Wednesday 20 June 2007

Incidents like the Melbourne shooting a couple of days ago make you wonder whether it's worth it to be a good Samaritan sometimes.

If the lawyer, Brendan, had gone about minding his own business when he saw a scuffle, he would probably be alive by now.

But the thing is, how do you walk on by? How can you pass a man obviously physically abusing a woman and pretend to ignore it?

Brendan did what any decent human being should have done, and tragically paid with his life.

And now they're hunting the shooter (who belongs to a bikie gang) and some politicians are calling for all bikie gangs to be outlawed.

I'll be the first to admit that I do feel a bit scared when I see a bunch of leather-clad, bearded man hanging around with their Harley-Davidsons, but honestly, how does it make sense for all bikie gangs to be outlawed simply because one of them happened to have killed someone in an incident that did not even have something to do with bikie gangs?

I mean, what if the shooter happened to be an accountant? Should we then call for all accountants to be outlawed?

What if the shooter was a, well, highly stressed policeman who was having a really bad day? Should we therefore remove the entire police force?

I'm not pro- or anti-bike gangs, but the logic of the recent argument baffles me.

It's tragic that Brendan died. I know that bikie gangs have a bad reputation.

But to push for one's personal agenda by jumping on a recent incident that is only slightly remotely related? That's just pushing it a bit too far.

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