Raoul Moat – The Aftermath...

Evening all,

In the light of the death of Raoul Moat early Saturday Morning, one cannot help but be staggered by the sheer number of messages of sympathy and support that him and his family have go from well-wishers and strangers.

Let’s be fair, sympathy and admiration aren't emotions you'd expect to be engendered by a man who shot his ex-girlfriend, killed her boyfriend, maimed a policeman for life, and had a history of assaulting previous girlfriends.

But sympathy and admiration are, it seems, what a lot of people feel for Raoul Moat. By late yesterday, over 15,000 people had registered their "like" of a Facebook site called R.I.P RAOUL MOAT YOU LEGEND! [♥], and the numbers continue to climb even though (or possibly because) the Prime Minister has come out this afternoon to condemn this.  As we write, that figure is now over 30,000.  Perhaps that has some legs...

On the one hand, are those who bizarrely blamed the entire fiasco on women, from his girlfriend to women in public service: "At his court appearance they would have handcuffed him to a 'policewoman' to prove a point," suggested one. "If there had been any police 'women' armed with guns he should have opened fire on them and taken one down with him. Women are the problem today."  Twisted indeed...

But many thought he might be mentally ill: "Poor Man. He obviously had a problem, what I don't know, but I just think he desperately needed help and didn't know it," wrote one reader of the Daily Mail website. "I don't think this guy is evil or a bad person i think he made a huge mistake . . . Everyone makes mistakes," wrote another.  Hmmm.  Perhaps.

While repulsed by what Moat had done, there were people were also impressed that he had managed to elude such a huge operation for an entire week. "I don't agree with wat [sic] he done but he did have his reasons, the lad is a legend in my book – he out ran and out smarted the police for over a week."

While in some eyes, that created a kind of twisted glory – "enuff respect my man . . . your da best soldier 2ever cum outa da north" – criminologist David Wilson's glib and patronising assessment, to Sky News, that Moat had tapped into "that dispossessed, white working-class, masculine mentality" and become a "kind of anti-hero" might also have a certain ring of truth in it.  The Daily Mail has described it as some form of

And then there are those like myself who felt nothing but pure and utter revulsion at the 24-hour news coverage and size of the police hunt.  Broadcasting the comments from his mum was completely irresponsible – and as for the news conference where he was described as a "nutter"...

Perhaps the tide is turning against the 24-hour news lust for a story by any means.  This might be the start of people standing up and thinking for themselves.

Night, Night.