Sad

[poliphilo]

Raoul Moat died- and not in the end with any great dignity. They tasered him- and the gun went off. Whether those two events are sequentially linked will be for an enquiry to find out. There was a very long stand-off, with cameras present, during which one of the tazer guys was pictured pulling comically fierce faces and the footballer Paul Gascoigne- another sad sack hard man- turned up drunk with an offer of chicken sandwiches.

If they make that movie- and I'm sure they will- it won't exactly be the ass-kicking action fantasy Moat seems to have thought he was starring in.

Comments

[ibid.livejournal.com]

I am sorry they didn't capture him and thereby humiliate him. He was a bastard who deserved to be locked away and mocked. I'm sorry it happened like that inasmuch as I oppose the death penalty but on a more visceral level I am glad he is dead.

I have however been amused by the fan pages on facebook and how all of his admirers seem to be semi literate!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's scary to think that there are all those people out there who see Moat as a hero.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

Indeed but as you have been writing people love a renegade.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We all do. Actually that's what makes it especially scary. I could have been seduced into cheering for Moat- if only his crimes had been a little less cowardly and his style a little less lumpen...

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting to compare your comments about other recent violent events with what you've written about Moat. I've been following the news, but I haven't really come across anything amidst all the journalistic voyeurism to suggest he will become some sort of folk hero. As far as I can tell he was just a violent thug who could never admit he was wrong, and developed ever increasing delusions and conspiracy theories to justify his world view. I don't know about why he was jailed for assault - presumably the press steered clear of too much background in case of any future trial had he been detained alive - but it doesn't seem likely to me that any of the dirty laundry that will probably now be aired will suggest the romance of any great injustice against the man, except in his own broken mind.

Quite a bit of what's been in the media has been about how long the police have taken to deal with the hunt, which is a similar line of inquiry (albeit on a different timescale) to that taken on the Derek Bird case. I find myself wondering whether the London-centric media really appreciate how isolated and remote parts of the North can be. Once you're off the motorways and dual carriageways, and away from the suburban sprawl, it's a lot more difficult to search the territory.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, he was a violent thug- but our entertainment industry glamourises violent thugs- and always has done. There was a legend in the making here. Everything depended on how the story ended. If he'd gone down shooting he'd have become Butch Cassidy (so to speak). As it is the bathos of his death ought to put an end to his burgeoning cult- and I very much hope it does.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I was only thinking today (in response to accusations that the police hastened or caused Moat's death) that all this might have turned out differently if it hadn't followed so closely on the Cumbrian shootings.

Thankfully, Moat didn't turn out to be a copy-cat random killer, but the police weren't to know that (something the media conveniently forget because they're writing with the benefit of hindsight).

Growing up in the north of England and having lived in Wales for so long, I know only too well how difficult it is to cover a large area of wild country. It didn't surprise me at all that it took so long to track him down.