One of the Herald’s best columnists, Brian Rudman, lays out a devastating critique of Slater’s recent boxing match…
Of all the winners and losers of last weekend, the memory that lingers is the sight of blogger Cameron Slater slumped on the floor of the boxing ring like a beached pilot whale, while all around, a liquored-up, “formally dressed” crowd bayed for more blood.
Slater is an unloveable character. He makes his living hunched over his keyboard, smearing and belittling people he dislikes. But the organisers of this one-minute mismatch are no better.
Admittedly, I’m no fan of boxing. Putting two athletes up against each and encouraging them to whack each other until one or other suffers a brain short-circuit is a dangerous and uncivilised form of entertainment.
But the Christchurch bout was worse. It didn’t involve two athletes. It lined up a professional athlete, himself hospitalised not so long ago with a serious head injury, against an unfit loud-mouth, with a long and very public history of clinical depression. For years, Slater has publicised his ongoing battle with an ailment that the Ministry of Health defines as “a mental illness where you feel sad and miserable most of the time and your mood is persistently very low”.
Whichever of his demons encouraged him to humiliate himself and endanger his life last weekend, a responsible boxing promoter – if there is such a beast – should have said no. It’s not as though Slater keeps his illness at secret. But the promoters chose to ignore this. They saw Slater and his sparring rival, accident-prone cricketer Jesse Ryder, as the freak show drawcard they needed to promote the night’s entertainment. Roll up, roll up, and see the nasty blabber mouth get a fat lip from the bad boy cricketer.
…Rudman reminds us of the horror of the past…
Ned Ward, who wrote about the famous London Bethlem Mental Hospital in the late 17th century, would have felt right at home at Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena – ringside tables, $5995 – on Saturday. Bedlam, as it was known, was one of the must-visit tourist stops of the day, along with the Tower, the zoo and London Bridge.
A sign at the entrance declared ‘Pray remember the poor lunaticks and put your charity into the box’. Inside, nuts and fruits and cheesecake were sold in the galleries as the keepers paraded their charges like performing bears. He noted how inmates belted out a ballad in return for a glass of gin…
Another chronicler wrote of groups of visitors strolling from cell to cell laughing and joking, “tourists for whom misery was nothing more than entertainment”.
…the boxing promoters have some questions to answer and charities really need to start asking whether money raised using people with mental health issues is ethical.
Well Key is just as bad ,he took advantage of Slaters misery and depression and made him the fall guy for Dirty Politics.Key said it was Labours left wing smear,as usual .The public has wised up to that rubbish. Key dosnt want to know about Slater now ,as usual he deflects blame elsewhere .
Slater went into the boxing ring to get the attention he craves,and the promoter was happy to use him .just as Key did.
ZERO sympathy.
It was a much needed dose of reality for a self obsessed narcissist.
All those years destroying other people’s lives from the safety of his keyboard coming home to roost.
Hear Hear!
Why didn’t anyone kick him? It’s what he would have wanted.
How about a return bout. With Key on the undercard.
@ George Ryde – hee hee yes. But it might mess up that “pretty” face 🙂
this is ridiculous. can’t someone who suffered mental illness in the past compete without the promoter’s ethics being called into question? are u sure u want to stigmatize athletes with mental health issues in that way?
He’s fine. It was only a boxing match, with a referee. It’s not as dangerous as the article makes it out to be. it’s not like they were forced in to Thunderdome.
Aren’t charities generally for the needy? I don’t need to spell out the obvious contradiction when it comes to Slater. Isn’t he concerned that the money raised might go to some ferals? Perhaps his recent fall from grace has woken him up a bit. We shall see.
I could hear the whisperings of thousands of West Coasters…
“Karma”…
I offer myself for the next evening as long as I am paired against Hosking.
I can make him go the 3 rounds.
Has Cameron Slater had a head injury as will as being mentally unwell ? I suppose he’s a hired gun, so has no moral compass or coherency.
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