The truth about Ken Bigley

[Gilliver's Travels]

Why do our media find it so hard to be honest about Ken Bigley?

He wasn’t some British storybook hero; he was just an ordinary bloke, in the wrong place at the wrong time. And he most certainly did not deserve to die. But consider the media presentation of the man and his story. Why so much distortion of the simple truth?

“Ken Bigley was there to help the Iraqi people.” No, he was a commercial mercenary, there to earn an inflated salary in a situation of calculated personal risk. He just got unlucky. Though informed commentators say he chose not to take advantage of the personal security available to all foreign workers.

“Ken was so brave.” No, he was just like most of us would be – afraid and desperate. No doubt the media would have preferred some gritted teeth, stiff upper lip bravery from the Trevor Howard school of action hero. “I don’t care a fig for your vile ways. Damn you Mohammedans. You can cut off my head, but you’ll never defeat the British spirit.” But instead they got unvarnished, blubbing terror.

“He was just an ordinary, family loving man.” When reality didn’t suit the required Daily Mail image, inconvenient facts were airbrushed out. His unusual marital arrangements certainly invited the Mrs Merton-style question: “So, Sombat, tell the viewers what first attracted you to the ageing British passport holder Ken Bigley?”

The worst part of all is the sheer extent of the coverage. Why did the media focus so much energy and space on a man who was just a hapless, random victim? The depressingly obvious answer is that he was British. Although towards the end of his life he did become Irish. Oh yeah, and he was white.

Meanwhile, hundreds of genuinely humanitarian aid workers - who actually did go out there to help the Iraqi people – are either fleeing, or dead, or existing day to day in fear of their lives. All because of the historic folly of Tony Blair, and his master George Bush.

Ten thousand or more genuinely innocent Iraqis – including vast numbers of women and children are dead. We’re not sure quite how many, because no-one can be bothered to count them, let alone report their deaths individually, in gruesome detail. Tens of thousands more are maimed for life.

So to repeat, no-one should ever have to suffer poor Ken Bigley’s fate. The people who murdered him are simply barbaric criminals, driven by religious lunacy. But the western media have simply got to get things in proportion. If we’re concerned about hideous deaths in Iraq, let’s be sure we’re being given the complete picture. One Ken Bigley; thousands of others. All victims.

 

[bigc]

so aptly put.

I couldnt have written it better myself

 

[Yorkie]

I was really puzzled why the football matches had a minutes silence for him.

If it was a football related death, a member of a club or even someone in royalty or parliament then I could have understood it but why him?

Am I being callous or, like was said on here a few weeks back, it is devaluing the respect of a minute's silence by having it for all and sundry?

 

[Braders]

I was really puzzled why the football matches had a minutes silence for him.

If it was a football related death, a member of a club or even someone in royalty or parliament then I could have understood it but why him?

Am I being callous or, like was said on here a few weeks back, it is devaluing the respect of a minute's silence by having it for all and sundry?

just what i was thinking?

 

[bigc]

no. you are spot on.

our soldiers are dying in Iraq all the time, every other/every few days, from what I gather, but we have no minutes silence for them.

its because the media have hijacked this and exploited it callously, as ever.

 

[Gwylan]

Sound words GT, although I think 'commercial mercenary' is a bit too strong. He was there to earn enough to retire on, he was well-paid, yes, but he was doing honest work; he wasn't a spy or killing people.

But I agree with your central premise, why make such a fuss about one person when thousands of people are dying?

And that sort of attitude is not going to make our standing in the Middle East even worse - not that it can get much lower.

 

[sullyupthewing]

It was his brother that pissed me off he blamed Tony Blair for what happened to his brother, what a load of balls.

 

[The Large One]

I think that was the point of the media 'frenzy'. It was there to make Blair look uncomfortable. The press was playing up how the Labour Party Conference was going to be overshadowed by Ken Bigley. It wasn't. Running the country is about much more than one issue.

