Ben Cousins documentary critics expose their ignorance

[grace]

WHAT an amazing coincidence. Why is that so many of the people who have applauded Ben Cousins and his father Bryan in the past couple of days all seem to have had first-hand experience of drug addiction?

 

Extraordinary, really.

 

It's confusing. The "experts", those wise old heads with microphones and newspaper columns at their disposal on a daily basis, say it's all a nonsense. It's a spoiled brat showing off.

 

Surely THEY know, because they know EVERYTHING.

 

Yet people caught up in the drug spiral, those working with and on behalf of those caught up in the drug spiral, keep telling me the Cousins - father and son - are their new heroes, their inspiration.

 

That's not to suggest for one minute Ben is cured. Simply, he is battling a terrible addiction, and apparently going OK.

 

I just can't work this one out. He simply offered his story. I didn't see any wild promises. What I do know is that an ongoing problem of any sort is much more likely to be solved by discussion.

 

Which is why it is so disappointing to hear people who should know better slamming the documentary.

 

OK, let's not worry about the message. Let's bake him for being "smug", for being a narcissist, for daring to thumb his nose at the system.

 

That's it. Let's have a public humiliation in Fed Square. That will make us all feel better that naughty Ben will do his penance. Can't have handsome boys from middle-class families who refuse to cry doing drugs, can we.

 

Let's not worry about the problem. Or the cure.

 

If awareness of drug addiction, and how it is best handled and treated, hasn't been heightened by the Cousins documentary, then the MCG is in Sydney.

 

Here's the issue. Those who know the subject best, either personally or professionally, all share the same view - good on Ben, good on his family for laying itself open for two million people to see.

 

As for glamourising the use of illicit drugs, spare me. If you are of that view, did you see Cousins twitching uncontrollably under the influence of illicit substances?

 

Did you see him shamed and humiliated in public in Perth?

 

Do you remember him as the most famous name in West Australian sport being stripped of the captaincy of his football club, then sacked, then deregistered by the AFL?

 

Did you see him helping carry the coffin of his friend and fellow drug victim, Chris Mainwaring?

 

Did you listen to the 911 call in the US, when he had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance? Did you see him almost break the spirit of his parents, Stephanie and Bryan, and sister, Melanie?

 

Glamour, eh?

 

An old colleague of mine messaged me yesterday with a passionate explanation of how his high-achieving 23-year-old son fell victim to drugs. In Perth. Here's how he finished his letter.

 

"I know that seeing the Ben Cousins story will help. Seeing Bryan Cousins talk about it has helped me. For whatever part you played in getting this to air (nil), thank you."

 

Author: Mike Sheahan

Date: 27 August 2010

Source: Herald Sun

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/ben-...x-1225911106501