People who know me will agree that I am not that fussy about what newspapers I read. It is refreshing to read any aspect of journalism from papers such as The Guardian down to the likes of The Sun or Metro.
One of the tabloids today had a story about a mother who took her three children to Raul Moat’s funeral. For those who have not heard of Moat he was a crazed gunman who on release from prison shot a policeman dead, blinded another for life and also shot his ex girlfriend, several days later in a stand off with police he took his own life.
Through the world of social media many people have heralded Moat as a ‘Modern Day Hero’ yet we all know that he was just a crazed lunatic on a death wish. The story read of a mother who used her social benefit (welfare) to take her three children to Moat’s funeral. Rightly so the papers labelled this as outrageous and that the mother’s children should be put into care whilst her benefits are examined.
The whole scenario is unfortunately the way that the world is these days. Many crazed people are often heralded as heroes for their stances against the laws that countries are governed by. Anyone standing up to society will always be perceived as the common man standing up for his rights.
I recall reading a news article from 1881 about how the children of New Mexico were in the streets mimicking William H Bonney (aka Billy The Kid) after he had killed and shot James Bell and Robert Ollinger, who were two law enforcers. Back then they even produced comic books of Bonney.
Now I totally disagree with glorifying any madman who has killed anyone innocent yet throughout history the likes of Bonny & Clyde, Billy The Kid and even the twisted Raoul Moat will go down in history in some people’s minds as heroes.
