Driving to our friends’ house tonight for a fish and chips dinner that turned out to be a full-on, fabulous barbecue, we listened to the news on the radio. The reporter said something about the 19-year-old man who was stabbed in St. Kilda, and then the entire rest of the short 2-minute report was devoted to the question that must be on everyone’s minds (NOT!) … “Will people still come to St. Kilda, we hope this won’t deter them from coming”. Now I ask you, what the hell kind of news reporting is that? It makes my blood boil. It’s a little bit like when Marisa Tomei says to Joe Pesci in ‘My Cousin Vinny,’

“Imagine you’re a deer. You’re prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water – BAM. A fuckin’ bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces. Now I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?”

Except we’re talking about a young man here, and not a deer. But isn’t the same kind of disbelief and outrage warranted here too? I mean, is that really the question to be asking now? Will people still come to St. Kilda? It’s no wonder I don’t read the newspapers or listen to the news on the radio, or on TV. I can’t stand what passes for reporting these days.

I think our society has gone really weird. It’s weird what has become important. What’s important apparently is to make the tiniest ripples. There’s no being bold. There’s no line of demarcation over which people will not cross. No stand on what’s really critical in life, like people’s real safety. If that was really important, we’d be all over this thing like a rash, making sure that those people who think it’s acceptable behaviour to go around carrying and brandishing knives, we’d make sure they are behind bars for life. Not like the piddly couple-3 years or something the guy, if they catch him, is likely to get. Makes my blood boil.