Last week, as a sub-editor at The New Paper, I laid out two reports about elderly women being assaulted by strangers in fits of rage.
The first report was about an elderly foodcourt cleaner who was allegedly punched by an angry woman after the cleaner told the woman not to place used trays on the floor.
The other report was about an angry male bus passenger who pushed an elderly female passenger out the door of a stationary bus because he was furious that she caused the bus to stop again by pressing the bell so late.
The male passenger later apologised to the elderly woman. I made it a point to mention this in the second headline of the story.
My wife read both stories and thought that the first case was more serious and wondered why it's the second case that has gotten more attention.
I was also surprised by the attention. As far as I was concerned, the man apologised. Case closed.
The reason for the attention is obvious: The second case has a video of the incident.
And I might add, no video of the apology.
Mr Alex Ong also extended his 15 minutes of infamy by going online to explain why he pushed the old lady off the bus. Plus the scarf he's wearing (in Singapore?!) in the video doesn't help.
Usually, this sort of thing ends with an apology, but he had already apologised early on.
So where's the closure?
In this case, (I hope) it's the police statement that "the incident was being investigated and has been classed as one of voluntarily causing hurt".
Meanwhile, the unnamed woman who punched the elderly foodcourt cleaner is all but forgotten. Why? No video.
Saturday 9 June 2012
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