Honolulu Lite
WHY doesn't everyone just stop picking on Albert Batalona? Can't people understand that he's just the victim here? He's was simply trying to survive in an unfair world. According to his friends, who gave tearful testimonials on his behalf in front of the federal courthouse last week, Batalona had absolutely no other choice than to rob banks and shoot it out with police, as he's suspected of doing.) He's a nice guy who simply made a mistake. His former employer even said he'd like to give the big lug a hug. Batalona is
ultimate victimBatalona, in a phone call to a local television station, blamed his bad luck on the news media and police "thugs." Wasn't it the police thugs, he pointed out, who shot that poor kidnapper at Sand Island? Weren't they planning to do the same thing to him?
There you go, folks. All wrapped up in one neat little bundle is the end result of years of decay of personal responsibility. It's official now. No one is responsible for anything.
Society OWES you stuff, man. It OWES you a car, television and microwave. It OWES you life, liberty, but more importantly, your personal pursuit of happiness at any cost. And if society fails you, then all bets are off. You have NO CHOICE but to take matters into your own hands. You are a victim and you are doing the only thing a victim can do. You deserve better. You deserve a hug from your old boss. You deserve your friends crying for you on camera about how everyone else screwed up your life.
NOW, let us review exactly how Mr. Batalona expressed his victimhood.
Police think he may have taken part in a couple of violent "store invasion" type of robberies where gunmen clad in black clothes and stocking masks terrorize store clerks. We know the store clerks were terrified because the robbery was captured on video and one of the clerks looked pretty darned terrified as he fell to the ground when one of the gunman waved a loaded handgun in front of his face.
He also may have taken part in a brazen daylight armed robbery of a Kahala bank in which citizens were again terrified by robbers waving around rifles and handguns. (Since he hasn't gone to trial yet, we're stuck in the land of "may haves.")
He may have exchanged semi-automatic rifle fire on a city street with police. The police apparently deserved to be shot at because they were "thugs" with no families, loved ones or bosses who wanted to hug them. Since the bullets didn't hit the cops, they must have ended up somewhere, like near other people, for instance.
Then, while on the lam, Mr. Batalona whined to a television station that police might use lethal force against him. The same kind of lethal force they used against that poor, misunderstood hostage-taker on Sand Island a few years back. That fellow merely duct-taped a shotgun to the neck of an innocent bystander and then attempted to blow the guy's brains out before police "thugs" killed him.
So, you see, Mr. Batalona and his friends have a point. He's the victim here. Life had left him absolutely no other choice in order to support himself and his young son except to rob banks and shoot it out with police. Then the media blew it all out of proportion by actually REPORTING what Batalona was up to, the scumbags. If the media had just shut the hell up about all that shooting and armed robbery business, the cops wouldn't have been so thuggish toward Mr. Batalona. Why doesn't everyone just get off this poor guy's back?
Charles Memminger, winner of
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
awards in 1994 and 1992, writes "Honolulu Lite"
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Write to him at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, 96802
or send E-mail to charley@nomayo.com or
71224.113@compuserve.com.
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