The Kyle Sandilands Saga

Kyle Sandilands is a polarising character. He has always had an attitude of "I do what I want and I really don't care what other people think. Over the past decade he has used this persona to rise through the ranks of the Australian media to host the number one breakfast show on FM radio. And I have to admit, he can be quite funny at times, to the point that for a while I was podcasting their show. Since he came to Australian Idol I have felt like he has moulded himself into a pretty damned good judge.

However one thing that has always bugged me about his character/persona/actual personality on the 2Day FM radio show is that he has always been used the as bad guy whenever they have stunts. Some of their stunts are quite disgusting in the way in which they play with people's emotions in order to create a storyline. The perfect example was the one shown on Media Watch where a girl was flown out from the US to meet her aunty for the first time and she was told if her aunty picked the wrong door they'd fly her straight back. Now she did pick the wrong door and they let them meet anyway, but not before they squeezed out a good portion of tears and begging from the two women involved.

The incident last week I think finally made Australia say "enough is enough". However, there is an incredible amount of hypocricy being laid down here. For starters, had the girl not made her revelation about being raped this would not even be newsworthy. Had she made the revelation, but Kyle had not made a comment it would have been off the front pages within hours.

Sticking with the rape for a minute, all parties concerned had the perfect opportunity to use this incident as a way of educating people on rape of all kinds. Run some informative interviews on the show with everyone from police to councillors to a victim of rape prepared to share her experience of pursuing her attacker. It could have led to a lot of discussion about rape as an issue in society. But to quote Kyle Sandilands, "I’ve certainly pissed off a lot of journos over the years but I’m sad that they’re using the rape of a 12-year-old girl to have a go at me". Many have criticised even this quote, but it does seem like the media are on a rampage, picking their scapegoat and not resting until he's been brought down.

And thats not to say Kyle isn't very in the wrong. His reaction to the girls initial revelation, which seems to be the centre of the focus, was less than ideal. In fact, it would be hard not to call it disgusting. But I have the tiniest amount of sympathy. I can imagine nothing harder than to have to somehow carry on a radio show when someone drops a bombshell like that. Many would struggle to know what to say, and he was foolish and misguided in his attempt to continue the segment as if nothing had happened. But I don't think this is where the fault lies.

The fault clearly lies with the segment itself, and this is where questions need to be asked. How have the predatory stunts that pray on peoples lowest moments been allowed to get this far. Who is it at Austereo that is authorising these stunts? If Kyle is the one behind it then he deserves to lose his job, but if he is not, then we should know who is. Because from where I sit, so much of Kyle is a character, a persona. Kyle is what the world wants Kyle to be. He is what his bosses want him to be. He is the dickhead that we are meant to hate on some level and yet for some reason still like. He is the baddie that allows the suffering to continue for all to hear. He is exactly what 2Day FM have wanted and allowed him to be, and yet there appears to be a very good chance that because he has caused the sponsors to worry, both at 2Day and at Ten, he may soon be unemployed.

To quote a tweet from Chas from The Chaser "I'll take option C - I don't like Kyle or censorship from the sponsors"!

Flame away!

"Did You Get Drunk?"

The question in this blog's title is one that I am sick of being asked. The answer is usually no, for the record. I just don't get what this obsession is with getting drunk. The few times in my life I have been drunk, the fact that I was drunk really wasn't all that exciting, and the next morning... well I didn't feel that great. Sure I had a lot of fun both nights, but I didn't have to be drunk to enjoy myself.

But I'm not really talking about me. So often I will hear someone talking about a night out and the person listening will immediately ask "Did you get drunk"? It seems like, from my view, that this question is almost being interchanged with the question "Did you have fun?". So why is it that my generation seems to have to write themselves off in order to have a good time?

Now I'm not saying that drinking is a bad thing, nor am I saying that even getting drunk is a bad thing. But I ask the question to all of you who read this... do you go out of your way to ensure you get drunk often? Do you drink only to get drunk? Do you ever feel like you have a good night out sober? I really do have to wonder some of the people I know would answer these questions.

Having to be drunk in order to enjoy yourself is essentially alcoholism. It isn't "a beer with breakfast" alcoholism, but it is alcoholism just the same. Maybe they just don't actually like the company they keep. Maybe they just want to not remember their night so they can make up fake memories. What it is I don't know, but we need to start asking ourselves why does an excess of alcohol have to be a compulsory component of a good night out? Can't we all just have a few drinks and have a great night to remember, and not forget!