Brooke Warne has inherited much from her father, former cricketing great Shane Warne.
Sandy coloured hair? Check.
Sporting prowess? Sure, why not?
Lack of self-awareness? Apparently, yes.
While her father swelters in the South African jungle for the second season of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (and his charitable foundation crumbles in his absence), 18-year-old Brooke is feeling the heat at home for posting an offensive picture on her Instagram account on Saturday night.
The photo — taken at what appears to be a “bad taste”- themed party — shows the teenager holding a stuffed lion amongst a group of her friends.
It’s one of those fairly innocuous, if vaguely regrettable, snaps that comes out of rich kids’ birthday parties, but the caption on it is the real kicker.
It reads: “Politically incorrect — yes #cecil #malaysianairline #holocaust.”
Yes, that is Cecil the Lion, whose shooting by an American dentist caused global outrage.
Cecil and her blood-drenched blonde killer are hanging out with their pals, the deceased flight attendants of the recent Malaysian Airline tragedies. Obviously.
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Inform yourself with HISTORICAL EVENTS. You post on Instagram to be out there. WEAR THE CONSEQUECES.
The desire to shock and confront as a form of rebellion in youth is not at all the preserve of the rich. Sure the medium for confrontation varies widely. It might be through personal appearance, language, preparedness to flout danger or the law, or daring to smash social norms. Likewise, the disregard for its impact on others does not follow lines of material wealth. Unfortunately examples of youthful risk-taking such as alcohol fuelled violence and dangerous driving claim many victims and the perpetrators are certainly not confined to a particular band of family income. Youth who engage in such behaviour, and those who don’t, come from all social and economic circumstances.
Comment on this behaviour, sure, but to conflate it with other factors is misguided; and understand it for what it is. In this case, youths are clearly trying to confront and be offensive. They are at least on target in the historical events they have chosen as being in bad taste to replicate. They know they’re tragic and hideous events. That’s precisely why they’ve chosen them. They’re not idolising these events or even mocking the victims. They are pushing their own boundaries of being daring by being so offensive as to imitate it. And one of the benefits of pushing boundaries - is figuring out where they lie.