Public persona … private person
Gerard McGrath is angered by the ‘hypocrisy of the gutter press’ and considers the price to pay for public roles is the forfeiture of privacy
I am compelled to preface this article in stating I am not a soccer fan. Occasionally I watch a televised game but I much prefer rugby union. Also, I have to state I am not English. The success or further failure of the English soccer team in any tournament is a matter of complete indifference to me.
The tabloid press pack remains voracious in their predatory feeding frenzy which began early in February in respect of one of the many Premier League's grossly overpaid players. The former captain of England's soccer team, John Terry, is the prey of the redtop journalist corps. There are few more unedifying spectacles than the crassly hypocritical British gutter press pack in hot pursuit of its quarry; none so merciless when the prey is cornered. Since it was revealed Terry had an extra-marital affair with the ex-girlfriend of a fellow England team member, the salacious details of his colourful and varied sex life have been banner headlines. Seemingly spurious matters such as: the Haitian earthquake, worldwide financial recession, wars, third world poverty, etc, forgo priority where the all-important matter of Terry's sex life is concerned. The vicariously prurient readers of the redtops must be ecstatic to the point of orgasm.
It seems some soccer fans and so-called pundits think the decision of the England manager Fabio Cappello to show Terry the red card and relieve him of the captaincy is wrong. Others think it is the right decision. The opinion I hold about such matters is as valid as those of any soccer fans, any pundits. I hope I have made my opinion of the redtop press clear. So what of Terry losing the honour to captain his country?
When he accepted England captaincy, by implication he accepted the responsibilities and duties integral to the role. Anyone in public life who assumes a representative role, be they a politician or captain of a national side, assumes certain responsibilities and duties. Perhaps some of us expect too much of public figures, nonetheless it is incumbent upon them to at least try to be seen as Caesar's wife - beyond reproach. In the case of Terry his off-field role is as important as on-field. For millions of young fans he is a role model; children/teenagers aspire to be like him. Self-evidently it is incumbent upon Terry to conduct himself with dignity and honour; to be seen as ethical and trustworthy. If a fraction of what has been written about his behaviour is true, it is equally self-evident that not even his wife and family can trust him and these are people one assumes he purports to love, respect and esteem.
The sympathy for Terry of those fans and pundits who decry his dismissal as captain of England would be better offered to his publicly betrayed and humiliated wife and family. In my opinion Fabio Cappello was right to strip Terry of the captaincy, a role he is clearly unfit to fill in terms of his off-field behaviour whatever his leadership skills on the field of play. When Terry was vested with the captaincy he publicly acknowledged it as a personal honour. Cappello is to be commended for the action he took, the integrity of his leadership.
When their hypocrisy, caprice and mendacity is exposed many public figures and so-called celebrities, seek to gag whistleblowers and the media by means of legal injunctions claiming the ‘right’ to privacy. When that fails, many compound their amoral behaviour seeking to defend the indefensible with fanciful tales of woe and crocodile tears. Commissioning the offices of such as the parasitic Max Clifford, they add further insult to injury flogging their 'stories’ to the highest bidder amongst the same redtop rags which exposed them in the first place.
The truth is, it goes with the territory that the price to be paid for public roles, public offices, is the forfeiture of privacy to a far greater extent than Joe Public. The adage about not having cake and eating it is a truism where public life is concerned. With a general election looming, a politician seeking public office in effect promises the voters, enters into a covenant with them, that he/she can be trusted with their mandate. To gain votes, politicians tell us they can be trusted to conduct themselves with personal and professional integrity, to behave ethically. As I see it, if for example it proves to be the case the spouse of an adulterous politician cannot trust their integrity, ethics and loyalty, it follows the voter too is likely to be betrayed at some point by the same paucity of integrity. Evidence the wholesale and dishonourable abuse by so many MPs of their publicly funded expenses system.
I have not written this article from any hypocritically self-righteous, ‘holier than thou’ standpoint. It is incumbent upon me to be honest in acknowledging to readers that I have been an adulterous husband, promiscuous, mendacious, dishonourable and worse in my time. Rather, I have written to challenge the hypocritical cant and multiple standards of those who seek to defend the indefensible behaviour of John Terry et al. Spend your sympathy on Terry's wife and parents.
* Gerard McGrath, BA Hons, is currently resident at HMP Haverigg
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