The death of Carl Williams has predictably been covered as if it were an episode of Underbelly. It comes complete with reminders of past episodes, pictures of the central characters, enticement by future developments of the plot, and a heavy voice-over reinforcing the moral message that what goes around comes around.
What has been lacking is even a moment in which we are invited to pause in solidarity with one of our fellow human beings who died unprovided for in what should have been a safe place.
Carl Williams certainly killed without remorse, causing grief to people who had not hurt him, and was rightly jailed to protect society and to assert the fragile rule of law. But he was a human being like ourselves, with a humanity whose essential dignity, like our own, could not be erased by any of his misdeeds.
A few years ago a banner outside a Melbourne Cathedral bore the message: 'God loves Saddam Hussein'. It caused offence, but for Christians the message was non-negotiable. So is it non-negotiable to claim that God loves Carl Williams.
This sense that we all share with criminals the heart of what makes us human, and that the death of every human being diminishes us, is difficult to sustain in a culture which regards celebrity as a desirable commodity and then turns criminals into celebrities.
Celebrity privileges plot over character. Celebrities are what they do, whether what they do involves making money on a grand scale, showing great skill at kicking large leather balls, acting for film or telly, accompanying people who do any of the above, or being photographed by the right photographers. The core of their humanity is obscured, indeed is of no interest. It cannot be commodified.
The same is true of people who are made celebrities for doing dark deeds. Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Stalin, Jack the Ripper and modern serial killers are identified with the terrible things they have done. They are seen as monsters because of the monstrous effects their actions have had on others. Their real self is not seen.
The same is true of Williams and the other criminals who are portrayed in Underbelly and similar series. They exist for the plot; are the colour of their black hats.
The difficulty with viewing people as celebrities is that we shall see what happens to them only in terms of the plot. The famous tennis player