What Matters? 1
Mimi ON Jul 16, 2010 AT 10:29 am
Raoul Moat
Raoul Moat – The man is a monster not a hero
I type this still totally and utterly gobsmacked at the thousands of uneducated, idiots in our society. To be precise (at the time BATD publishes this) over 30,000 morons have joined the ‘RIP Raoul Moat You Legend!’ group on Facebook.
What the hell is going on? This was a violent brute who was on the run after shooting dead his ex girlfriend’s lover and seriously injuring her. This was a man intent to kill, a police hating man, a man who blasted an officer with a shotgun leaving him blind.
These were not the actions of a hero, a legend, a star and god knows what else the uneducated (and literacy lacking) members of our society are referring to him as. One man called Ashley wrote: “R.I.P MOAT BADA MAN STAR.”
It gets worse I’m afraid. One woman called Jo writes: “Poor guy wot a shame!! The police are to blame for his death. F*** THE POLICE!! R.I.P Mate xx”
What strikes me about the page is a dark understanding, a dark acceptance of Moat’s actions particularly from the ignorant, illiterate, angry men in our country.
Reading through the comments on the page, you also get an overwhelming sense of the wave of hate directed towards the police. A storm of anti-authority brewing towards the force. People have joined this page, who like Moat despise the police. This comment sums it up “He’s a legend 4 how long he gave cops run around.”
Quite rightly, the Prime Minister has condemned public sympathy for Moat. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Question Time, David Cameron said: “It is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer, full stop, end of story.”
Despite pressure from the PM Facebook are defiant in not removing the page. A spokesman said ‘those who think he is a hero are entitled to their opinion.’
I can sort of see Facebook’s thoughts behind this. If they shut the page, then someone will create another one, if they remove that, then another will be created. Notice the pattern here?
You can’t control the internet, you just can’t. That is the beautiful and the very dark side to the web.
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I agree with virtually everything written in this article in that it was utterly depressing seeing someone who has caused so much pain to so many people, being treated in equal measure as both a hero and martyr by sections of the general public.
I dont believe it is gender specific however. You yourself Siobhan, very fairly referenced a female supporter of Moat and looking at the comments on Facebook there were a lot of female contributions and tributes. I think this purely comes down to people of both sexes who have no concept of decent behaviour or respect for others. Im from Liverpool and we have our fair share of “ignorant illiterates.” But Im reasurred that they are in the minority. They simply make more noise than the rest of us. And the silent majority are not perfect. But we do our best throughout each and every day to cause as little hassle to ourselves and others.
tc matt
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