Our fascination of deviant families

In response to Tony’s blog Deviant families: why can we just not get enough of it? http://z3333542.blogspot.com/

The media does have an inclination about reporting stories focusing on children, parents and violence. Just look at the violence displayed at a junior football match. A few weeks ago a fight had broken out between the parents of two players and then the players started attacking each other on the field. Former Swans coach Paul Roos, says that the junior game involves more violence than when he played professionally. He says “It begins with parents, permeates through to the young players and ends in officials being forced to become involved.” (Wilson, 2011)Who would have thought that a children’s sport would attract that kind of behaviour? Just when you thought the parents would be the people setting a good example to their children, they are the ones to pick a fight.

Sometimes on shows such as Today Tonight or A Current Affair we see drunk teenagers being returned home to their parents who are just as drunk, and funnily enough their faces are always blocked by the privacy blur. How are children supposed to learn how to act properly when their own parents are a disaster? You just hope they have the sense to look at their disgraceful parents and go “I never want to be like them.” So how true is it, that children mimic the behaviour of their parents? If they do, let’s just hope that the violence doesn’t escalate to criminal activities.

On another matter, which Tony touched on is the spotlight on the Ibrahim and Moran crime families. These two families have dominated media coverage over the past few years. If there were any new crime discoveries about the people from these families, it would be all over the news and tabloids the next day. Is it a coincidence that these two families were both on the television show Underbelly? Let’s face it; the media will always report something on violence because it is newsworthy (Jewkes, 2004). It is the topic that most attracts the attention of the audience. Something so small such as violence between parents in a children’s football match makes the news. We are so used to hearing and seeing violence in media coverage, we have become desensitised to some of the most gruesome stories.

So why do deviant families fascinate us? Maybe it is because we look at our own family and thank god that we are not like the ones in the news, or maybe it is for our own entertainment that we like to see the plight of others. Either way, the media will continue to report these types of stories, and we, the audience will continue to indulge in them.

References:

Jewkes, Y. (2004). Media and Crime, Sage Publications, London

Wilson, R. (2011). Keep bad dads out of kid’s sport, 28 May 2011, The Daily Telegraph

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/keep-bad-dads-out-of-kids-sport/story-e6frext9-1226064332565