The lead story on ABC Radio National 8:00 am news was the report of a man shot in the stomach in Melbourne. He was found by a passing motorist and taken by ambulance to a local hospital where his condition was tagged as “life threatening”. It is a personal tragedy and I hope he is able to recover. Commuters face long delays as the highway is closed for a forensic investigation.
Now, Americans - let me ask you this: Has a non-fatal shooting of a single, average citizen ever grabbed the lead story in national news? Nope. Didn’t think so either.
Hearing in Sydney of a gun-shot incident in another city made me reflect on my time in Michigan (1999 to 2004 working for Ford Credit). Detroit had one of the highest murder rates in the nation - surpassed of course by Washington DC. Shootings were so common they didn’t rate a mention in radio news. Let alone the thought of NPR (USA’s National Public Radio) starting their hourly news broadcast with the reporting of a non-fatal gunshot casualty. (”Leading today’s news, in East Los Angeles today there were no gun fatalities or shootings. Police are investigating the sudden calm. ‘It makes me quite unsettled,’ said long-time resident Mary Marker.”)
Family who’ve been to Australia say it reminds them of America in the 1950s - calm, bucolic, nice. Rather like ‘Pleasantville’. Not that Toby McGuire had to come to the aid of any gunshot victims - his biggest crisis was Mom’s makeup.
