There is nothing more therapeutic than writing about things that bug you. And that is exactly what this blog entry is about - a therapeutic whinge!
There have been two news stories that have been given a lot of airtime this week that have prompted a lot of animated conversation in my household - and more than a few Tweets.
The first story involved the tragic death of a teenager prompted by internet bullying, which led to hours of analysis by every UK media corporation. Day after day, they hauled in experts from here, there and everywhere, in a vain attempt to get an agreement that the internet was the online equivalent of some evil Bondesque villain that has to be stopped from World Domination!
A week of discussion was summed up in an "interview", on BBC Breakfast this morning, of the grief-stricken father of the victim, whose said that the internet had to "change".
FFS! The internet is not a person, it is an evolving technology.
If anything needs "changing", it is the attitude and behaviour of today's parents. The same parents who, according to another report yesterday, are happy to give their 5-year-olds mobile phones!
And that leads me on to the second story that was given, in my opinion, far too much airtime by BBC News and Sky News this week - the Peru drug mules.
The first impression that I had of the two "victims" were of a couple of spoiled brats who thought that they could just flutter their well-mascara'd eyelashes at the Peruvian customs officers and they would be allowed to swan off to Madrid with their £1.5m cocaine haul.
Instead they, like hundreds of other UK "victims" enticed by the thought of making a quick buck, were swept off to a local jail cell, protesting their innocence with that well-known playground cry of "But he made me do it, Miss".
The only difference for this pair (who I refuse to name) - compared to the many others who get themselves embroiled in this illegal activity - was the publicity machine that swung into action to highlight their misfortune, which included footage of Daddy jumping on a plane within hours of his daughter's incarceration, flying half-way around the world and posing for a tearful reunion photograph that hit the front pages of many UK newspapers.
Their parents were quoted as saying "we thought they were in Ibiza". So again, a good example of exemplary parenting skills and communication within the family unit.
Which begs the question: As a parent today if you do not know what your child is doing, then are you fit to be a parent?
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