Please can we stop the blind assumptions and victim blaming?

What a sad, sad few days it's been. Reminders that tragedy can strike swiftly and brutally, as with the death of a three-year-old in a house fire here in the goldfields. And that it can also be excruciatingly slow, until the final blow falls just as quickly and devastatingly, as with the Jill Meagher case. 
An awful time for all the families and friends involved. Your heart can't help aching for them. 
And in among the pain, behaviour by some sectors of the community that is appalling. I'm talking of the double standard on display when Meagher disappeared.  
This double standard basically goes that when disaster befalls a woman she is somehow to blame, but when men (young, white men, anyway) are harmed something or someone else is responsible. 
Clementine Ford wrote a great piece about victim-blaming in the Jill Meagher case. You can read it here. 
Yet look at what happened when Thomas Kelly died in Kings Cross a couple of months ago. There was, quite rightly, a huge outcry about alcohol-related violence and calls for crackdowns and a greater police presence. I was disappointed the response didn't go further and question our country's drinking culture, but that is a whole other post. 

Pic courtesy: www.fiveaa.com.au

At the time I couldn't help thinking how different the response would have been had it been a woman attacked, or an Aboriginal or, say, Indian man. I suspect there'd have been a fair whack of victim blaming, and probably also in the latter examples very limited, or no, mainstream media interest. 
What happened to Kelly was a tragedy. He should have had the right to go out and enjoy himself without suffering harm. Call me dim, but shouldn't this mean Meagher did too?
I'm aware I may sound like a whinging, wowser of a woman. Oh well. Too often non-white, non-male people get shafted by this double standard for me not to whinge about it. 

What do you think? Does this kind of thing irk you no end too?

**My thoughts and prayers are with those touched by these terrible events.** 

news.com.au or nauseating.com.au?

I don't know what possessed me to visit the news.com.au website over my vegemite sandwich this morning, but I did. I don't as a rule because, basically, I think it's rubbish. This morning's offerings failed to sway me from this assessment. Three stories on its home page sent me spinning into a rant:

Piece No.1: "Australia's richest women seek millions more"
A valid story, yes. But using the gold-digger element was very poor form. Such misogynistic editorialising is simply foul.
It wasn't until the third paragraph that a man was mentioned. And then only so briefly you could almost imagine he was dragged kicking and screaming into the affair by these money-hungry she-devils.
It reinforces, with all the subtlety of a fog horn, the nonsensical yet widely held notion that women are not allowed to ask for more. And that successful women must be brought down a peg or 100 whenever possible.
Would a story of businessmen suing for royalties been given the same treatment? Well, possibly. But I doubt it. Most likely it would have taken a corporate-battle tone; at worst been presented with a fat cats angle.

Piece No.2: "Hawke's women erupt in airport brawl" 
Male ding-dongs, for example those between footballers, are generally not reported with such malicious glee. They are usually presented as serious affairs, not indulgent entertainment.
I can't see how this personal dispute even rates as a news story. Certainly not a leading one, with its own spot on the home page. I'm no fan of the gossipy type stories either, but if this story had to run, that's the segment where it should have been.
But guess what? Their cat fight slot in the entertainment pages was booked up. Specifically, with trash story No.3: a piece about Dancing With The Stars, with Lara Bingle and someone else apparently screeching at each other. I can't remember who - I wasn't interested enough to read it, I just noticed the link to it on the home page.
While I'm at it, may I also say I'm jack of these narky, petty stories. They do nothing beyond pander to a vicious, sniping streak and encourage us to be cruel at the expense of someone else.
Now, News Ltd obviously isn't alone in this kind of reporting. It seems to be de rigueur for the majority of news outlets today. And having worked for a News Ltd paper, and having a friend on the news.com.au team, I know there's more to the organisation than tripe (I was pleased to also see this story about Gina Rinehart on a News Ltd site). I even find myself defending at times.
But on this occasion, it lost me.

Do these kinds of reports shit you to tears too? How much trash dressed up as news can you take before switching off in disgust?

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