There is something about people from Liverpool who have this sort of self-righteous indignation about anything happening to 'an ordinerry pairson'. That disproportionate over-sentimental smugness of wrapping themselves in as much grief as possible fighting injustice in the face of all adversity.

Yes, it was a terrible thing to happen, but to stop an entire city...

 

[Albion Dan]

I didnt catch who the minutes silence was for in the pub, i assumed it was because it was the first match since clough died, was it for Bigley?

WHAT A DISGRACE!!!!!!

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

To call it a disgrace if over the top AD. I understand what you say but a minutes slience for anyone whoever they are who have died in a terrible way is not a disgrace.

 

[Hiney]

Well put Gulliver

I don't think it's too much to call him a 'commercial mercenary' either.

We have friends who have two children and the husband works for a Telecoms company in Iraq, putting up the cables.

They are SO more interested in the money (beacuse it will pay off their mortgage) rather than the implications of having to tell their children that their Dad has been killed by a bunch of pychopathic murderers.

I'm not saying the Ken Bigley got what was coming - no-one deserves that - but those people are out there because they get paid extrordinary amounts of money, not because they are a bunch of humanitarian saints.

 

[Spicy2]

A lot of political capital has been made out of the circumstances surrounding Ken Bigley. I agree that a minute's silence is inappropriate except maybe for those who knew him

 

[trueblue]

On the minute's silence front, the only people that sends an important message to in this situation are the murderers, who must be very satisfied to have made such an impact , supposedly, on an entire nation.

In my opinion, not at all justified. Whatever anyone thinks of Tony Blair, he wasn't the one holding the knife.

 

[oapdodge]

The story of Ken Bigley had gripped the nation.The national team were playing.I understand where people are coming from but life is more important than the game.It also shows respect of the Nation for one of its nationals killed in such horrific circumstances.A decision regarding the silence would not please everyone.One minute to reflect,is it that much to ask ?

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

To oapdodge

Interesting that this additional point about the minute's silence has come up. As others have said, it is indeed way over the top, demonstrating absolutely how the media have grossed out on this individual's wretched story.

Once the boundary is crossed and a public minute's silence has been sanctified, people who feel uncomfortably that it's totally disproportionate are, quite literally, silenced. The whole saccharine performance conveys a misleading impression to the watching media - and the terrorists. Worst of all, they are encouraged, on seeing this entirely manufactured mass response, to do it all again.

So, to those who wonder whether it's too much to ask for the entire nation to commemorate in public the death of one randomly chosen, unknown victim - in a conflict that's produced more than ten thousand other, equally mourned, innocent victims - I'll say yes. It is.

 

[Juan Albion]

24,000 people died today because of hunger or a related illness.

 

[Juan Albion]

The same will happen tomorrow.

 

[NMH]

It's a tough subject to broach because we try not to speak ill of the dead and have respect for their souls. Human folly that ends in death is regrettable, and this especially high-profile case has captured the public attention - which is why it might have been chosen to pay tribute in a public way. Britain is acknowledging massed regard for one citizen's life when he chose to live in extreme danger, but I agree wholeheartedly that there are thousands more victims also with foreign names, down to Bush's and Blair's decision to focus on Iraq.
We have foisted violence upon them in the name of erasing their supposedly tyrannical leadership, and yet 'we' claim to have a good and well-meaning reason for it..... because ''bush said so''.

 

[SK1NT]

The story of Ken Bigley had gripped the nation.The national team were playing.I understand where people are coming from but life is more important than the game.It also shows respect of the Nation for one of its nationals killed in such horrific circumstances.A decision regarding the silence would not please everyone.One minute to reflect,is it that much to ask ?

it was one minute! whether he deserved it or not, he was a national who was barbarically killed! i cant believe what im hearing!

 

[Beach Hut]

it was one minute! whether he deserved it or not, he was a national who was barbarically killed! i cant believe what im hearing!

Without wishing to cause offence we had a traumatic barbaric death locally recently - no minues silence nationally, what's the difference ?