Last weekend Sydney tattle columnist, Annette Sharp, stooped so low she bared her tawdry bum for the world to see – and it wasn't pretty.
She evacuated a vile listicle styled '13 Reasons Jesinta And Buddy Should Postpone Their Summer Wedding'. Five of Sharp's 'reasons' surround Franklin's mental and other health issues.
The remaining eight comprise myriad mind-numbingly assorted words assembled in sentence structure, which variously grope at suggestions of Jesinta's diminished public sex appeal once married and … never mind.
The outpouring of scorn and contempt was swift and widespread.
The point apparently entirely lost on Sharp and her editors is that standards of decency for mainstream media writers, opinion or otherwise, simply do not permit scribes to lazily finger mental health issues. It is entirely foreseeable that being the harbinger of foreboding in such a casual manner can cause angst to the couple concerned and some readers of the column whom themselves would inwardly reflect that 'advice' - without the benefit of counselling, something no doubt very helpful if one was indeed suffering from mental health issues.
Apart from the gaping deficiency of Sharp's qualification to offer such advice, if advice on the subject of mental health is to be offered, it must be delivered with compassion and sincerity – in appropriate tone and context. Sharp and The Telegraph spectacularly fail any claim in defeating that charade when the 'advice' is justaposed with diatribe such as the bride's diminished allure after marriage and the mysterious and unqualified 'because of rumours that simply won't quit'.Her few supporters have offered a defence of free speech and if one doesn't like what's written – turn away. The right to free speech is not absolute. While I claim no knowledge of whether a legal boundary has been crossed in the ever-changing quantum of law, the standard of common decency was breached in a heartbeat.
It might do Sharp and her supporters well to re-read her column but substitute the words mental illness for, say, blindness and see how her free advice appeals.
In celebration of Annette Sharp's free and unwanted advice here are
11 reasons Annette Sharp should consider taking extended leave
This list will make more sense if read in conjunction with Sharp's original.1. Readers of The Telegraph have informed the nation that Annette is deficient in matters of common decency. Publishing and media experts warn that when a writer is suffering this deficiency it is wise to avoid potentially career terminating situations which can trigger anxiety and depression. Publishing ill-considered wibble on matters of mental health appears on the top five career ending events on one publisher's list.
2. She's a dinosaur. It's time to move on (and update her Twitter photo).
3. Sharp and her employer, 'News', have only been together for one lifetime, which is known to be insufficient for some in media to develop a moral compass.
4. It's not 1950. Gone are the days of issuing one-way commentary from on high without swift and widespread retribution.
5. Good writing is hard work.
6. Because Annette may still be absorbing the news that shitty writing may be inbred.
7. Because Annette's earning power is less than it was a week ago.
8. Because Annette's appeal has halved since penning her article. Half her market – people alive from the neck up – have rapidly lost interest.
9. Because it is unclear if Sharp, of whom it is wondered by this writer, has sought counselling, or received it, as a result of the public backlash.
10. No self-respecting writer would use 'less' where 'fewer' is correct in one's Twitter bio (Weird Al amplifies in his video in case you shared the same English teacher with Ms Sharp).
11. Because News has already acquired its quota of editorial stains.
