By Victoria B.
Recently Chopper Read received warm and
cuddly treatment from Australian journalists. “The posh love gangsters”, The Age’s John Silvester
in his title the week before Chopper’s death, Silvester thereby lending
reinforcement to the claim.
Two weeks before that Chopper played to a sold out audience at The
Athenaeum, which supports the notion that a significant number of people are
taken by him. Other than that, the signs seem to be that it’s his manager, the
journalists and media makers who love him. His manager! Since when do criminals
have managers?? What sort of world are we living in?
 |
| Chopper, courtesy of ABC News |
Following the manager’s lead, journalists
say Chopper is witty and intelligent. In
his last interview with the ABC Chopper says ‘If there is a heaven and I
go to it, someone will owe me an apology’. Witty and intelligent? Or lost and a
forlorn whimper of protest?
Journalists
have likened Chopper Read to
Ned Kelly, apparently quoting but nevertheless reinforcing Chopper about
himself. Again adopting the cosy tone, one said ‘Chopper is like a
modern Ned,’ thus nurturing the notion Read belonged to a family of
little heroes.
But how is Chopper like Ned? Love him or
hate him, there’s little debate that Ned Kelly’s path was determined in
reaction to injustice and prejudice that singled him and his family out for
continuous punishment. His reputation came from the fact that he was for a
while successful. He had no journalists panting at the bit to relay his
philosophical gems to the broader public. The deaths he caused came in the path
of an explosive reaction against the law of the times he lived in, and
importantly, the inevitable payment of his life.
And there's Ronnie Biggs, who audaciously got away
with the pot of gold of people’s dreams. Or Bondie, who many of us hoped would
be found innocent because of his grand life in the sporting limelight.
Chopper Read was a two bit petty crim with
nothing remotely representing a greater cause or even cult leadershp, but a hired murderer and
torturer who was constantly dogged by failure. The Australian gave a slightly harsher overview, nevertheless flirting with the endearing, in its article on 9 October 29013, Chopper Read - a mix of larrikin and psychopath, describing Read as at best "a cross between a complete psychopath and the crazy uncle at your barbecue."
Chopper Read - a mix of larrikin and psychopath
Chopper Read - a mix of larrikin and psychopath
AT
best he was described as "a cross between a complete psychopath and the
crazy uncle at your barbecue" - See more at:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/chopper-read-a-mix-of-larrikin-and-psychopath/story-e6frg6nf-1226735633075#sthash.3U4rYggs.dpuf
So why was Chopper Read ‘hunted for a
headline’ (John Silvester, The Age, 2
October 2013)? Was it for the insular reason that he relieved the daily grind
of crime writing journalism? Or were the journalists fecklessly desperate to
create a hero to feed the Australian culture? Or what?
There have been similar ventures in the
film and television world. Underbelly, a
glossy treatment of a dirty little drug dealer who saw no further than his own
pocket and snuffed out lives directly and indirectly in his pursuit of the
dollar. Squizzy Taylor, a rough hood with similar glossy treatment.
Is the media trying to offer its own bid for an Australian Al Capone, The Godfather or any of the multiple masterminds
of American crime culture? But the media didn’t hunt these figures down, knock
on their cell doors and create their public profiles. These men of awesome
fearfulness imploded their image on the public world, they ruled tight
societies with black and white rules and pitiless retribution. No-one tried to make larrikins of them.
People
the world over are fascinated by power, fear and the forbidden and the
lives of those who pursue them - success being a part of it, except for
their final judgement. This does not mean that people love them.
But in the words of Michael Corleone, 'Power isn't given, it's taken.' Australian media should stop trying to give it, and set about following rather than fabricating.
But in the words of Michael Corleone, 'Power isn't given, it's taken.' Australian media should stop trying to give it, and set about following rather than fabricating.
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