Howzat, a question that is asked of an umpire by a player on
the fielding team as to whether a batsman is out or not.
Now when we apply this to the real world, I think there is a
question that needs to be asked of the media and community (regarded as the
social umpire) about Shane Warne. Why is Shane Warne so popular and why do the
media and people give a shit about what he does? Is it because he bats well in
the community and social arena and contributes positively? Or has there not
been a loud enough appeal for the umpire (the community and the media) to acknowledge
his negative self centered attitudes and behaviors that are so regularly
displayed and overlooked.
Is it because the community is lacking in positive sports
role models and we are hanging on to him because that is all we have?
Absolutely not, everywhere we look there are plenty of current and ex-sports
people that have achieved far more both athletically and a community leaders than
Warne ever did.
Was he that much of a freakishly good sportsman that he
should have an exemption from this kind of behavior. Not really, he was a spin
bowler for Christ Sake!!! It’s not like he was a champion tennis player or gold
medal track athlete.
Is his behavior not THAT bad or regular? We lets break it
down.
·
Sledging
saga –Slagged off another player whilst.
· a microphone was turned on and gladly allowed a
channel 9 camera man to take the fall.
·
Being
caught smoking –Caught smoking whilst doing an anti-smoking advertising
campaign. Warne was a also one of the most popular players in the Australian
side at this time and his smoking would have implied to a whole lot of kids who
saw him as a role model that smoking wasn’t that bad.
·
Sexting –
being caught cheating on his wife with another woman after (s)ext messages were
revealed.
·
Cheating
– Being banned from senior level cricket for 12 months for using a diuretic to
improve his fitness. He then tried to blame his own mother for giving him the
pills.
·
Traffic
offences - Being involved in a road rage incident against a cyclist and
being caught speeding, all of this when he’s been contracted by the TAC to
represent road safety in their latest campaign.
I think I can safely say that most people would regard the
above mentioned collection as being regularly bad behavior.
So is it because there are a whole lot of insecure people in
a similar demographic in the community that are finding an increasing need to
feel good about themselves? To fix this they reflect the moral and behavioral
standards as those displayed by Shane Warne, thinking that this is therefore OK?
Is it because this demographic is feeling increasingly insecure about the
concept of what it is to be Australian. Maybe. Perhaps this is a new mutation
of the tall poppy syndrome. Rather than cutting down the tall poppies, lets promote
the dud poppies so that no one has to get any better. It reminds me of
something I learnt in primary school around the same time I learnt to play
cricket. Lowest Common Denominator.
So what happens if we keep Shane Warne at the so called
batting crease? We risk a continuation
of our community becoming more and more apathetic to cheating and immoral
behavior. We risk our young people not aspiring to being pillars of kindness,
fairness and safety within society and thinking that it is OK to cheat and lie
and drive fast.
So if you’re one of those people that every now and then
feel that society is getting worse in this regard join me in saying YOUR OUT
SHANE WARNE !!! Get off the field!!!