Sunday, 7 March 2010

A frightening mentality

The mob. Not the mafia mob but that unthinking mode that many of us seem to acquire when we subdue our individuality and replace it with the emotion of the crowd.

The Tabloids smell it and pick it up, fanning the flames of fear and suspicion. Don't get me wrong. I think the Tabloids have a place in our society. Sometimes they can do a good job in raising awareness on an issue and forcing the authorities to act by publicly embarrassing them.

But when they play to the mob it gets ugly and I get uncomfortable.

It's happening now.

John Venables? You'll know the name. His old name. His original name. Apparently people feel they NEED to know his new name. They do so because he was released on licence and has been recalled having been accused of something.

Does that mean we need to know about ALL the criminals who have been released and who break the terms of their release?

The man has been accused of something. It isn't proven. We don't even know exactly what it is.

Yet people bay for his name to be released for their protection.

I'll ask a question.

Do you really want to know where every offender who has been released lives? Do you?

You might get a shock. That neighbour you share a beer with occasionally might be an ex robber.

We have to trust the authorities to try to get it right. They won't always but if we scream for mob justice every time that they, seemingly, get it wrong then we lose all semblance of civilisation.
Posted by at 20:20
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7 comments:

  1. Oh, I SO agree with you on this one. It's sickening. The speculation spewed out by the media is ghastly.

    We don't know what the man has done (or has allegedly done) and we don't need to know. We didn't even need to know he had gone back to prison.

    I actually feel sad about what's happened. It seemed these two young men had overcome the terrible start they had in life. It will be a shame if this isn't the case for John Venables.
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  2. Tricky. I don't think I can comment with a clear head on this one. I haven't read any of the newspaper blurb on this story - mainly because I stopped reading newspapers over 20 years ago but obviously I am aware of what has happened. I remember the original case and conviction well though. Needless to say, like everyone else, I was truly abhorred at the time. Now though I have a 2 year old. The same age as the little boy who was murdered. I can't help looking at him and thinking "what if" - how would I feel if the unthinkable happened. Of course it hasn't and I hope it never wiil. But the anger and disgust I feel - driven by fear no doubt that anyone could do such a thing - come to the surface and i don't trust myself to comment fairly on Venables. All I will say is, my reaction has nothing to do with mob mentality... just personal new parent mentality.
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  4. Try again without the typos...

    Steve, I'm not a parent, so maybe that colours my reaction to this. But Venables was ten years old when this happened. Ten. I've always been of the view that all three children in this horrible case deserved sympathy and compassion. I expect that's not going to make me very popular, but there it is.

    I understand you might look at your 2 year old and think 'what if'. But sometimes it's good to look things from another angle, don't you think?

    'What if' your 2 year old happened to be born to less loving and able parents. 'What if' your 2 year old did something terrible as a child. Would you want him to pay for that for the rest of his life and be hounded and vilified? Or would for him to be given a chance of a decent life?
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  5. And typos lurk still. Gah! Wish you could edit comments!
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  6. I agree, we do not need to know, much as many may want to know we don't need to.
    If he has indeed committed another crime then the process of law needs to unfold.
    If he is guilty of something nasty and his cover is blown so be it, he had a second chance and it's over. In the event he has done nothing heinous his cover should be protected.Either way the law courts should decide not the mob.
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  7. If my Granddaughter was murdered I would want to kill the culprit.

    I would not want the state to do it.

    Therein lies the difference.

    Justice administered by the state is civilisation.

    Administered by the individual or group of individuals it is vigilantiism or mob rule.

    James Bulger's mother has all my sympathy but she should not have a say in Venables situation.

    One child was killed, one appears to have disintegrated, but the third - Thompson, as far as we know, seems to have made some good of his life.

    If we gave in to the public clamour for revenge he would never have had that chance.
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