Nightclub Bans Staring Without Prior Consent

 

Club 77, a nightclub in Sydney, Australia, has banned staring at another patron without consent. Its managers will call the police if a customer stares at others without getting their consent. The establishment also asked clubbers not to darken its doors if the "sole purpose" for their night out is to meet someone to "pick up.”

What a fun venue!

In an Instagram post, the club said "safety officers"-- in pink vests-- would enforce the new anti-staring rules. It also noted it wanted to be a “safe space.”

“Safety officers”… in “pink vests?” Is Club 77 a gay bar? Sounds like a Freddie Mercury fantasy. Does it continually play songs by Queen and The Village People over its sound system? What happens if one stares at the “safety officers?”

“Oh, Mr. safety officer, I’ve been bad and need to be punished!”

But, seriously, what a load of crap. Who decides what constitutes staring? In what direction, how intensely, for how long? And what if someone is wearing a mask? No one could tell if that person was smiling, leering, sneering, or anything else. And what if that person were blind?

Will bars and nightclubs in the formerly Wild West soon throw patrons out if they call someone “baby,” “sweetie,” or “hon?” Will the proper authorities be called if one patron winks at another without prior, express written consent? What if they accidentally graze another in a crowded bar? Will a partially stifled belch attract the attention of management?

It is exceedingly hard to believe what has happened to Western nations in recent years due to otherwise decent peoples’ extreme and unwarranted tolerance of the authoritarian-- and spectacularly intolerant-- left. Australia began as a penal colony, for crying out loud.

And so it is again. But one whose wardens sport pink vests—and whose inmates have glanced in someone’s direction without prior approval.

Ergo, intimate nightclub conversations will now go something like this: “Would you please sign this document stating unequivocally that I have the right to gaze approvingly in your direction, at least for tonight at this particular venue?”

And they say romance is dead!