I'm posting this at The Gravel Trap because although it has something to do with Formula One, I think it has something that's best discussed here.
I'm subscribed to F1 Racing magazine.
In their August 2000 issue there's an article by Tom Clarkson called 'On The Inside.'
Here an excerpt of that article:
'...David Coulthard's merciless pursuit of Michael Schumacher was nothing short of sensational, and equal to that of those soldiers on the Western Front who marched on while their mates were being cut down around them...'
I'm usually not very easy offended but this phrase in an article about Formula One really caused resentment.
I think it's appalling when a journalist tries to make a comparison between a sporting event and soldiers who gave their lives in a war.
I think this is so very much insulting, it makes me sick.
I was born just after WW2 and can praise myself very lucky that the country I live in has been without a war for the past 55 years.
But since my parents and grand parents have experienced the cruelty of a war, I'm very well aware of the things that happened.
This journalist is insulting the men and women who gave their lives, in comparing them with some over-paid sports types who happen to drive around in circles and earn millions of dollars in doing so.
Just because he wants to give his story a grasp of sensation he's using a metaphor that in my opinion is absolutely 'not done.'
If this journalist doesn't know how to describe a sporting event in a proper way, he should be looking for another job.
Maybe I'm over reacting, although I think even David Coulthard would consider this article an insult.
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