful young women, similar attributes are applied to the murders of other selected members of society, for example policemen, for whose murders more harsh sentences are demanded.
To my mind all murders are the same, it’s the deliberate criminal taking of a human life, and I consider the life-value of a policemen to be no greater or less than that of a dustman, a female doctor, a gay welfare-claimant or a blogger. They all had their lives taken from them, for which the perpetrator found guilty should pay the standard price, but lobby-politics apparently demands otherwise.
Or taking a more sinister slant, could it be that some journalists revel in the suffering of women?
I think there is some voyeuristic delight taken in some of the news coverage