Apathy Sketchpad

I just read this story on the BBC. The story itself, that a young boy died in a “prank that went wrong” presumed to be copying something he saw on TV, is obviously very sad, but I found the rest of the story very heartening. The report avoids fingering any particular shows or even blaming TV in general, the cause of death isn’t presented as an absolute, and the parents and reporter refrain from any knee-jerk demands to ban things or limit their availability, or censor them in any way. They specifically say “We don’t really know what happened but we think he was up to something because that was the type of boy he was.”

Instead, they used their small amount of access to the national press to say nice things about their late son. That’s a fantastic attitude, and they are to be commended for it. And then they’re having a funeral with brightly coloured clothes — something Sean would have wanted instead of something traditional.

More power to them. If we had more parents and reporters who took this kind of attitude we’d have a lot less tabloid-fuelled idiocy trying to push dumb legislation like Sarah’s Law onto the law books. And I bet they cope a lot better this way, too.