Friday, May 18th, 2012
A HEADLINE reading ‘The Breakfast Killer: boy who beat ex to death for a fry-up’ reports the murder of 15 year old Rebecca Aylward at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, teenager Joshua Davies.
Low tech twisted texts
The circumstances behind this brutality are obscured by the fact that the article, like a number of other accounts, focuses on a series of low tech twisted texts between Davies and a friend, in which he was offered a free breakfast in return for killing Aylward.
It is likely this misleading information held little or no part in whatever motivated Davies; however the media has seized it as the defining force behind his actions.
Tacky headline
In sacrificing accurate representation for a tacky headline, the tragedy of Aylwards death is cheapened, as is the awfulness of Davies – a boy not far out of childhood – purportedly bludgeoning her.
One report stresses the influence of cyber culture in alienating Davies and his peers from reality, suggesting that this kind of detachment, along with a morbid fascination for violent films, were instrumental in forming Davies capacity for brutality.
Distorted mindset
This may well be the case, and it would perhaps be healthy for us all to be aware of the distorted mindset that can result from the misuse of technology.
But no matter how skewed his vision may have been, surely his savagery was provoked by something more complex than a free plate of sausage and eggs. It’s an injustice to all involved to represent it with misleading information in such a sensationalised yet simplistic light.
Lucy Hartley is a wowdewow blogger
Do you think such information is typical of our need for simplistic solutions. Comments welcome
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Tags: brutality, cheapened, cyber culture, midset, mindset, misleading information, Rebecca Aylward
Could agree more. They twisted what was already twisted to fit up the story with this headline. Whatever motivated Davies, it wasn’t a “fry-up”.