A Punch Line Revisited

"A dingo ate my baby" has been a pop culture punch line in the vernacular for as long as my memory serves. For most of my life, I only had a vague idea of where it came from - I knew it had something to do with Australia because of the over-exaggerated accent we loved to say it in - and I think I knew it was from a Meryl Streep movie based on something that actually happened in that mysterious land far, far away.  I think my idea of what a dingo was may have come from a cartoon of some sort - I pictured a grey, dirty, mangy, toothy, slobbery, snarling beast.

Actual dingo. The first wrong assumption I made.

In college, a friend of mine cracked us up backstage during a production of A Christmas Carol when, in her role as a ghost, she entered the scene in the midst of a whole chorus of ghostly cries, wailing, "a dingo ate my baaaaaaabeeeee." We thought it was the funniest thing we'd ever heard.

Little did I know how much was really behind those words, none of it actually comical at all. Recently, the case has been back in the news, as the family has finally been officially vindicated, and learning the whole story has been an education.

There was an excellent op-ed in The New York Times the other day, that sums up the background of the case, including the social issues that led to such a drawn-out, mismanaged ordeal. If you're interested or don't know about the case, I really recommend this piece.

I was struck by learning that Azaria Chamberlain would today be 32 years old, which is just about my age. I recognize that she would be one of my peers. And I also put into perspective that Lindy Chamberlain and her family have been trying to clear their names for, basically, the entire time that I have been alive. What an unimaginable ordeal for a grieving family.

We were having lunch yesterday with Australian friends who are old enough to well remember the initial case. It was very much in the public eye, much like Casey Anthony or other such high profile cases in the States: Everyone had an opinion. They recalled their shifting feelings about whether Lindy Chamberlain was guilty or not, and their sentiments echoed a lot of what that NY Times op ed suggested about the social and governmental factors that shaped popular opinion. With hindsight, it's easy to see the bumbled investigation and wrong assumptions about "strange religious beliefs" and "how grieving mothers should appear in public," but these sorts of things do still go on today, all over the world.

I suppose my takeaway from learning about this case is a reminder about questioning my own assumptions and being cautious with flippancy. It's easy to pass judgment and make jokes about people you don't know, or seem far removed from your experiences. It' is so much more of a challenge to think of them as real people with complex stories. Frankly, this case makes me so sad - I won't ever find that punchline funny again.