Is this simply the latest manifestation of wowserism?

Time for a little lie down at the 2017 Melbourne Cup at Flemington. Photo: AAP

If only the race that stops the nation could stop the naysayers.

“Quick reminder — the Melbourne Cup is an intersection of greed, idiocy & and (sic) industry built on brutal cruelty to animals,” tweeted Crikey politics editor Bernard Keane last week. “Avoid it.”

It brings to mind a quote from the American journalist Henry Louis Mencken, who wrote of Puritanism, “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” If that Twitter bio photo and his pre-emptive admonishment serve as any indication, Keane is doing a splendid job at not being happy.

Rekindling (Corey Brown) wins the 2017 Melbourne Cup. Photo: Getty Images

Certainly he and his colleagues are very unhappy with this newspaper, as evident by Crikey’s obsessive insistence that The Australian is fighting a number of ‘Holy Wars’ against its so-called enemies. The irony of accusing another of religious-like zealotry while denouncing would-be punting and imbibers is an amusing one, but Keane wasn’t alone.

“F..k the Cup,” tweeted writer and ABC The Book Club panellist Marieke Hardy on the Sunday before the Cup. As is her annual tradition, she regurgitated an article from 2010 by her. “The Melbourne Cup is a truly revolting spectacle,” she wrote, condemning the “lavish waste of money” and “liquored-up bogans”.

“Why do we watch from the sidelines, waving our betting slips and ignoring the tawdry debauchery on display, pretending we’re simply sophisticated,” she asked. As opposed to pretending we are oh- so-sophisticated by publicly sneering at the great unwashed?

No doubt most of the punters blew their money, but at least it was their own to waste. The same cannot be said for the Melbourne Writers Festival, of which Hardy was appointed artistic director this year. This year’s festival featured sophisticates such as Clementine Ford, Laurie Penny, and Benjamin Law. It relies heavily on taxpayer-funded subsidies, including those paid by the liquored-up bogans who Hardy despises.

“There’s no dressing up the fact that the Melbourne Cup is one of the cruellest days on Melbourne’s calendar,” wrote Laura Weyman-Jones of animal rights group PETA Australia in The Age last week. Writing of the 2015 cup she referred to “fan favourite Red Cadeaux (who) lay on the ground with a shattered leg until she was killed.” She? Admittedly he was a gelding but let’s remember that a horse’s gender is still (at least for now) defined by biology.

The Weekend Australian Magazine columnist Nikki Gemmell also expressed disquiet at the occasion. “It feels like there’s a subtle cultural shift going on when it comes to horse racing, a growing feeling of discomfort,” she said.

“Horse racing is cruel and barbaric, lets (sic) be better than this shit,” tweeted University of Wollongong sociology lecturer and vegan Jordan McKenzie, who is also the author of the appropriately-titled Deconstructing Happiness. NupToTheCup was the hashtag uniting the fun police, some of whom wore fascinators with mock-bloodstains to mourn the occasion.

Actually not sure what the #MelbourneCup is besides rich white people getting pissed & harming other beings for their own entertainment?

— Michelle Law 🌈 (@ms_michellelaw) November 5, 2017

“Actually not sure what the #MelbourneCup is besides rich white people getting pissed & harming other beings for their own entertainment,” tweeted writer Michelle Law. I am actually not sure whether Law has ever set foot on a racecourse. Had she done so she would see it is a wonderful mix of ethnicities, including her fellow Asians.

“Horse racing is cruel and barbaric, and I for one don’t support it,” said Brisbane City Greens councillor Jonathan Sri, opposing the annual motion that the council stop to watch the Melbourne Cup. “I don’t want to send a message to the public that I think it’s okay.” Like many self-styled progressives within local government, Sri appears to believe that the function of councillors is to provide moral guidance to ratepayers.

Hot tip for the Melbourne Cup: horse torture is evil and betting rewards wealthy companies for your failure to understand probability.

— Andrew P Street (@AndrewPStreet) November 7, 2017

“Hot tip for the Melbourne Cup: horse torture is evil and betting rewards wealthy companies for your failure to understand probability,” tweeted occasional Fairfax columnist and author Andrew Street. Who knew that the bookies get rich at the expense of the punter? Scoops like these could earn Street a Walkley Award.

Is this simply the latest manifestation of wowserism, that great Australian tradition? As Mencken described these finger-wagging types, they are the “drab-souled Philistine haunted by the mockery of others’ happiness ... he must devote himself zealously to reforming the morals of his neighbours, and, in particular, to throwing obstacles in the way of their enjoyment of what they choose to regard as pleasures.”

But, hey, it was worth it so you could get dressed up and get pissed with your mates for the day, right...? #MelbCup #MelbourneCup 😞 https://t.co/ZYkCgGuXbr

— Dr Bianca Fileborn (@snappyalligator) November 7, 2017

Historically, your average wowser was more likely to be of the conservative ilk, their ideology and religion entwined. The nagging social activists of old buttressed conservative prohibitions; it was due in no small part to the left that the rights of the individual came to prevail in the 1970s.

How times change.

The conservatives of today are more likely to espouse liberty, while so-called social justice activists are the modern naysayers. Unlike the practitioners of old, today’s wowsers undermine conservatism and all its institutions, not reinforce them. Christianity, patriotism, and Enlightenment principles are but some of those aspects they abhor.

Unlikely. Australia, don't be in denial about the realities of horse racing. Death and pet food. #nuptothecup https://t.co/6RMHnTnNN9

— Jess McDonald-Norman (@jessmcdnor) November 7, 2017

If you think linking that with calls to ban the Melbourne Cup is tenuous, consider some other examples that have occurred just this year.

Inner-city Greens-dominated councils now refuse to commemorate Australia Day on January 26, the so-called ‘Invasion Day’. An indigenous woman performing the ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremony at Adelaide’s War Memorial on Anzac Day made reference to ‘stolen Katurna land’, altering the 23rd Psalm to include “Yea though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Invasion”.

Melbourne cup is an absolute joke. Just an excuse for bogans to dress up and further participate in animal abuse

— Zara (@tarasavelos) November 7, 2017

Speaking of Anzac Day, who could forget Yassmin Abdel-Magied’s boorish usurping of a solemn occasion to criticise Australia’s immigration policies? In isolation this incident and the reaction to it were overblown, for it appeared merely a case of an immature and self-centred young woman posturing for her circle. Examined overall, however, it is yet another example of the left’s obsession with cultural cleansing.

The Melbourne Cup is only cool with bogans and/or the ignorant. There's nothing glamorous about it.

— rebecca ambesi (@rebeckyy) November 1, 2017

As for the Melbourne Cup, that great tradition is safe for now, particularly given its enormous support among mainstream Australians. But what of the drunken so-called bogans that feature so prominently among its spectators? At least they are sincere, and their company is far more preferable than sitting in a self-indulgent writers’ festival and listening to some poseur wax lyrical.

Having said that, we could always use the centenary of the 1925 Melbourne Cup as an opportunity to bring the naysayers back to the fold. Who won the race that year? Windbag.