Eddie McGuire has apologised, again. Eddie McGuire is a big deal in Australia given his tenure as host of a lot of stuff on telly, chair of a football club, and his current show on radio in Melbourne.

He has apologised because he made a mistake, quite a big one, but not a deliberate one, and not a mean spirited one. 

The woman tossing the coin at the start of an AFL game was Cynthia Banham, an ambassador of the club, and as it turns out a double amputee from a plane crash a number of years back.   

If you haven't heard the story, McGuire who was elsewhere in a studio, didn’t know it was her but made a general comment about there needing to be a fine for people who toss the coin badly. Apparently, it’s a thing, people get nervous, mess it up, toss it weird, and so on. 

It was a throwaway line, but as it turned out, delivered with the sort of unfortunate timing you would not have wished on your enemy. If it wasn’t Cynthia, it was Sharon or Brian. And Sharon or Brian was your regular fan, the comment would never have been mentioned again. 

So what makes the story interesting is not only upon realising that he made an error did McGuire apologise profusely immediately on the show, he did it again the next day, and pulled his services from another match. 

He then went on the radio yesterday and said sorry a third time, explained how when he was told who the comment had been made about, he felt physically sick. 

Now, I would have thought that would be about the end of it. But it's not. And not only is it not, it's about as far from the end of it as you could possibly get. 

People want heads, they want action, apologies aren't enough, reaction is raging. My question is, why? This is a genuine mistake, a throwaway line, based on no understanding of the person tossing the coin, and an obvious misunderstanding, and admission, that if he had had any idea he would never had said anything of the sort. 

So, in other words, a genuine mistake. So until McGuire is sacked, or court-marshalled, or perhaps publicly flogged, it would seem he has done all he can over putting things right. But it seems little short of the noose will satisfy the disaffected. 

When did all this happen? When did the age of outrage become a permanent part of our make-up? When did the mistake go from being a mistake, to a criminal, sackable offence? When did the barrier become so high, just getting out of bed is a risk? Do we realise the energy that goes into being this worked up? Do we realise in being worked up about stuff like this, we don’t have the energy for more important stuff? 

Is any of this microscopic, blame mongering that’s beset our outlook and mindset going to lead anywhere good or productive? Are we really going to be a better society because of all of this?

What's the bigger mistake? McGuire saying something dumb? Or the fallout driven by those who have lost all sense of perspective?