Our Nation's Saddest Moment

Generally Australia's greatest achievements are on the sporting fields with some contributions to the arts and science world.

But what seems to be our greatest achievement to date is our saddest moment in history.

Neknominate.

What is sadder is as I typed that, my phone recognised it as a legitimate word.

In January my feeds were filled with videos tagged with this strange word. I don't like to watch videos online so I assumed it was like The Vines craze. But it kept going.

Curious I looked into it and at first was bemused by the craze to film yourself sculling a drink, post it and tag a friend to challenge them to neknominate. It seemed harmless - bogan and stupid but harmless.

I was glad that none of my friends had been tagged or completed the challenge. But friends had liked these viral videos. It is a sad state of affairs where we applaud  binge-drinking games. And liking the videos is akin to standing in a cheering mob while someone bashes or abuses another person.

I've been involved in my fair share of drinking games. I've encouraged and completed sculls in my time. We've all been young and eager to fit in at one point in our lives.

But just like planking and to a lesser extent the Harlem Shake, this challenge of one-upmanship was bound to get out of hand.

People have been driving and neknominating, jumping out of car boots neknominating and gettin back in, drinking out of toilet bowls, drinking bottles of hard liquor and finally, some people have died as a potential result of neknominate.

This sort of drinking challenge is not new. What is new is this particular game and the global nature of it spreading like wildfire. And the first spark was apparently ignited in Australia.

What's sadder still is it apparently started in my hometown in Perth.

Like urban legends no one is sure of the first neknominate video. I wonder if those 'pioneers of drinking' are sitting in just their shorts at their outdoor setting or blown up pool, gut hanging out, tattoos on display, drinking their cold beers patting themselves on their backs and saying 'Fark man we're awesome'. They would be proud to know they started a global craze. It's harmless fun, right?

What would they think now that people have died or the challenges are getting more outrageous and dangerous? What would they say to those who refuse to accept the challenge?

It'd probably be: well he's just soft and can't handle his booze; drinking on the boot of a moving car is awesome; you're soft for not drinking.

And therein lies the problem. Drinking equals good.

I've often lamented why we can't be like Mediterranean countries where drinking is a way of life, but you drink to enjoy. It's generally a glass or two with good and friends.

Australians are known for being drunken louts and drinking to get drunk. The less you remember the better the night.

Come on Australia. We should be better than that. Neknominate equals bad and a sad day for Aussies.