Kylie Lang: Something is badly wrong when abuse becomes the price of speaking up

I was threatened with violence by two parents whose kids were out of control at the supermarket, just for doing the right thing, writes Kylie Lang.

Answer me this: are we to ignore poor behaviour lest we fear retribution?

Do we let society turn into a free-for-all because we’re frightened to speak up?

I don’t ever want to be a bystander – the standards we walk past are the standards we accept – but, boy, what happened in Coles this week could make anyone think twice.

Here I was, popping veggies into my basket when out rang the squeals of children sounding like they were on a theme park ride.

Two kids, who looked about five years old, were thumping into packets of chips stacked neatly in a display box at the start of a nearby aisle.

Chips were flying, kids were shrieking, and the two women who appeared to belong to them couldn’t have cared less.

Hang on a minute.

The punching-bag chips cannot be sold. They’re dead stock. And an employee will have to clean up the mess.

The packets that escaped being busted open may be bought, but unassuming customers will soon discover the contents have been smashed to pieces. Fair? I think not.

So I said to the children, “please don’t hit the chips”.

Shoppers have an expectation that the food they take off the shelves hasn’t been punched by unruly kids.

I didn’t raise my voice. I wasn’t condescending. It was a simple request.

But the reaction from the women was next level.

I was sworn at repeatedly, called a “white c. t”, and told to mind my “f … ing business”.

Had I chosen to respond, I might have said it actually is my business, as a minor shareholder of Coles and as a citizen who doesn’t want this country to go to the dogs.

I feel the same way about people who steal from those self-serve snack sections that have nuts and the like.

Why do signs limply ask, “please do not sample”, when they should be stating, “shoplifters will be prosecuted”?

Sadly, we have come to a point in society where offending people who are offenders is to be avoided.

Standing in the checkout queue, I was again abused by the women, who’d lined up behind me.

So unhinged was their tirade – while Coles’ staffers did nothing, I might add – that a fellow shopper said he’d walk me to my car.

Unnecessary, I told him. I wasn’t worried.

He insisted, saying that while he was doing his own shopping he’d overheard them promising to “bash” me.

Oh, for heaven’s sake, grow up.

Down in the carpark, no word of a lie, these two women – with children learning all sorts of wonderful life lessons – were waiting and again their mouths let fly.

My fellow shopper believes if he had not been with me, I would have been physically attacked.

He gave them a gobful of his own, and they took off, tyres screeching.

All in all, an ugly incident.

When we talk of people being killed or hurt in home invasions, of police being assaulted in riots, we probably don’t realise how close we can all come to being victims of violence.

We can’t live in fear of speaking up against people doing the wrong thing.

Even by speaking up against something that might seem trivial, we risk our safety.

But we can’t live in fear.

As the Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song goes, from little things, big things grow.

If we turn away from minor indiscretions, we sanction major ones.

Consider the broken windows theory.

It suggests that when police target relatively small offences, such as vandalism or disturbing the peace, it fosters a culture of greater respect and less crime.

If windows are left broken, then other windows in the building will be broken too – regardless of the neighbourhood.

Just one broken window can signal that no-one gives a toss, so who cares if more windows are smashed?

I care. And so should you.

Kids who are left to run riot – without discipline or understanding that actions have outcomes – will become liabilities.

They’ll be the ones getting into trouble with the law, and blaming the police for unfairly targeting them. Ha!

The people at fault here are parents or “care” givers who are failures as role models.

Becoming wildly aggressive when anti-social actions are called out by observers only teaches kids they can destroy property without consequences and the wellbeing and safety of others is of no concern.

Here’s a new sign for Coles: parents of vandals will be prosecuted.

LOVE

Brisbane 2032 boss Andrew Liveris arguing the case for a decent Olympics stadium. “You just have to be in the Stade de France watching the sevens rugby with 80,000 people providing revenue and top sponsors providing revenue to understand the power of having a right-size stadium.” The 40,000-seat QSAC ain’t it.

LOATHE

A flat white tipped to hit $7. Coffee king Phil Di Bella isn’t wrong when he says payroll tax and outmoded industrial relations laws are forcing cafes to close or slug consumers with ever-increasing prices. He says lack of consultation with industry by both Labor and the LNP is glaring.

Kylie Lang is Associate Editor of The Courier-Mail
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Originally published as Kylie Lang: Something is badly wrong when abuse becomes the price of speaking up