Moral Conservatism in the Light of PreDawn

I am going to have a bit of a rant today… and why not, I am up early and on the 6:30am train this morning as I have to be at Chatswood for a 9am meeting…

Where is Australia going at the moment?  I feel that we are forever more living in a conservative country with insular views and a strict moral code.  Whilst I would consider myself a moral person, I am not a wowser and at times I feel as though this country collectively is turning into a nation of wowsers.  This morning, I heard the news that reserve Wallaby scrum half Henjak is being sent home from the Wallaby tour for “throwing ice at a team mate”.  Now that is the expression used.  This story, whilst insignificant in itself is a prime example of what I am getting at.  The media has been beating this up for days as this indiscretion occurred in a nightclub at 4am in the morning.  If this “incident” occurred at the team hotel over lunch, we would never have heard about it.  But the “shocking fact” that 4 footballers are in a nightclub at 4am is now a national concern.  Team management must react (according to the media) and some 48-72hrs later this guy’s football career is in tatters.

I want to point out some facts to people.  Firstly, nightclubs are not illegal.  They are places for people to go to for entertainment.  They are also licensed to be open at 4am and guess what… they do a decent trade at 4am.  If you have ever been out on the town, a nightclub is packed at 4am.  Secondly, alcohol is not illegal.  People like to have a drink and on occasion drink to excess.  Thirdly, footballers of all codes should not be held accountable for every indiscretion that leads them away from what a pious priest would do.  Footballers like a drink and like to go to clubs and probably like to chase women.

The media has to stop holding these guys accountable for activities that are not only considered normal, but are practically expected of men in the early 20’s.  There is this inherent conflict that football tours can be rowdy and yet we expect these guys to behave like choir boys.

Also, why do we care?  Who cares if 4 players are on the piss at 4am half a world away?  Why do we care that Shane Warne has extramarital affairs and is a sleaze?  Sure it’s not my cup of tea, but he is hardly the first man to be unfaithful.

Why is the media in this country so hung up on the behaviour of sports stars and other celebrities?  I think Shane Warne is a great cricketer and I love watching him bowl.  I don’t care if he’s married, divorced, swinging like a monkey or a virgin – just keep getting wickets and keeping your spot on the team and I am fine.

I am guessing that umpteen years of the Howard government is finally taking its toll.  We have become a nation of scorecarders and “tskers” who are obsessed with everyone keeping on the straight and narrow.  But unfortunately this is an impossible goal as history has shown time and time again that many externally conservatives are actually closet deviants who secretly act out their vices.  The hordes of priests and other men (and women) of religion and of the moral right who have been found out for what they truly are are examples of the fact that everyone has a skeleton in their closet.

I want to go back to the times when a man could chase a woman in a nightclub at 4am and get in a scuffle with her boyfriend and not have it become national media.  I want to go back to the time when people were free to live as they felt and that others were left to live as they saw fit.  I want the newspapers to talk more on news and less on gossip and I want the sports pages to talk about results and scores and less about marital affairs.