Let him without the ball cast the stone

Footballers are behaving badly. While that's no surprise, I have to admit being slightly perplexed at the nationwide uproar we're seeing.

Seriously, when have we ever been so worried about rights and wrongs?

And morality? Please, that was so last generation. We are the generation who can choose our own values, who can decide what is right for us and then live our life accordingly.

We proudly throw off the hindrances of previous generations, and revel in the freedom from religion and the strict moral code it placed upon us.

For goodness sake, we didn't really care when the president of the US had an extra-marital affair with a young intern.

Does it really matter whether Willie Mason swears and draws rude pictures, or Mark Gasnier leaves an obscene voice message?

Does it matter? And if it does, why does it matter? Why should they be sacked from the Origin side? It's not like they killed anyone.

A fascinating social phenomenon is taking place at the moment, played out on television, talkback radio and in print, right across our nation.

We are in danger of becoming hypocrites. Suddenly, we seem to care about personal morality.

Personal morality, how and why we respond to situations the way that we do, is at the centre of our being.

It determines whether we return the extra change we have mistakenly been given, or whether we spread a delicious rumour at work, even though we know it to be untrue.

It determines how we treat each other and how we conduct ourselves. It is something that the church has long been publicly ridiculed for addressing.