Sign of the times as Hook left swimming against the tide
There is a sign at a swimming cove in Tramore that says “Men Only”. This sign comes with an apology underneath that it does not intend to cause offence, only remind us of a time, long since gone by. Both the locals and visitors are not upset by this signage and are somewhat amused by its outdated message.
This is probably also the way the Newstalk listeners had felt when listening to the incessant out-pouring of a man lost in time and out of touch with modern Ireland. This tolerance clearly ran out over a week ago when George Hook finally crossed the line of decency and tried to apportion blame to a rape victim.
What is most surprising to me, however, is how this ‘broadcaster’ has survived so long on our airwaves up to now, and also why it took more than a week for his employers to take any visible action to distance themselves from the stink of this man’s vile drivel. I had always tuned in to hear Hook on his various radio shows over the years, not with any admiration but rather with a morbid fascination as to what depths of unprofessionalism would be plumbed on each occasion.
Ever since I heard Hook dismiss Seamus Heaney’s lifework on the sad occasion of his death, saying that he did not rate him as a poet as ‘his poems did not rhyme’, I had become part of the national conspiracy of tolerance that allowed this man to continue his bluster and daily pontification in his slightly off-colour manner on the national airwaves.
Why we ever gave a man with a historical background of mediocre success in rugby coaching and a failed catering business such a wide scope and licence to speak on all other matters must be a question we are racking our brains over now. There is quite thin line between someone speaking their mind and just being downright rude and we should have called this behaviour out several years ago.
Since his disgraceful outburst Hook has been forced to apologise, but surely this is just more insincere rhetoric designed to save his job, given all his other outspoken opinions over the years. The question posed is, was he lying when he voiced his antiquated views over the years or is he lying now when he apologises for his latest hurtful outburst?
The danger is now evident in over tolerance of intolerance for entertainment purposes and it is surely now ‘high noon’ and time to rid ourselves of offensive relics of the past, and I am not talking about signs at swimming coves. John Cheevers Tramore, Co Waterford