Triple J has failed Bliss N Eso, failed its listeners and not least, failed itself with this week's refusal to play any Bliss N Eso music in the wake of Max MacKinnon's (one third of the act) social media outrage.
The first I saw of this story was the somewhat sanitised mainstream media image of Eso mugging for the camera with faux aggression towards a wax Rihanna. Immature, yes. Mysogynistic messaging, yes.
Later, I saw another photo of his objectifying women. It was crass, offensive to many and generally degrading to everybody. And he was rightly condemned — and educated. An apology was duly presented. Was the apology genuine? Probably (I rated it). Was the apology delivered, in part, for commercial propriety? Probably. Was the apology sufficient? Of course. Bravo the masses — the self-appointed judges and the jury. 1-0.
The end? No way.
Many among the newly-emerged social media 'judiciary' are yet to appreciate that with great power comes great responsibility.
Those calling for the banning of his music are baying for the harshest of commercial penalties in the courts of public opinion. An 'outright banning' for a sincerely apologised-for single act? Kidding right? No. These people are demonstrating exactly why real courts of justice are presided over by elders — where acknowledgement of remorse and myriad other factors are considered in temperance of deeds committed.
What we're witnessing now — with the inability to forgive, and the temporary banning of Bliss N Eso from triple J — is nothing but intellectually- and emotionally-wanting, self-indulgence.
Everybody loves to see justice done on somebody else ~ Bruce Cockburn
In a statement on Thursday, triple J explained it had not played any of the band's music since the offensive pictures were been posted:"We haven't played any Bliss N Eso on triple j since Monday when this incident happened. We appreciate that Eso has apologised and believe his sincerity. We'll wait on the audience sentiment before playing the band again.
I condemn triple J for its abject lack of leadership on this issue and this weak gesture to placate the baying masses. The national broadcaster is having a bob each way and all its bets are losers. If Eso's photos and comments are bad enough, his music shouldn't be played. If the totality of the photos, comments, retraction and apology is not sufficiently bad, there is no basis for not playing their music. It's not possible to be just a little bit pregnant on this issue.
Are there commensurate bans — permanent and temporary — for Kanye and other artists convicted of all manner of offences, including assault on women? Has triple j published a statement on its position on these artists?
To compound their error (horror?), triple J has announced it will abrogate its programming responsibility — with respect to resuming ESO airplay — to audience sentiment.
Really? And how are triple J going to monitor and assess that sentiment? Read Facebook? Listen to talkback recordings? Weight those results for agitator bias? Or will it just be the general vibe of thing?
I await a no-doubt stomach-turning invitation to McKinnon to come and present himself prostrate on air, to tell the world of his remorse of his errant ways. In itself, no bad thing — but will the station's masters and mistresses realise he's not the only one who should be apologising?
