A week not of tragedy itself but of the memories of tragedy. In the last week we've seen the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and in the week ahead we'll see Anders Behring Breivik go on trial for the atrocity that he conducted last summer. Two events that seem are so far removed from each other but which share such a bitter common factor: the loss of lives of many innocent people. In the Titanic's case 100 years is a poignant anniversary but people seem to have missed the point. The commercialisation of the anniversary (talked about below) can only but make you cringe - not the desired response to the memories of over 1500 people. In the case of Breivik, a madman will be dumped onto the conveyor belt of justice this week and rightly so. Why, though, do I pick up on these two things in the same post? Well read on and let me explain.
Andrew Marr is a man born to think and to talk. Tarnished (wrongly or rightly, you decide) by the media cloud that hung over him after the super-injunction business, some people lost interest and belief in him. I remember reading newspaper articles at the time about his alleged extra-martial affair which read as though he was scum and didn't deserve to be on TV anymore. As far as I'm concerned the man is clever, well-informed and more learned than the media monkeys that clung to him during a turbulent time. In the same way that I still respect Tiger Woods because of his golfing ability, I still respect Andrew Marr for his brain power and kindred TV voice - philandering aside they are good at what they do. Anyway I digress. This morning Andrew Marr took a few minutes out of the start of his programme to get something off his chest. His view on the recent TV landslide of Titanic related programmes is that they are "sordid, tasteless and rather dull". He asks where it will stop: will there be dramatisations of plane crashes?
I totally agree with him. I think that the 90s film is a good tribute (if slightly Hollywood) to the people that lost their lives that night and that is where it should be left. This week should have been about remembering and taking a moment to think about the delicacy of life rather than making money. I mean, the guy who made Downtown Abbey must be rolling in it already without redoing something that has already been done well - I've heard the series isn't even that good. To me there is something ghoulish about the way that last month or so has unfolded and for that reason I've boycotted anything Titanic related. The only good thing to have come out of the anniversary as far as I'm concerned is the memorial in Belfast with all of the victim's names on it - amazingly the first that's been created. They should be remembered and not played on TV by someone who didn't even known them.
Still you wonder how I've come to the point of wanting to write a post about the Titanic and the massacre in Norway last year. It's very simple really. I'm not riled that often by the news; heck I barely even write about it anymore. These were two things that stuck out in the Sunday papers for me today though and, along with Andrew Marr's comments, I couldn't help but have my say. To elaborate further on Marr's views, one has to wonder whether in 5 years time a movie will be made about Breivik's crimes. Daniel Craig to play the protagonist or maybe someone with a better Norwegian accent? It scares me a little, it really does.
So he'll be put before a Norwegian court this week finally and I'll be watching the trial very closely. To give the Norwegian's credit here, they have treated the man like any other criminal - and rightly so. He's received fair treatment in the lead up to the trial and has been given access to his legal rights - a stoical and proud approach which should be commended for a quiet country that was so tragically interrupted. Where does the situation go from here though? He'll be convicted (sickeningly, he's proudly confessed) and sent to prison for the rest of his rotten life but his message has spread, probably further than he could have hoped as well. I've read many articles since last summer about anti-Islamic groups and other such movements which have been stirred by this man. You should read this article as just a taster of what the human race can be like. I read that this morning twice and it scared me twice. I'm not naive, I know these people and their groups exist, but it begs the question as to what world we actually live in for this to be a 'thing' at all.
Two tragic events where the loss of life in each was no less tragic than the other - never can a scale be applied to such things. From my point of view, I worry that this is the world that I am going to grow as an adult in. A world where money is made from commercialising death and where hatred flows through the veins of so many. What worries me even more though is that people are so serious about both things. In 25 or 50 years time there will no doubt be new dramas about the Titanic sinking and no sooner than tomorrow will there be a new report about some racist group inciting racial hatred in some part of the world. The trial will have the world's eyes on it this week but sadly the justice than will be done will not be the thing that is seen and the people that died on the Titanic will be forgotten again until Jack and Rose are back on TV at Christmas - and the world keeps turning all the while.
Thanks for reading and I encourage comment below on tonight's post. I would also like to mention briefly that of course I was wrong in saying that this was not a week of tragedy itself - is there ever a week without tragedy? Yesterday footballer Piermario Morosini collapsed and died from a cardiac arrest on the football pitch whilst playing for his club Livorno. Admittedly I had never heard of him before this sad news came out but the story hit the football world just as hard as it would have had he been more widely known. It makes you appreciate how fine a line we walk and to appreciate everything we have - one day we won't have it anymore.
Martin
