David Rathband was a coward and you are an idiot for disagreeing

I know when I do posts that aren't about Geordie fucking Shore it's usually because of Tony fucking Parsons. The self described journalist/writer is a bastion of everything that is wrong with Western society, never mind the UK. He's a faux intellect, he believes himself to be middle class even though it doesn't actually exist and everything he spews out of his mouth is a horrid combination of melodrama and sensationalism

This morning, PC David Rathband hung himself. A few years ago he was shot and blinded by the infamous literal baby faced lunatic, Raoul Moat. Afterwards, Rathband declared Raoul Moat to be a coward for taking his own life instead of giving himself up. He also said, in several interviews and in his own book, that he wasn't going to let the ghost of Raoul Moat hang over his life. He was going to live his ife to the fullest, because he was lucky to be alive. He was going to show Raoul Moat that he can take his eyesight, but he could not take his life away

It didn't work out so well for him

This is where Tony Parsons comes into it. He made this tweet and a lot of people believe him to be right. That David Rathband, hours after his suicide was announced to the media, didn't actually kill himself. He was murdered by Raoul Moat way back when

Why? Well, David Rathband was a hero. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time but he came back from it. He fought with everything he had, and went on to live his life. That is what a hero does. Heroes do not kill themselves. You can't even call it re-writing history, since usually some time has to pass before it can be called history. His body was found around 8 hours ago at the time of writing and people are retro-actively saying he didn't kill himself

It's this sense of delusion which gave birth to the notion of him being a hero on the first place. Let's be honest here, heroes do not exist outside of children's books and other fantastical stories. The word gets bandied about so much nowadays, and for what? Our media loves nothing more than to build people up just to knock them down - the hero worship just makes their fall all the more sweet

When David Rathband allegedly beat his wife and was arrested for it, it was reported but nobody came out against him. Nobody attacked him like other famous beaters of women, like Chris Brown or Charlie Sheen. Nobody questioned the anger he obviously had inside of him for losing his sight when Moat shot him. It was brought up and almost as quickly swept under the rug

Was Rathband getting shot sad? Yes, definitely. Nobody deserved to go through that. Nobody deserves to be targeted simply because of who they are, in this case a police officer. Was he a hero for it? No. Was he an inspiration? Apparently not, unless you want to inspire your kids to kill themselves if it is getting too tough for them

Tony Parsons and everyone like him don't see that. The truth is right in front of their eyes, and they chose to ignore it. They chose to paint a picture of him, a tragic hero, one who didn't kill himself but was already dead. Why ruin an inspirational story when it doesn't end the way you want it to? Just change the ending entirely in front of everyone's eyes!

Raoul Moat killed himself because that was his only way out. He had been on the run for days and there was a manhunt for him. He ended up surrounded by police and eventually he shot himself. He had managed to kill one person and shoot two others, and he wasn't going to be punished for it. If he gave himself up then he'd be in jail for the rest of his life. If he died there and then, he'd be renowned, a part of British history

David Rathband killed himself because he couldn't carry on. He was blind, but thousands of blind people manage to carry on. He had huge public support behind him - even if he was blind he was could have done anything he wanted. Without wanting to sound insensitive, he was essentially bulletproof - he managed to get through allegations of assaulting your wife without so much as a hint of public outcry

In my opinion, Rathband is not a hero, and if anything, is even more of a coward than Raoul Moat. Raoul Moat had a life of imprisonment when he killed himself. David Rathband had far more going for him. He could have done pretty much anything and the entire country would be in force behind him. His life would be difficult, but him continuing on would just be even more inspiring

That's why Tony Parsons claims Moat killed him. It doesn't ruin the story. It keeps David Rathband as a brave person. He didn't kill himself. How could he? How could a person as brave and inspiring as David Rathband kill himself? No, he was murdered after his murderer had been dead for nearly two years. The idea of David Rathband is more important than David Rathband as a person, so when the person lets them down then they can just change the idea

Maybe the media played a part in it. All the pressure they put on him to be better. Brave. Inspirational. Heroic. Maybe he wasn't any of those things at all - maybe he was just a police officer who lost his eyesight in a horrific event that suddenly attained the media spotlight and, try as he might, he wilted under it. Maybe he was deeply unhappy with the cards he had been dealt, and was torn between what he wanted to do and what he was perceived to be, how he should act. Maybe the media shouldn't be the ones to take such a high and mighty stance over this because of that

I don't know. In all honesty, it doesn't even matter now. The story is over. With Rathband dead, Raoul Moat will get his one last push in the newspapers and then that will be it, aside from the anniversaries. I've made my thoughts on this re-writing of events clear, in many words. David Rathband couldn't keep living his life so he killed himself. This does not make him a hero, this makes him a coward. No amount of metaphors will change that