(Please note: the following blog was originally posted on my old blog
Why Yes I Am Quite Random, Why Do You Ask?, a blog I can no longer
access for some unknown reason. This is being put at the start of
each blog I'm uploading, in case anyone comes across the blog and
accuses me of plagiarism. This is explained further in my
introduction blog.
The following was originally posted on Sunday, November 6th, 2011 at 5:01 pm)
Word of warning, this won't really be a
fun blog. Nothing really nerdy or geeky to discuss. This will be me
getting up on my soapbox and ranting about a recent event down here
in Australia. Granted, it's not like I have many readers at this
point but if someone should stumble across it somehow, they should
have fair warning. This is just my opinion, based on whatever
information I've come across on this, and I don't know every little
intimate detail.
For any overseas reader, here's the
situation: over in Bali, a fourteen year old boy vacationing with his
parents was arrested for buying drugs, in an alleged sting operation.
He's facing at least 12 years in prison if convicted.
Now, I'm not blogging that he should be
released, far from it. I mean, his defense at the time? "He said
he [the dealer] needed the money". If I had a poster of someone
facepalming right now, that would be the most appropriate response.
Then it emerged he had a recurring drug habit before entering Bali.
Yeah, now your story looks real credible now, kid.
I'm also not blogging about how we've
cared more for getting him back than another convicted Australian in
Bali. OK, I'm not commenting one way or another on whether or not I
think Schapelle Corby is innocent, but my point is, Australia did
very little to try and help her. The government's response basically
amounted to "Um, we have a letter. Will that help?"
But for this boy (who has not been
named, nor have his parents as far as I know, it's almost like he'd
been kidnapped and the government will send in the air force! Why
him? Is it because of his age? Never mind the fact he knew exactly
what he was doing. He's old enough to be willingly buy drugs, he's
old enough to await his fate in the hands of the justice system of
Bali.
No, what gets my goat even more that
any of that is the fact that his parents are trying to sell the
rights to this story, like it's something that's destined to be a
heartwarming triumph over adversity that NEEDS to be a telemovie.
Look, I have no problem with television
networks offering large sums and telemovie deals to people, if the
people involved have had something happen to them that wasn't through
fault of their own.
For example, the survivor of the
Thredbo landslide of 1997, Stuart Diver. The lone survivor, he was
trapped under debris for over 65 hours. He had courage, determination
and great willpower to survive. As he was pulled from the wreckage,
his first words were "That sky's fantastic!" and he gave
new hope that more survivors would be found, though tragically, it
would not be the case.
He would later have his story turned
into a made-for-TV drama called Heroes Mountain, in which he was
played by Craig McLachlan.
Or to use another Australian example,
the Beaconsfield Mine collapse of 2006. A small earthquake caused an
underground rock fall, trapping three miners, one of whom died in the
disaster. Brant Webb and Todd Russell were rescued after two weeks,
maintaining their sense of humor and spirit throughout. The media
down here went nuts from start to finish. Hell, even Dave Grohl knew
about it when he found out they were huge fans based on a request
from the miners to have the Foo Fighters' music on their MP3's sent
down (so for anyone who wasn't sure what inspired Ballad Of The
Beaconsfield Miners, there's your music history lesson for the day).
They were offered several lucrative deals and they deserve it.
So, what's my point in all this? That
this is the kind of thing that will inspire the wrong message in
people. That you can misbehave and commit all sorts of crimes and
people will just throw money at you for being a delinquent. I know
its his parents shopping the story around but its his antics that
started this off.
And you can't tell me "oh, it's
for his legal defense", that will make it look worse.
Quite frankly, he would be getting off
light if he's able to come back here and go to rehab, which if that's
not a buzzword these days, it's on its way. Rehab is not some "super
instant magical cure", it requires a discipline that needs to be
maintained once you leave. And if he doesn't have the discipline to
not buy drugs in a foreign land, or to not buy drugs at all, I highly
doubt rehab is the way to go.
Anyway, that's enough ranting from me.
I apologize if anything I've said has offended anyone but that's just
how I feel.
Next time, I'll go back to something
low-key or nerdy.
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