Too much moaning about racism!

It's as though being offended by racism is the latest fad. The new thing to do. The coolest thing to moan and get upset about.

The latest rounds of "I'm black and offended syndrome" were the recent U-21 England match where Danny Rose stomped around on the pitch in an "upset" manner and the even more recent Chelsea match where players are claiming the the referee used "inappropriate language" and made "racial comments" to the players.

Personally I am sick of hearing it. It should hardly be a constant news story. But what annoys me more is the over exaggerated public displays of offendedness where like in the U-21 game players wanderered around causing a scene trying to show how upset and offended they are, appearing inconsolable because of the "damaging and offensive" remarks their poor ears have had to endure.

Grow up and stop bandwagon-ing!

Reebok-Rebel [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]this...

It is definitely out of control.

I would be amazed if Mark Clattenburg used racist language at the weekend. He's got the eyes of the world on him and people listening to his every word through his microphone - would he really be that stupid? Crap ref, but an unlikely racist.

I'm not black so I can't pretend to know how black people feel. But things are a damn sight better than they were only 30 or 40 years ago. It seems that nowadays any critisism of a black player results in being branded a racist. But it's still ok for people to mock female players, bald players, big nosed players, tall players, ginger players etc. Where is the Big Nose Players Union when you need it?

Marvin Sordell is a case in point. He's let a few monkey chants in Serbia and a stupid prank on Facebook take over his life. If you choose a career in the public eye you have to expect abuse. I don't see Michael Barrymore complaining. Marvin should shut the fuck up and get on with playing football.

yes lets ignore racism.



idiot.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:yes lets ignore racism.



idiot.

I didn't say ignore it, but you need to get it into context. Do you think Chelsea have accused the referee because of sour grapes?

Just don't ask if someone smells. It's proper racist.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:yes lets ignore racism.



idiot.

I didn't say ignore it, but you need to get it into context. Do you think Chelsea have accused the referee because of sour grapes?

I wasn't meaning you Nat.

Do people "play the race card" yes they do, sadly.

but does that mean we should ignore all incidents of actual racism like we saw in the under 21 game? No.

I doubt all the people saying "just get on with it" would be if they were getting abuse.

All players get abuse. Black ones can play the race card though.

I'm talking about racist abuse, from wherever it comes.

Juan Mata is white and appears to be "playing the race card" against Clattenberg.

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I'm talking about racist abuse, from wherever it comes.

Juan Mata is white and appears to be "playing the race card" against Clattenberg.

I work for a German Airline in Munich and started here as a contractor in 2002. All of us "foreigners" from England were, and to some extent, are still called by many here as "Insel Affes". This means "Island Monkeys". So, if one of the Germans calls an English person a "Fucking Island Monkey", how would that be any different to calling someone a "Spanish Twat" anyway ? Should I take my company to court ? They really don't see any offence here. They still call a coke/weissbier mixed drink a "Nigger" here. Should we shut down all the newspapers that call the French "Frogs" ? It really is out of control. I have a neighbour here from Wales (Swansea of all places) and he dislikes the English the Welsh Bastard. Lock me up

I used to live in Germany and was called an Island Monkey on a regular basis. It made me laugh. Maybe I should've called the Polizei though?

If I was paid as much as players like Sordell and Mata, the fans could call me anything they wanted to be honest. I'm not saying racism is right because it's not but in some cases the player should be able to rise above it, prime example is Anton ferdinand who has just gone along with what ever his brother has said and IMO wouldn't have made a meal of the situation if he wasn't rios brother.

People are forgetting what racism really is and what it represents. Racism s traditionally discrimination against a person based on their ethnicity or skin colour in a way which affects them to their detriment. Name calling isn't necessarily ok but to OVER react to it is pathetic in my opinion and it has become a really explosive issue where mountains seem to be being made out of mole hills. I would imagine that Clattenburg gets called all sorts of offensive things as a referee but he doesn't start prancing around on the pitch acting as though he has just heard his whole family have been shot. If we are not careful this mess could start becoming the absolute norm and it could lead to a very rocky path for the future of the country.

Dunkels King wrote:They still call a coke/weissbier mixed drink a "Nigger" here.

To be fair, 95% of the time it is used as a term of endearment with friends or colleagues here in Holland, the other 5% are mainly used by foreigners trying to cause trouble!!! Although I wouldn't use the term being brought up in the UK and being indoctrinated to think its a bad terminology!!!

Dunkels King wrote:I have a neighbour here from Wales (Swansea of all places) and he dislikes the English the Welsh Bastard.

Typical sheep-shagging taffy!!!

Racist name calling is just a form of bullying. My ginger mate takes as much stick for the colour of his hair as a black person would for the colour of his skin if it wasn't governed by legislation, but his ancestors weren't part of a ginger slave trade, so it's all good.

Racism isn't something we can completely ignore because of the level at which racial discrimination has made it difficult for people to live an ordinary life, but we're now at a point where some people don't want equal treatment, but special treatment. We'd all like a world where the shits that verbally abuse us get penalised by the law, but it doesn't work like that. Somewhere along the line, somebody has worked out that if we can brainwash people into thinking anybody that's ever made a racist comment is on a par with murderers, we can stamp it right out.

doffcocker wrote:Racist name calling is just a form of bullying. My ginger mate takes as much stick for the colour of his hair as a black person would for the colour of his skin if it wasn't governed by legislation, but his ancestors weren't part of a ginger slave trade, so it's all good.

Why do you discriminate against Kevin Davies?

Natasha Whittam wrote:
Why do you discriminate against Kevin Davies?

It's a Sheffield thing. I also hate Gary Megson, incidentally.

My understanding of this thread that it's not a debate about the existence and nature of racism - it's a debate about whether or not currently there is a trend to cite racism far more frequently than in the past and whether or not each case justifies it.

My view on that is that it certainly appears that racism is being cited publicly far more frequently of late, perhaps due to the media attention that high profile cases such as J Terry have given the issue. I doubt that there has been a sudden surge in racism though - just a surge in media reporting.

There may also be an increase in the willingness of people to publicly claim that they have been racially abused due to the way in which the cases have been handled and the formation of the new players union who have engaged a fairly litigious lawyer.

It brings into question the whole debate about the use and abuse of anti-discriminatory laws. Twice in my career I have had issues with this - once for not hiring a female and once for not hiring a guy with a disability. I didn't hire them because they were far from being the best candidates although I have employed way over the national average of females and people with disabilities in the past and currently. They couldn't accept that they were not the best candidates despite the facts of the matter. In both cases I was disappointed that they played the discrimination card, but it goes to show that what are fundamentally good laws can be misinterpreted and overused by some people. However that's not to say that the current crop of high profile claims, including Clattenburg are without foundation - we just don't know what was said.

What happened with the two instances you mentioned?

Solicitors letters but they bottled going to tribunal when their Solicitors were presented with the facts. In the case of the woman, the successful candidate was in fact another woman - so I'm still not quite sure what she was on when she took that approach. People eh?