Several instances since moving to Kings Cross, I’ve gone out my front door to discover my home within a cordoned off police region, occasionally enjoying a coffee on a 200-metre stretch of road that was unnervingly deserted, bracketed on both end by crowds unable to enter the region. Despite the tranquility, these unusual moments of peace and quiet are a haunting reminder of the earlier night’s no doubt violent conclusion. It’s disturbing that it was of no shock to see the police tape up once more more than New Year’s Eve.
The standard recourse of most media right after one of these unprovoked attacks is to talk about “alcohol-fuelled” and “mindless” attacks, which displays a superficial truth that’s somewhat unsatisfying. I naturally agree that “violent coward + alcohol” is a far worse eventuality than just “violent coward”, but there is something about the repeated focus on alcohol that robs us of an obligation to peer even more into the ugly and as-nevertheless-unnamed culture that Kings Cross looks to be seeped in.
It’s misleading to emphasis purely on alcohol. Figures released in November show that alcohol consumption general appears to be in a period of mild decline, nevertheless our awareness and fear of violent attacks has in no way been larger. I’m almost certainly failing right here in my remit to write a comment piece, as I’d rather question: is it not worth broadening the scope of our condemnation to incorporate cultural variables and social patterns? Are groups of guys out on the piss more very likely to get concerned in violence than a group of couples who drink the exact same quantity? Why is it that when I stroll property from a good drinking session with pals that was entirely harmless, as soon as I get amongst the culturally decaying brackets of the Coke indicator and McDonalds in Kings Cross, the air itself would seem to hum with an animalistic static charge that tingles with possible harm?
Once again, I’m not attempting to take the onus off us to drink responsibly, but I also really do not want these of us who have a healthful connection with alcohol to come to feel by some means connected to the thuggish drunks who get tanked up and then go seeking for a fight. Information media and these in the public eye would do well to draw our interest to other factors that may possibly contribute to violent outcomes in areas like Kings Cross: overcrowding, proximity to sporting events or national holidays, or clashes in between socioeconomic groups, not to mention the extra involvement of medication.
There is also a accountability on all of us to abandon the sort of language that serves only to glorify and exacerbate these sorts of horrific attacks. I’m by no implies the 1st to say this, but it would be remiss of me not to repeat the sentiment nevertheless: “king-hit” is, without having query, an pointless and repugnant addition to the English language. It makes these cowardly, violent actions seem to be like nothing at all a lot more than an achievement in a personal computer game. It is the kind of phrase that would not be out of place dripping down your screen following finishing someone off in a beat ‘em up seeing it in print in newspapers, nevertheless, is as baffling as it is dangerous. Some have campaigned for it to be renamed, even though I think providing the action a name at all is wildly irresponsible. Allow it disappear from the language fully: even badges of dishonour would be worn proudly by these idiots as I doubt they care much for lexical subtleties.
As the New Yr commences, we require a fresh point of view that doesn’t just blame alcohol, but is accepting of a wider individual accountability and demands a deeper examination of the other variables that permit this kind of focused locations of violence to flourish. It would be a sorry way to commence 2014 if we had been forced to admit that, collectively, we cannot get pleasure from a excellent drink.
Alcohol is not the only cause of violence in Kings Cross. We require to search deeper | Jazz Twemlow
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