Trust Narcissus to act smug in the foulness of death. And have an opinion about it too. Trust the narcissistic to look up history to legitimise perceived qualities so abundantly bestowed in their likeness.
How else would one explain the base urge of some within the media to pompously preach in the aftermath of yet another sorry event — courtesy the electronic media that have taken their disgusting charade of engaging reporting to abysmal levels: Wiretapping and hobnobbing with the who’s who included. Don’t forget Jimmy Saville.
What is indeed unfortunate about nurse Jacintha Saldanha’s death, following the infamous radio hoax call episode, is that she did her duty with the highest dedication — until the very end — but was tarnished by the antics of some others going about their entertaining jobs with more than a little help from an entire system.
The fact is that Saldanha is as much a victim of injustice at the hands of people who malign her professionalism as those who could not care less for their generations or the dearly departed. These people are the kind who kill the days searching for their 15-minute fix.
Countenance them, buy into their wishy-washy premises, and they push the line. Yes, you can be played by the media, if you play along. I’m talking about those who would take the pulpit in defence of a system that values audience ratings over the right to an honest living of people who often lose track of their lives tending to the sick, the challenged and the downright morbid.
Nobody has the right to make a mockery of the lives of people who work night and day to restore dignity to a world so taken up with itself that it leaves its elderly in palliative care or asylums.
Nobody has the right to belittle the contributions of people toiling in foreign lands — not just for a living, but because they profess to a culture of care and respect that the magnanimity of some self-appointed guardians of public conscience often overlook.
Radio and television presenters have devices to avoid the embarrassment should they be caught on the wrong foot, but no such luxuries for someone whose credibility is at stake — hardly something to laugh off. There has been a rush to grab the attention even after the tragic turn of events. There have been dramatic apologies and offers to make the bereaved family’s Christmas a little bit better with financial support. But what about the two teenaged children whose mother probably was heartbroken just thinking she had been a letdown for them.
There is a line that has been crossed brazenly. The culprits have still had every chance to shed tears and play victims to the accompaniment of the media circus. They are physically far removed from the place where their exploits triggered tragedy. Their bosses have been very understanding right through the “ordeal”. There are advocates wanting to know what have they done wrong. Talk of celebrating snobbery.
These people like to see life as a reality show. They crave for the limelight at all costs. They like to think they are well-connected and hitch on to the next trendy topic. They take care to sidestep more pertinent issues that might rub the high and mighty the wrong way and cost them their place in the sun. It is a compulsion to be effervescent, upbeat, sublime — the dull moments are for the riff raff, best left aside. Their imagination is challenged in all sorts of ways by those leading a full life. In reality, they are disconnected from the audiences they so desperately woo.
What about the real victim? Lest we forget, it could be any of us being pushed over the brink for a fickle audience to applaud. That is not the end you have in mind. That is not a game you would particularly enjoy while at a demanding job, where the slightest error can have grim consequences.
Let’s hope this case helps people discern better what the media’s real purpose should be and what it has become for some. Let none become the laughing stock because we choose to remain silent to such skulduggery. People need to make themselves heard in no uncertain terms about the way they feel about all this: That the joke isn’t on commoners, to whom neither royalty nor media corporations pay obsequies.
