Is anyone else disgusted by the behaviour of beachgoers in this story?

Italian outrage over Roma drowning photos - CNN.com

I read this in my Who magazine a week or two ago and was a little appalled. Granted, we can't be sure if the articles are accurate about no-one attempting to help them when they were in trouble (after all, that is the job of lifeguards). But from the articles I have read and the photos I have seen, most people DID just continue with their sunbathing, picnicking and such, as the girls' bodies lay nearby, and as they were taken away in coffins. Like their Grandmother said in the Who article, those nearby had no respect for the children, in life or death.

Do not disturb: already disturbed.

Yes.
I love the 21st century.

(Calms down ever so slightly). But I have to say when those pics were taken it was too late to rush up and say "I know CPR!" There's some question (only implicit in the CNN coverage) of what beachgoers should have done to rescue the kids when they cried for help.
It seems some older girls tried to help. Lifeguards reached the two younger girls, too late to save them, but rescued the older girls (also "Roma" girls?). I have to say that less fit and capable swimmers in the water could have added to the lifeguard load and casualty count but all the same I did pick up general apathy.
Roma, I take it, is an Italian reference to Romany. Please don't invoke Godwin's Law here, but Romanies ("Gipsies", "Pikies") have always been popular for scapegoating and persecution right up to Hitler's time, and apparently beyond.
That such an attitude can go as far as allowing children to die is a disgrace.

The other girls the lifeguards saved were gypsies too, in the Who article it said the 2 that drowned were 11 and 13 (not 12 and 13) and were sisters. Their mother was 28. The other 2 that got saved were their cousins. The article also says that Roma Gypsy are of Indian origin and migrated to Europe 1,000 years ago. They are not a well respected group and live in ghettos around large cities. They 'live in extreme poverty and often resort to petty theft to survive'. The girls that drowned were hawking trinkets to the beachgoers before they went for a 'swim' (they couldn't swim). While I agree that by the time the photos were taken it was past the stage of people milling around to see what they could do to help, the whole attitude seemed to be one of indifference. Sure, there's a history of intolerance for the Roma Gypsies throughout Europe, but still, who can be indifferent about ANY kids dying? Apart from child murderers maybe.

Do not disturb: already disturbed.

All fairly typical of the widely held image of Gypsies. Not sure how much is founded on their actual behaviour, but mistrust of "the group which comprises not-us" is always present. Nor do I know if the ghetto thing is merely a modern transition, I always thought they were itenerant. It's not like we have a lot of "Romas" in this country.

Not one of those points carries a death sentence though.

How about anyone dying?

IMO, it's not just about callousness toward children, or about racism. It's about an essential lack of humanity. How could anyone eat and relax and snooze, when they've just seen people die? Have death and suffering become so commonplace that it's no big deal? Or have people just numbed out?

You know what this reminds me of? Back in the olden days, when Mater and Pater would pack a picnic lunch, bundle the kids into the wagon, head to the Colosseum and spend a fun-filled day watching human beings (gladiators) fight and kill each other, wild animals and criminals. Not to mention the crucifixions of condemned criminals that served as a kind of "pregame" entertainment.

Now of course we have news programs. Oh, sorry, did I say something cynical?

John, you old cynical softie.

I love the press sensationalising the fact that these weren't "normal" girls but gypsies, who bloody well cares, they're human beings and should not be treated any differently because they have a different lifestyles to the rest of us.

The fact is 2 girls have died their background shouldn't come in to it, what a bunch of arseholes the international press are, why can't they report anything without sensationalising it? If I were a journalist, I would have left out the part of them being gypsies.

"It takes 47 muscles to smile and 17 frown, but it doesn't take any to sit there with a dumb look on your face."

I'm not commenting on the Roma side of things, having Romany blood myself but as already stated, it shouldn't bloody matter what colour, race, religion someone is. I agree with Rich (Wizzard) that the media used the fact they were Roma to sensationalise the story (no surprises there!).

It's because Italy will be fingerprinting and gathering the DNA of every gypsy as they are said to commit most crimes, I think that's why the media have included it.

hangman@itsabitchthing.com