The end of the Age of Exploitation

Recent events suggest that the time of those with power exploiting the weak and vulnerable, without any chance of recourse, may soon be over. Peter Wicks comments.

JOE HOCKEY was right when he talked about the “Age Of Entitlement” being over — only I think his definition of entitlement differs from mine ever so slightly. I believe Joe was referring to those at the bottom of the food chain, the pensioners, the disabled, basically those in need of a helping hand. I, on the other hand, am referring to those at the top of the food chain, who think us mere mortals are here for their exploitation and amusement.

These last months have seen the start of a movement towards a greater balance and I hope it's a trend that gains momentum.

Firstly, I am proud to have a Prime Minister that has the guts to announce a Royal Commission into paedophile activity within institutions, which was brought on by revelations that have appeared yet again about the Catholic Church. These people need to be shown that they are not above the law. A confession and a move to a neighbouring community does not excuse someone for sexually assaulting children — and anybody who thinks it does is just as bad as the paedophile in my eyes.





I wonder, given his dedication to the Catholic Church, if Tony Abbott would have come to the same decision. If like I do you think that he wouldn’t have, then you have actually come to the conclusion that this is a man who would put his religion before the safety of your children.

Recent revelations regarding St Johns College shine a new light on attitudes towards sexism, misogyny and the attitude that women are there as playthings for men — there to amuse and abuse. Both Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey attended this Catholic College, where young women had been forced drink an unholy mix of shampoo, tabasco sauce, sour milk, alcohol and dog food — with one young woman nearly dying in hospital as a result. Never mind that though, the near death of the poor girl was celebrated by the lads, who had T-Shirts made up mocking her.

Women were allegedly pressured into binge drinking until they passed out and were then reportedly passed around the boys. Women who complained of rape were branded as sluts.

Tony Abbott’s view of this type of attitude towards women was on display for all to see as he smirked and laughed about it when asked on camera. I’m not going to try and tell you what his view was, I’ll let you look at the footage and make up your own mind:



Bear in mind, it isn’t just St John's College where this type of behaviour has become the norm, let’s have a look at the attitude towards women at some of the other haunts of the privileged.

Fairfax has reported that students from St Paul's Anglican College used to have a Facebook page for those with a progressive attitude towards women. The page (since removed) was a “pro-rape” page that also boasted of being “anti-consent”.

Vandals from St Paul's College had scrawled things, such as:

“Any hole is a goal”

Whilst another young Einstein, who clearly doesn’t understand the concept of things being unable to be in two places at once, scribbled:

“They can’t say no with a cock in their mouth.”

Let’s hope this degenerate learned all about teeth and biting the hard way...

St Andrew's College even had a revue that was promoted with this slogan:

"$10 entry, $3 beer, $0 women: deflowering a virgin: priceless.''

The Saints would be so proud.

With attitudes like this being on display from societies so called privileged it is no wonder Julia Gillards “misogyny” speech struck such a chord worldwide.

Those who come from this type of background seem to form some kind of bond, like they share some sort of secret, mutual, experience. This secret experience appears to be protected by some kind of pact of silence, where speaking out is seen as weakness.

The only problem is, these aren’t war buddies who shared extreme, horrific and/or dehumanising experiences during the heat of battle that must have been horrific and must have seemed dehumanising in the extreme. Instead, these are a bunch of rich kids who set out to deliberately dehumanise women in whatever way they could — physically, mentally and sexually. Just like in a war, I’m sure there would be many cases of collateral damage — death by “misadventure” or suicide come to mind. Not to mention the emotional trauma and sexual dysfunction inflicted on the many women who had to suffer this kind of ordeal just so some man-children had something to brag about.

Some of you may have heard of an experiment known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. If not, here is a brief description:



In 1971, an experiment was conducted in a prison setting, where two groups of volunteers took on the roles as prison guards and prisoners. The idea was to see if those involved in the role playing would be mentally affected by being given power or having it taken away. Those playing the part of guards were not allowed to physically harm those acting as prisoners, other than that they could do whatever was required to keep the peace. The experiment was to last two weeks.

After six days, the experiment had to be stopped as those involved started to lose themselves in their character. The guards had become sadistic and there were instances of psychological torture and many acts of humiliation inflicted upon those acting as prisoners — many of whom had turned rebellious.

The participants in the experiment had been chosen particularly for their psychological stability, so that no personality traits would taint the experiment. The experiment was said to have demonstrated how easily people will conform to and obey a convincing ideology and group pressure.

If this is how these men react to group pressure within six days, then it is worth questioning how a man in their late teens or early twenties reacts and adapts to a culture of rampant sexism and misogyny over several years at college. Is it really that much of a stretch to think that this may reflect on their views after leaving college?



People, we need to wake the fuck up; this is a cycle, and one that we need to break. We are well past the days where women are, or should be viewed as, anything less than equal to men.

We need to be sending a message to those running these colleges and those who engage in these activities that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated. This is not the behaviour of men — this is the behaviour of gutless bottom feeders.

One thing is for sure — the attitude to this issue of past participants, like Tony Abbott ― and also Joe Hockey ― don't help.