Portrait of an axe murderer

In the olden days - like, before 1994 - whenever members of the public had the misfortune of appearing on the news - usually on account of being either of the participants in a murder or some other crime or misdemeanour - the photos were often scrappy, Polaroid-esque shots that looked like they were taken at a dimly lit Fondue party one night in 1978 and which had since been used exclusively as coasters for overfilled coffee cups.

In somewhat stark contrast with n-megapixel, perfectly posed Facebook avatar shots that only show our best, most pouty-est, pensive sides. Or, if you're not the pouty, pensive sort; the crazy beer swilling, crazy axe-murderer psychopath side.

Just because we all own an average of 8.4* cameras each, 36%** of which are with us at all times.

So, now when you have the misfortune of having your head lopped off by some angry miscreant, the news watching public now get to see your moody posed pre-decapitated self and not your grainy 1978 Fondue party self. Which I suppose is sort of interesting. At least in an aesthetic, production value sense.

But not half as interesting as the poor sap who gets wrongly fingered for the crime but whose only Facebook avatar the press ever run is the crazy axe-murderer out-on-the-town shot he pulled as a joke for his mates for three seconds one Saturday night in 2008.

* I made this up, but it's probably true.

** Same.