Have I Got A Story To Sell You

Word of warning, this won't really be a fun blog. Nothing really nerdy or geeky to discuss. This will be me getting up on my soapbox and ranting about a recent event down here in Australia. Granted, it's not like I have many readers at this point but if someone should stumble across it somehow, they should have fair warning. This is just my opinion, based on whatever information I've come across on this, and I don't know every little intimate detail.

For any overseas reader, here's the situation: over in Bali, a fourteen year old boy vacationing with his parents was arrested for buying drugs, in an alleged sting operation. He's facing at least 12 years in prison if convicted.
Now, I'm not blogging that he should be released, far from it. I mean, his defense at the time? "He said he [the dealer] needed the money". If I had a poster of someone facepalming right now, that would be the most appropriate response. Then it emerged he had a recurring drug habit before entering Bali. Yeah, now your story looks real credible now, kid.

I'm also not blogging about how we've cared more for getting him back than another convicted Australian in Bali. OK, I'm not commenting one way or another on whether or not I think Schapelle Corby is innocent, but my point is, Australia did very little to try and help her. The government's response basically amounted to "Um, we have a letter. Will that help?"
But for this boy (who has not been named, nor have his parents as far as I know, it's almost like he'd been kidnapped and the government will send in the air force! Why him? Is it because of his age? Never mind the fact he knew exactly what he was doing. He's old enough to be willingly buy drugs, he's old enough to await his fate in the hands of the justice system of Bali.

No, what gets my goat even more that any of that is the fact that his parents are trying to sell the rights to this story, like it's something that's destined to be a heartwarming triumph over adversity that NEEDS to be a telemovie.
Look, I have no problem with television networks offering large sums and telemovie deals to people, if the people involved have had something happen to them that wasn't through fault of their own.

For example, the survivor of the Thredbo landslide of 1997, Stuart Diver. The lone survivor, he was trapped under debris for over 65 hours. He had courage, determination and great willpower to survive. As he was pulled from the wreckage, his first words were "That sky's fantastic!" and he gave new hope that more survivors would be found, though tragically, it would not be the case.
He would later have his story turned into a made-for-TV drama called Heroes Mountain, in which he was played by Craig McLachlan.

Or to use another Australian example, the Beaconsfield Mine collapse of 2006. A small earthquake caused an underground rock fall, trapping three miners, one of whom died in the disaster. Brant Webb and Todd Russell were rescued after two weeks, maintaining their sense of humor and spirit throughout. The media down here went nuts from start to finish. Hell, even Dave Grohl knew about it when he found out they were huge fans based on a request from the miners to have the Foo Fighters' music on their MP3's sent down (so for anyone who wasn't sure what inspired Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners, there's your music history lesson for the day). They were offered several lucrative deals and they deserve it.

So, what's my point in all this? That this is the kind of thing that will inspire the wrong message in people. That you can misbehave and commit all sorts of crimes and people will just throw money at you for being a delinquent. I know its his parents shopping the story around but its his antics that started this off.
And you can't tell me "oh, it's for his legal defense", that will make it look worse.

Quite frankly, he would be getting off light if he's able to come back here and go to rehab, which if that's not a buzzword these days, it's on its way. Rehab is not some "super instant magical cure", it requires a discipline that needs to be maintained once you leave. And if he doesn't have the discipline to not buy drugs in a foreign land, or to not buy drugs at all, I highly doubt rehab is the way to go.

Anyway, that's enough ranting from me. I apologize if anything I've said has offended anyone but that's just how I feel.
Next time, I'll go back to something low-key or nerdy.