The affection of the masses is never enough

THERE was something about this particular video which captivated the online audience. Out of the millions of videos posted that day, that week, this six-minute clip was the one which resonated most, the one which was shared, retweeted and commented upon more than any other. And with good reason. Its central figure, Quaden Bayles, was expressing a desire to end his own life.

The nine-year-old Australian boy had, according to the video, been repeatedly and persistently bullied at school because of his dwarfism. And the effect was there for all to see. Within hours of the video being posted Quaden’s life had changed forever. He’d received thousands of messages of support, among them well wishes from Hugh Jackman, Cardi B and Piers Morgan. A GoFundMe page had been set up by US comedian Brad Williams, its aim to send the young boy to Disneyland - because that would surely make things better - and a couple of days later he led out the indigenous All Stars rugby league team for a match in Queensland.

Of course, the Internet being what it is, there were also some unsavoury responses to the video; suggestions that Quaden was an actor, he was an adult, it was all an intricate scam, a money racket. However, those rumours floundered when the Bayles family announced they wouldn’t be using any of funds raised (approx €400,000) to go to Disneyland, or anywhere else for that matter. Instead they wished to see it donated to charity, to Dwarfism Awareness Australia, and the Balunu Healing Foundation.

And there the story comes to an end. Quaden briefly became a minor celebrity and discovered that people are capable of immense kindness and care. And all those associated with the story, however vicariously, got a warm fuzzy feeling in their hearts when they saw what they, as a collective, had done.

But although Quaden will gradually fade from the public eye, his life will go on, he will still be different from most little boys and he will still, despite everything that has happened, receive the occasional jibe, hurtful comment from a child who knows no better.

What kind of life-lessons will he have learned from his brief flirtation with fame though? Will he use the love he received from others to embark upon a new chapter, one of resilience, one where he embraces his differences and to hell with the naysayers?

Or will he, upon discovering how fickle the public’s affection can be, become even more fragile, more despondent? Fame, at any level, for any individual, can have an intoxicating effect, but for a nine-year-boy, and one as vulnerable as Quaden, it can be devastating, leaving its subject in far worse a position than they ever were before.

It’s clear the video in question was posted out of sheer desperation and despair, and that Quaden’s mother, Yarraka, could never have imagined it would catch fire like it did. Yet there’s still something quite unsettling about a woman choosing to film her nine-year-old son at his most distraught and posting it online for the world to see. You can argue her motives were pure, that she wished to expose the bullies, highlight how harmful words and gestures can be, and show the reality of life for children who, for one reason or another, are singled out by their peers. The video did all those things and more, and if it makes one person think twice before making fun of another then it will have served its purpose.

But would she not have been better served putting the phone away, holding her boy close and repelling those words of hate with her own motherly love. Because it’s that which will get Quaden through life, not a pep-talk from Wolverine, a €10 donation from an anonymous donor on the other side of the world.

Sadly - or otherwise, depending on your viewpoint - Quaden Bayles is just the latest in a long line of children who momentarily captured the hearts of the Internet, who was raised upon a plinth and given the royal treatment until his subjects grew tired of him and moved onto someone else.

And there are no shortage of applicants for the role, no shortage of parents willing to forego their children’s privacy in the hope that their video will go viral, and their son or daughter will receive the kind of validation Quaden received in bucket-loads.