Wednesday 12 December 2012

Get Your Pre Game On

Beeep Beeep Beeep Beeep Beeep

Someone's hit the moral panic alarm again! Forget the Mayan calendar doomsday, if you believe these latest boffins the end of the world is already nigh. This time the rotation of panic has gone back to alcohol – just in time to ruin your festive season!

People drink too much, alcohol causes violence, yada yada. Please tell us something new. This is not news, it's not a study, it's something everybody already knows, and has known for centuries. This time they've tried to angle the tired old story on what they're calling a new culture in drinking - Pre Loading. One of the classic hallmarks of a moral panic – bring up something that has been going on forever, and claim it as something new to scare the gullible masses.


Pre loading a NEW culture?? In what world? Also known as Pre Gaming, Pre Drinks, PDs, Travellers or even Prinks, it's been around for years. Ever since an 18 year old with no cash got the night started at his mate's place with a bottle of Highland Queen for $20 rather than pay $9 a shot, pre gaming has been a staple of a night out.

Pregaming
Getting drunk or generally intoxicated before a party or social event regardless if there will be alcohol or other substances available at said event.
Dooder 1: Hay bro why you drinkin that nasty ass Icehouse?
Dooder 2: Just pregaming brah


So why has this study come out now? And why is the target Pre Gaming? Maybe the Professor who authored the study is just pissed because too many of his students are showing up to his classes trashed...

Drinking prior to an event, usually a party, but often a college course or lecture
In order to avoid the boredom of Prof Nemitz’s lecture again, we pregamed FME


Reading on in the article, it's evident that Pre Loading has nothing do to with anything. This study is just another run of the mill 'alcohol is bad' and 'let us control every aspect of your life while taxing you for it' moral panic inducing exposé by the permanently outraged. These types of studies achieve nothing and help no one. Their recycled recommendations are so uninspired that its doubtful that even the authors believe them:

Increasing the price of alcohol sold in liquor stores by introducing a levy on packaged drinks would curb the problem

Put up the price of alcohol – please, that's been done before to no avail. Overpriced pre-mixed drink anyone? Australia already pays more for drinks than anywhere else.

The study also recommended restricting trading hours across all venues

Great idea. Maybe they should get some consultants in from the 1920s to see how they dealt with the 6 o'clock swill?

It seems the whole agenda of these Professors and their studies is to get their name in the news and further what I can only assume is their goal of a Totalitarian Nanny State. What's next? Why don't they recommend banning alcohol altogether? And while they're at it, ban coffee, sugar, Maccas, driving to work, watching TV and anything else they don't agree with. Would that make them happy? Because no one else would be!

''We spent a lot of time trying to think of other ways to deal with pre-drinking and simply couldn't,'' Associate Professor Miller said.

You and your meddling study bores aren't invited to my pre game party either, Professor.

As always, it's up to the readers' comments to add some common sense...




Tuesday 11 December 2012

But it was just a joke...

Another radio duo, another tired and unfunny prank. Nothing new to see here. But the tragic outcome was a long time coming, it was inevitable that at some stage a joke would miss the mark and hurt someone.
It was a cheap and tasteless hoax – to try and get private information about a sick pregnant lady in hospital, whether she is famous or not. Were they hoping to find out intimate details of Kate’s morning sickness for the enjoyment of radio listeners? Tasteless yes, but its hardly any worse than the cheap stunts that other zany radio duos have done for decades. Other popular 'comedians' such as Hamish and Hamish and The Chaser roll out this rubbish 10 times over. In the absence of good comedy, they all rely on making fun of the public in childish pranks or skits, and assume that it will all be laughed off when its done. And 99% of the time, it is.
But, the 1% has to occur at some stage, and this time, it’s happened to the DJs at 2Day FM. You could call it bad luck, or call it unexpected, but the reality is that you can never know how people will react to your actions. And now, not only has a nurse on the other side of the world been pushed to end her life, but the two radio DJs’ careers are over, and their lives changed for ever. There was no malice in the call; it was just a bit of stupidity. The DJs aren’t bad people, and most definitely shouldn’t be getting death threats. But nonetheless, The DJs and 2Day FM took a risk for some laughs, and it ended badly.
When you play a joke on someone you don’t know, you cannot know what effect it will have on them, you don’t know their state of mind or their background. The DJs have stated over and over that “it was just a stupid joke, we didn’t expect it to go that far”. No doubt this is true, but its the same plight of workplace and schoolyard bullies - “it was just a bit of fun”. That defence doesn’t stand up anymore. Bullying and harassment are no longer accepted in the community and excuses don’t cut it. The outcomes of bullying cases are well documented, and the worst have ended in the victims taking their own lives, exactly what has happened here. And now the DJs and 2Day FM have to be accountable for their actions, regardless of their intent.
Celebs are used to all their private details being aired in the media. In this year alone, the Royal family has been no stranger to their indiscretions going worldwide – from Harry getting crazy in Vegas, to Kate being snapped topless in France. It goes with the territory of being a famous Royal. They would get hoax calls every day, and they are chased by paparazzi and iPhones alike at every corner. And so they are used to it, and they have the support, the power, the publicists and the people to help them deal with it. But the target of this prank was not William and Kate, it wasn’t on the Royal family, or anyone remotely famous. The target of the prank was an anonymous, unknown, non media-savvy hospital worker who happened to answer the phone. She did not know how to deal with the call, and most definitely did not have the ability to deal with the global fallout.
The hoax call was only ever going to end badly for the victim. There was never going to be a scenario where the victim would have a laugh and say “they got me”. Its understandable that the outcome was unexpected, but at the very least, the victim of the prank would be in serious trouble at their workplace, and would most likely lose their job. After all, they had made a serious error by giving away private information about a high profile patient, surely a breach of hospital privacy. the DJ’s knew this, as did the Producers and whoever else approved airing the call at 2Day FM.
This was NEVER going to be a victimless prank, and the radio station made the conscious decision to play the call anyway. They now face the consequences if their actions.