Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Nappy Change Time!

Recently two members of Australia's olympic swimming team, in the USA for training (Australia has no swimming pools?) posted to facebook, photographs of themselves holding crossed shotguns or pistols (in a local USA gunshop.)

These off-duty photographs sent members of the following groups bonkers:

  • Journalists
  • the swimming team hierarchy
  • The Australian Olympic Committee
Journalism, an occupation in which the cohort of clueless & chattering types is a considerably larger percentage than for most occupations, declared in print & on air, that the "weapons" the swimmers had posed with were the same as "those used in the Port Arthur massacre".

Well, the scary ballistic stuff does come out the end with the round hole in it, but that is about where the comparison to the port arthur weaponry ends.

... But, gee.... why bother to research actual facts, when you can just make it up? After all.... "guns is guns, right?"

Then some feminised bedwetter in the olympic hierarchy (seemingly a masculinity-free zone) declared that the swimmers should only post photos on facebook that you'd want to "share with your mother or grandmother"

...... which is exactly the sort of photograph the swimmers did post on facebook!

The nadir of this farce occurred a few days later when the swimmers returned to Australia. Confronted at the airport by a phalanx of journalists, one of the swimmers stated that it had just been a "bit of fun" & he said he was sorry if anybody had been offended by the photos.

Actually the swimmer's apology was rather a grovelling one. He didn't apologise for the photos, but only for inadvertantly offending anyone who'd seen the photos.

This got the morning TV wankocracy babbling about the "lack of sincerity" in the "clayton's apology" etc etc etc.

What the "journalists" overlooked was that this apology was a sign of the swimmer's lack of character...
.... for in this instance he had nothing to apologise for, and he should not have apologised at all.

Were Mine Host (who has never represented Australia in swimming) to be confronted in similar circumstances about posting on facebook a photo of himself nursing a firearm, he'd advise the journalists, and especially the Australian Olympic Committee, to go & have their nappy changed.

11 comments:

Ellie @ Kitchen Wench said...

Actually, the sticking point for the committee is that the photos breeched their social media policy, something quite common these days since the multiple scandals involving photos uploaded onto Facebook and Twitter over the past 12 months involving famous sportspeople!

The question of whether or not the AOC's social media policy is overbearing/vague is a separate point altogether, but both athletes in this instance agreed to it and as such, must deal with the ramifications. A stupid person who signs a stupid contract must deal with whatever comes from that decision.

kae said...

A holiday photo posing with legal weapons causes conniptions, but the history of D'Arcy and the shenanigans of the other bloke are glossed over by the AOC.

It's ridiculous.

Steve at the Pub said...

Miss Ellie, that social media policy is also rather a sticking point for the committee. For it says nothing about photos taken in a shop, posing with the wares (be that flowers or guns) of that shop.

The committee, with nothing in the social media policy to support them, have resorted to jerking their thumb at a clause which says words to the effect of: thou shalt not post photos which bring the sport into disrepute.

However: Anyone who flips open the latest issue of a soft-porn magazine known as "Zoo magazine" is going to see photos (agreed to by the committee) of one of the olympic swimming team, posing with a firearm & dressed in her scanties.

This (as they say) presents the committee with "some difficulty" in upholding their gripe that posing with guns may bring disrepute to the sport.

It is also the sort of thing that litigation lawyers can only dream about. Outside of their own fiefdom, the olympic committee ain't going to win this one in any forum.

Steve at the Pub said...

Kae: Well put.

Hammer - meet Nail!

Nice photo Kae, in the "League of Non-Olympians" gallery!

I had 3 to send in but real life held me up. (the photos included one of dad being automatically disqualified for olympic selection by being photographed with a Lee Enfield & khaki on royal guard duty (this was pre-SLR & jungle green days). Should I send 'em in anyway, or just post 'em here tomorrow?

JeffS said...

Post 'em tomorrow, Mr. Steve! Better late than never.

And I wouldn't tell the "journalists" to have their nappies changed. What I's say would be considered rude, socially unacceptable in nearly all locations, and physically impossible for all save hermaphrodites.

Ellie @ Kitchen Wench said...

I agree that the reaction was definitely of the "knee-jerk" variety and quite ridiculous, but if it were me, I would have asked for written clarification of what the social media policy entails before agreeing to it (which I actually did do in my current job when they brought their social media policy out!)

Steve at the Pub said...

@ Ellie: These two blokes not noted for their research skills! One is a convicted violent criminal, the other a proven liar of bad character.
None of their offences have been of a nature that exhibits a brainpower above moron level.

Steve at the Pub said...

JeffS: I'm with you.
By the way, is that you with the Garand, in the League of non-Olympians?

I had one of those for pig shooting when I was a kid. Rather heavy for a child to lug around. I even had trouble pushing the clip down into it.

Spectacularly, one night when shooting an adult cousin was using it, leapt out of the truck to get a shot, in his eagerness he gave the safety catch a good tug, as there is nothing worse than a good shot not happening coz you've inadvertently clicked it to "safety".

You'd know what happens when you give the trigger guard a good energetic reef!

He spent the next several minutes fossicking in the black soil, to recover all the parts of the rifle!

mojo, Unrepentant Yank said...

Seems the AOC is getting a bit above themselves, eh? Imagine, telling people what they can or can't do on their own time. Wankers indeed.

Oh, and: Never be shy about telling a journo to piss off. They are the scum of the earth.

JeffS said...

Yup, Steve, that's me with the Garand. A cool rifle, and fun to shoot!

I'm happy to report that I've never tugged THAT hard on the safety.

kae said...

Thanks for the kind words, SATP.
It's a very old photo.