So I am sure by now everyone has heard of the “Chk Chk Boom” girl who became an internet sensation overnight for her recount of a shooting in Kings Cross she was witness to. Now first off, I have to admit that I had a little bit of a giggle over her stupidity. Come on people, where do they find someone like that?
But I think the main issue that everyone seems to be sweeping under the rug is that an actual crime was committed. Someone was shot, and presumably died. (Did he die? Is he alright? What happened to the shooter? Was he charged?) But the media have chosen to ignore that very serious CRIMINAL fact and instead focus on some silly girl and turn it all into a big joke. Chk Chk Boom t-shirts, coffee mugs and beer steins are being sold across the country, people are spawning their own rap versions of witness accounts and the girl has even hired a PR agent. As a society we seem to praise the stupid and prop them up to be celebrities in their own right, famous for nothing; while we ignore the fact that crime on Sydney streets is escalating, and the media seem to be making a mockery of it.
Sydney is becoming an incredibly dangerous place to be after hours, with stabbings, shootings and drunken fights the norm on a Saturday night. Is that what our society has come to? We ignore a serious crime because it’s not newsworthy enough and instead choose to turn it all into a big joke. The fact that the nation has embraced this girl makes us all just as idiotic.
I am in the media and I am appalled at the lack of ethics some journalists and members of society have.
I think as a society we need to pull our heads in and stop glamourising crime, and the media need to report on things that matter, like why a shooting occurred out in the open in front of hundreds of witnesses and how we can solve the problem of the crime occurring on Sydney streets every day.
