There’s a developing culture in society where it’s not quite enough to just to do something good.
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It’s becoming more important that you’re seen to be doing something good.
It’s as if the action itself doesn't really rate until someone knows you did it.
That’s the point where it tends to become a bit about yourself rather than the act.
It happens in small ways, like people who like to drop into conversation that they donated something to this or that charity.
And it happens in big ways – such as when organisations and businesses try to tag themselves into Anzac Day.
There was Woolworths’ egregious mistake with the “Fresh in our Memories”; tying in their own slogan to a day meant to pay tribute to our fallen soldiers.
While not as bad, I’ve always found the NRL and AFL scheduling matches on Anzac Day as being in a similar vein.
The NRL schedule two games on Anzac Day – the Dragons and Roosters have been playing on April 25 since 2002 while the Storm and Warriors have meet since 2009.
Over in the AFL, Collingwood and Essendon have taken the field since 1995.
In all games, the commentators are sure to use phrases like “battle” or “in the trenches”, as if it was perfectly fine to equate a game of footy with warfare.
While the games are always couched in terms of the codes “paying their respect” to our armed forces on Anzac Day, it’s a spectacle that has always made me feel uneasy.
That’s because it seems to be more about the codes than the servicemen. “Look at us!” they seem to be saying, “We’re paying tribute! With lots of footy! That we’ll make money from!”
Maybe the best way these codes could pay tribute to the day is to leave it free from footy, so the focus is on the real meaning.
But then, no one would know what they’d done. And being seen to be doing something is really what it’s all about, isn’t it?