Media Coverage of the Bali Bombings

A strength in character and a betrayal of ideals

On October 12th 2002, a terrorist attack destroyed two crowded clubs in Bali; one of Australia's favourite holiday destinations. In total, 201 people died, including 88 Australians. Some speculated the attack was revenge for Australia helping East Timor gain independence from Indonesia. Others speculated it stemmed from Australia joining the American invasion of Afghanistan. Others suggested it was simply as statement by Muslims offended by the drinking and sexual promiscuity of Australians.

As is the case with all terrorist attacks, only a small number of people were directly affected, but the entire country was symbolically affected. The character shown by the survivors of the blast represented a great deal about the country they came from. Likewise, the type of media stories that Australians wanted to read, and the stories they didn't want to read, also represented an aspect of their collective mind.

Most of the media stories in Australia focussed on the character of the victims instead of the rights or wrongs of the past actions of the Australian government or the enemy. It seems that instead of having a political argument, Australians more interested in supporting victims and understanding their pain. This was very much in keeping with the ANZAC tradition of Australian culture.

With this positive frame of mind, the Bali bombings made heroes out of numerous Australians. One of these was plastic surgeon Fiona Wood from Royal Perth Hospital. Dr Wood led a team working to save patients suffering from burns from up to 92 per cent of their body. She dealt with deadly infections, delayed shock and death.

Another hero was Peter Hughes, a roofing contractor whose character in the hours after the blast and in the subsequent months of rehabilitation won him praise Australia wide. For Hughes, the two bombs were the start of a very bad day. After getting his bearings following the first blast, Hughes was blown backwards by a second. As he came to, he saw two women covered in flames. He walked over to them, picked them up and carried them out of the nightclub. In the process, he suffered horrendous burns to his own hands. Hughes then walked 800 meters for help, with half his calf blown off, burns to 60 per cent of his body, and his body pieced with shrapnel.

In hospital, he was interviewed by a reporter. Despite the injuries he had suffered, the conversation was friendly, relaxed, under-stated and positive:

"Reporter: How are you doing?

Peter Hughes: Yeah, good. No, real good. Being well looked after. The people here are fantastic, all volunteers and that. No, good, good. There's a lot worse people than me.

Reporter: Mate, you look like you have a couple of burns there, mate. How are you doing?

Peter Hughes: Oh, no, good. It's about 50% of my body. But I just feel a bit swollen at the moment, that's all. And, um, yeah."

Hughes was given a 5 per cent chance of survival. Three times in the next two weeks he technically died.

At the time of the blast, author Patrick Lindsay was writing a book called 'The Spirit Of The Digger' and he saw in the survivors the same qualities that he saw in the ANZAC legend. Lindsay was inspired by the solidarity of Australians after the blast, the mateship, as well as the desire to help others. According to Lindsay:

"I saw the essence of it all. The looking after each other, the mateship in times of adversity. You see it during the fires, you see it during times of drought and we saw it there (in Bali)"

"If this had happened in other countries with lots of other approaches to life it could have been the start of generations of vendettas… but that's not Pete's approach to it and it's not the Australian way,"

"They had to fight their only little individual battles all the way through to get back to some normality in their lives…It's such a wonderful positive thing, they've come out of it with such strength,"

Long Road to Heaven - Discussion of an Indonesian movie about the Bali Bombings

V for Vendetta - Fictional movie released after London tube bombings

After the Tube bombings, the movie "V for Vendetta" was released. Staring Australian actor Hugo Weaving, V for Vendetta depicts a future England in which a Christian group has come to power using a terrorist attack by Muslims as an excuse to crack down on homosexuals, Muslims, and free thinkers. The hero is a terrorist who has been inspired by Guy Fawkes, and wants to blow up the English Houses of Parliament. Although it was an American made movie, it was embraced by the English. To release the movie so soon after London's Tube bombings demonstrated that there were sections of the English speaking world that feared totalitarianism far more than terrorism.

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