Scandal? What scandal?

Morning Mugs

The latest non scandalous scandal then....David Moyes, the Sunderland manager is currently being tried by the kangaroo court of the British media with Sky News, the normally sane BBC and the media baron owned right wing press blowing the story out of proportion and underpinning the maxim that the more you tell a lire, the more people will believe it.

Now let's get something straight here. I am not  misogynist. I am not sexist for the best part, although being male does mean you will unwittingly be sexist from time to time because...well you know, you may hold a door open for a woman, or insist on helping them lift something heavy. If that's institutionalised sexism then so be it. I am not in the habit of demanding a woman 'puts the kettle and and make me a cuppa' .

It transpires that a few weeks ago in a post match interview he make some off the cuff comments to the woman reporter along the lines of 

'just watch yourself there, you go a wee bit naughty at the end there.......you might just get a slap even though you're a woman......be careful next time you come here'

Now in the cold display of words on a screen you could make a case for this seeming to be rather sinister. Then you hear this 

David Moyes slap comment.

And on listening you can hear something else. Laughter. Yes laughter, from the reporter and from Moyes. In fact so threatened was the reporter that she never actually complained about the comment to anyone. No, in fact someone other bleeding heart decided this 'off air' comment was worthy of being brought to the public's attention , not hours or days but WEEKS later. During which time the reporter had taken a call from Moyes privately, accepted it and decided she didn't want to make any more of it, and to her credit hasn't spoken about it. 

But in these days when shifting newsprint is getting more costly and less profitable it gives the papers a chance to colourise the issue and put it on the front pages to elevate it's prominence and therefore start to drive the story even harder, thus inviting comment from right on feminists and pompous sports and columnists across the now strangely and suddenly righteous free press. 

I mean it's not like they've spread much hate about lately is it?

Note, the omission of 'right wing' there because even the two remaining left leaning papers The Guardian and The Mirror have picked up on this and decided it's a thing. I've also seen at least two prominent women claiming this was a serious on air threat of violence from a man to a woman. Two women who presumably have no concept of the idea of context? 

This was patently nothing more than a bit of banter, a bit of joshing, the sort of thing that is said daily between men whether on the building site, in the office or in the pub. 

As I say, I have no truck with violence against women. I pretty much have no truck with violence against men either. Lets just say violence is not my bag shall we? But in a world where women rightly expect to be treated as equals, with equal respect, equal pay, equal rights and equal access to any job, then they should expect equal treatment and then not moan when they are included in an incident like this, that had the reporter been male wouldn't have even grown a toe, let alone legs to be given it's current media prominence. 

Later Mugs, GJ