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Who's to blame for Beslan? |
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Thursday, 09 September 2004 |
KING (FF8782) HMP Maidstone, County Rd, Kent ME14 1UZ 6/9/2004
Who is to blame for the tragedy in Beslan? The answer is simple but nobody
seems willing to admit it. We are. You who are reading this. I who am writing
it. Our insatiable appetite for more and more upsetting scenes on TV and
images in the papers provokes further disasters.
I've experienced at first hand the sheer vindictiveness of extreme coverage.
We all want nastier headlines, bloodier pictures, shocking revelations.
We don't care how many lives are ruined. Oh, we pretend to care. We make all
the right noises. We shed tears when we see appalling photos of dead girls
in soldiers' arms and distressed tiny faces in the backs of cars. But we love
it. We're glued to it. We want more and the media, always prepared to boost
ratings and circulation if the audience wants it, feeds our frenzy.
Any honest observer would admit that, without the oxygen of publicity,
there would be no terrorists flying into tall buildings or children murdered.
The appetite for ghastiiness amongst us consumers keeps descending. And the
media doesn't even want to consider the reality. Missives like this, carrying
the truth, are instantly discarded or dismissed as "rants" by "vile perverts".
"What can we do about it anyway?", plead the proprietors.
"If we ignore these events, others will carry them".
The entire British media is well aware I'm not a "vile pervert" but the
caricature sells more newspapers. Editors are terrified of recognising the
truth. It would mean a radical drop in profits. We want drama and tragedy?
Give it to us, bank the income and ignore the damage.
Over the past four years I've seen vindictiveness, hatred, bile, prurience
and condemnation dominate humanity.
The qualities I cherish... compassion, tolerance, decency, kindness, love...
are worth nothing anymore.
I've never been ashamed to be Jonathan King. But I'm ashamed to be a member
of the human race.
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