I've become a huge golf fan. Because I started playing.
A close childhood friend came from Australia to celebrate our sixtieth birthdays together and she brought me her old clubs. Checked them in on her flight ensconsed in a bag and carrier.
Briefly, around 32, I played for a few months and introduced her to the game. Then I got married, had a family and never held a club again. But she did. And she brought me her old clubs (replaced by a new supa dupa set) to rekindle my interest and entice me to go on an Australian golfing holiday with her at some future date.
So I joined the Hutt Park Club which has a slightly rumpty 9 hole course with a primary retail operation and driving range. Now I am addicted.
Every night I watch various instalments of the Master's Tournament. The players are my characters. It's like watching movies. Who will beat adversity this time? Who will hold his nerve this time?
Anyway, I'll get to the point of my post.
I'm watching the crowds following Tiger Woods ... in any of the five years in which he won the Green Jacket. And soaking up the sheer exuberance of the fans, his family and Tiger himself when he finally let's the emotion erupt at the 18th.
Is this jubilant, pressing crowd, thousands spread across the course, a thing of the past?
Are we ever going to come back to our senses as a world and relish what we love?
Golf is currently my thing. But you must have had that moment when you stopped in your tracks and said to yourself, "Is pre-Covid the freest we were ever going to be?"
Because it's not just Covid. We're are all well aware of it.
It's social media mindless collectivism which is powerful beyond reason. Think about that. Power beyond reason.
What is going to happen to Comedy in this aggressive, angry, anti-self expression age? When on-line self-appraised 'benign' bullies wield more power than those they wrongly label 'racists, xenophobes and misogynists.'
As we are progressively sometimes literally held responsible for the so-called sins of our great grand fathers and denied the products of their culture, what great new standard is it we will all be made to hold ourselves to?
Can we not be imperfect humans, irrevant humans, irascible humans, imaginative humans from here on in?
If not, I'll vacate far more happily than should be the case.
3 comments:
Hi Lindsay
Comedy is on life support, irony is dead, free speech is in a witness protection program.
This is what happens when our elites cease to believe in the historical foundations of western civilisation, and have embraced a form of collective white guilt where they view themselves as the perpetrators of a systemic evil.
The 'original sin' of racism is the current focus, however in this religious narrative, unlike Christianity, there is no redemption on offer, only endless personal struggle and self abasement.
I'm not sure golf is the answer, but I don't blame you for taking time out to escape the current madness.
A couple of must watches for "hive mind" influences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hater
2020 Polish thriller drama film directed by Jan Komasa and written by Mateusz Pacewicz. The plot centres around an expelled university student from Warsaw who attempts to steer the internet, causing widespread hatred and violence.
The Social Dilemma, pretty hyperbolic and not nearly as entertaining as The Hater, but interesting.
Coincidentally Sean Plunket has been talking about The Social Dilemma today. Strongly advising every parent to watch it.
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