When I started this blog, I had no idea that I would be drawn away from the central topic of F1 into matters of conservation, big business, ethics and morality. I suppose that the sport must be viewed in context, however, and that means looking at its relationship to the world in which it exists, with all the complexities that includes. This is especially true in the matters of ethics and morality, thanks to the debate continuing over the revelations of Max Mosley's no-longer-private life.
Max Mosley
In the course of fighting back against the scandal, Max has brought issues of the freedom of the press to the fore and F1 Fanatic has referenced some important articles in the resultant argument. It begins with the speech by the Daily Mail Group's editor in chief, Paul Dacre, at the annual conference of the Society of Editors. This is defended by Richard Addis, a former Daily Express editor, in his Shake Up Media blog and attacked by no less a person than Max himself in an article in The Guardian. All are well worth reading.
The central issue is press freedom but my interest focuses on the matter of morality, since Max has so much to say about it. He subscribes to the modern view that there is no morality common to all and so everyone's private life is their business alone. As I have mentioned in previous articles, my take on it is somewhat different but it is Paul Dacre's "populist" argument that allows us to see through Mosley's flawed logic.
Paul is saying that, regardless of Mosley's happy assumption that no one cares about the sexual preferences of others anymore, the fact is that the majority still have a natural revulsion for acts that are seen as depraved and abnormal. The intelligentsia may wish that it was otherwise but the very fact that certain things are kept secret illustrates the shame that accompanies these things.
Shame is the indicator that an awareness that something is wrong still exists in us. Were there no shame involved, there would be no need to hide certain of our preferences. Consider if you had been discovered cavorting with prostitutes in a spanking orgy - would you happily laugh it off and pretend that "everyone does it these days"? No, you would be highly embarassed and would want the matter to be forgotten as soon as possible. You might feel that you were made that way and could do nothing about it, but still the awareness that such things would lower you in the eyes of your peers would make you keep silent.
Even Max retains some shred of shame or he would not have been so annoyed at his dirty little secret being revealed for all to see. He seeks to minimize the shame by creating the fuss about press freedoms, effectively wanting the law to be changed to allow him to be seen as respectable again. And we make our jokes about spanking and remain blind to the attack on our right to know.
There is no such thing as an amoral society. No matter how twisted the morality, how much we substitute political correctness for religious belief, there are unwritten laws that we unconsciously adhere to. The very fact that Max was desperate to prove that there were no Nazi connotations involved in his adventure shows that Nazism has become one of society's taboos, a part of modern morality. Max has offended against one of the remaining religious (and perhaps natural) morals present in the vast majority of us and, whether it is fair or not, he will suffer the consequences of ridicule and disgust.
That is why he should have resigned as President of the FIA immediately upon the story breaking. All this twisting and turning in debate amongst the intelligentsia will do nothing to change the mind of the public - he has won the title of "Spanky" forever. Shame is the indicator and it is shame that should make him find a corner to hide in.