The Melbourne Cup is either a colourful and unifying sporting spectacle or a macabre celebration of gambling culture, alcohol and animal cruelty. It’s the race that stops a nation — and some get pretty angry about it.
Let’s agree it’s probably both. And we’ll be having a little punt and tipple in here, let’s be honest.
But the economics are worth remembering. Among the novelty statistics the media love for events like this — chicken consumption was eagerly reported by ABC News this morning — is a rather stark one: your little $2 bet each way today is expected to add up to a national gambling outlay of $800 million. On the Cup alone.
The mind boggles on where that sort of cash could be better spent.
Just saying …
I’d opt for the latter in your description. Saying it’s a bit of both is a cop-out. It either is or it isn’t. The amount of chicken meat consumed, as reported ‘breathlessly’ by the ABC News, overwhelmingly came from birds who were confined to cages in their own excrement often with sores and half bald due to feather loss. If they were battery hens they were killed after 18 months of age. I sincerely doubt that most caterers used free range organic birds! People need to open their eyes to the pervasive exploitation of animals from factory farming to civet coffee, orcas in captivity (blackfish anyone?)to…………horseracing.
It’s making the western world sick and the developed world either starving or obese too (witness 4 corners last night).
As with climate change, the cognitive dissonance is deafening.
Another victim, poor horse, green screen nothing to see here. Move along