Young boxer death - media obsesses about boxing not another cyclist death

[Tangled Metal]

Basically has anyone heard about that young and talented boxer who was killed by a motorist while on his bike? A sad case when anyone is killed arguably before their time but the media is reporting this a lot locally if not nationally.

The story is a talented young boxer who was well regarded in his community died. How he died played such a small part of the story that I think it's worth mentioning this case. He was with a group of his peers on his bike when a car hit him and his cousin (also a good young boxer and also on his bike).

Would this not be a good story to make more of the motorist/cyclist aspect of the case in the media? It's like the news story glossed over that part of it. Immaculate death without blame. Road safety promotion, call for evidence regarding the accident, etc using the talented boxer angle? Am I being insensitive or plain wrong thinking like this? Another young life taken by motorist. I Identify with the cyclist part of this not the boxer part. Boxing is barbaric IMHO no matter how good you are.

[Bez]

There's always an important discussion to be had about the inherent dangers of fast, heavy vehicles and how these dangers can be mitigated through engineering, licensing and so forth. But I disagree that it would be good "to make more of the motorist/cyclist aspect"; indeed that unhelpfully adversarial grouping is one of the problems of much media coverage. (Oddly, you say yourself that "a car hit him", which removes the "motorist" completely and makes it a "death without blame".)

I confess I've not read the coverage of this incident—I used to exhaustively read all such reports—but I think it's perfectly reasonable to acknowledge someone's contribution to the community on their death. And in the context of that contribution your sense of identity, and mine, is an irrelevance.

Don't get me wrong, if you've read any stuff I've written you'll know my opinion about how the majority of the media will inevitably report this and all cycling fatalities, but I don't think it's reasonable to propose suppressing the coverage of someone's life and instead promoting coverage of a perceived (and IMO gravely misguided) "them and us" problem.

[pwa]

A bit hard on boxing, TM. I knew an old bloke who did a lot of work with young people, including coaching in rugby and boxing. He did a lot of work over decades to turn around boys who had gone off the rails and he had a lot of admirers, including me. I have my own reservations about boxing, but it does have good aspects too. And I'd be surprised if it is more dangerous than our (Welsh) national sport of rugby.

I wonder if people writing up this death are focusing on the loss of a life rather than the way that life was lost. The person not the death. Defining the victim by what they were, not by the way they died.

[Pastychomper]

A bit hard on boxing, TM. I knew an old bloke who did a lot of work with young people, including coaching in rugby and boxing. He did a lot of work over decades to turn around boys who had gone off the rails and he had a lot of admirers, including me. I have my own reservations about boxing, but it does have good aspects too. And I'd be surprised if it is more dangerous than our (Welsh) national sport of rugby.

I wonder if people writing up this death are focusing on the loss of a life rather than the way that life was lost. The person not the death. Defining the victim by what they were, not by the way they died.

Agreed about focussing on the person's life, surely the right thing to do under the circumstances. At the same time, given the cause of death, I think a side-note or two from reporters gently reminding people to be careful how they control their heavy machinery would also be appropriate. It is possible to say such things without detracting from the victim's life, and without blaming whoever should have been in control of the car.

[[XAP]Bob]

A bit hard on boxing, TM. I knew an old bloke who did a lot of work with young people, including coaching in rugby and boxing. He did a lot of work over decades to turn around boys who had gone off the rails and he had a lot of admirers, including me. I have my own reservations about boxing, but it does have good aspects too. And I'd be surprised if it is more dangerous than our (Welsh) national sport of rugby.

I wonder if people writing up this death are focusing on the loss of a life rather than the way that life was lost. The person not the death. Defining the victim by what they were, not by the way they died.

Boxing is one of very few 'sports' where the *objective* is to impart a brain injury (a KO).
I appreciate that amateur boxing now somewhat rarely results in a KO, with points scoring being more important - but the fundamental aim is still do produce a brain injury.

Rugby can, and does, result in some injuries - but they are incidental to the sport, not the primary aim...


As to the story - it pretty much has to lie with the family. They are the ones who have the memories dragged up for however long it is in the news...
That's not to say that they have to lead any effort to galvanise a sane response from the tragedy, but they should at least have some contact with that effort...