Over the last week Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, or colloquially known
as the Boston Bomber, pleaded guilty and was subsequently sentenced to death.
This comes a few weeks after two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran,
were amongst eight drug smugglers to be executed in Indonesia despite
unprecedented pressure from the Australian government and widespread
international condemnation. The contrast in the amount of coverage by the media coupled with
the vast difference in reactions by the general public shows a darker side of
human nature.
Tasrnaev’s lawyer asked for Tsarnaev to be spared death and
be given a life sentence instead. Tsarnaev, 21 and recovering after a period in
mental health care, will be the youngest in America’s death row. His age is
similar to those of Sukumaran’s (25) and Chan’s (22) when they were sentenced. All three were either migrants or from migrant
family. All three were recreational drug users and sellers.
More similarities can be found, some trivial, others not so
much. However, the reaction by the public and the media could not be more
stark.
In the weeks and months prior to Chan and Sukumaran’s
execution, the Australian public voiced their opinion strongly against the
death penalty. Thousands of tweets, hundreds of Faceboook posts and dozens of
vigils were echoed (and compounded) by the media which covered the drama
surround the nightmare incessantly. The Australians public interest in the case
spiked massively in the weeks leading up to the execution, more so than during
the sentencing; in fact four times as much. In the time between, despite all
the trials and all appeals, Australian’s interest in the case was negligible.
Whilst disappointing, it is perhaps not unexpected. Until
something is right in our face or confronting, we simply don’t care. Without
urgency, we, as Australian, don’t care about the death penalty. Until two of
our own, we did nothing about capital punishment. It took two men, only weeks away
from being executed for us to care about something beyond our own
Facebook wall.
Not a month later, Tsarnaev was sentenced to death. In a
state which hasn't had an execution since 1947, (virtually) nobody batted an
eye. The latest sentencing barely registers a blip in Australian interest. Below, is a graph of the search term "Boston Bombing" The massive spike at the time, corresponds to the time of the actual bombing.
How did we decide that Tsarnaev’s doesn't warrant our time,
whilst the execution of Chan and Sukumaran does?
A possible reason that because the sentence was from an American court it makes them immune
from Australian criticism. Or perhaps, because the criminal is not Australian
means that Australian simply doesn't care?
Regardless of the reason, Australians takes the
moral high ground when it concerns and
suits us. If its not relevant to us, we ignore it and move on. To me, it’s a hypocritical
stance to take.
~TastyJacks~