farmdoc's blog post number 15

On a recent Australian rules football TV programme, a 62-year-old ex-footballer and current media personality fondled a mannequin with a picture of a Melbourne newspaper’s chief football writer – who is a woman - stapled to its head. Well as a man who adores my wife, four daughters and three granddaughters, I consider this man a misogynist and his behaviour obscene. My dictionary defines obscene as repulsive, repugnant, detestable and abhorrent. This man’s stunt is all of these, and so is the lack of public censure by the TV station. Within the rubric of obscenity I also include the Westpac Bank’s A$1.84 billion profit in the last six months – a 10% rise despite the doubling of loan losses and provisions – because Westpac arguably couldn’t and didn’t give a damn about the effect on its customers of its business decisions. I also read recently that Kylie Minogue’s personal fortune is A$84.5 million – which to me is not obscene because though sub-talented, our Kylie has ostensibly hurt no-one when amassing her monetary riches. Contrast Bernie Ecclestone whose financial worth in the last 12 months increased by A$340 million of which almost 10% was donated to him by the Victorian government in return for not much. Which brings me full circle, because Ecclestone’s Formula One circus is as misogynistic as the 62-year-old TV buffoon.