There's a lot of news about racism in sport at the moment and especially players throwing personal remarks about other players and Sepp Blatter's comments about it. But what are your personal experiences of racism? Have you been called a name because of your colour or nationality? How have you responded to it? I would think that it's only offensive IF the recipient takes offence to it. If somebody is racially abused and ignores it by smiling and forgetting it and just thinks that that person is a feeble minded pinhead then what harm has been done if the abused person is confident and absorbs it without reporting it?.
Many police officers of all colours take abuse like being called pigs but remain focussed by not rising to it. White people get called honkies and some have the strength of character to ignore it but some don't. There's racial abuse from all sides to all sides and I was badly picked on by being English in Wales. English sportsmen take a lot of abuse in the Celtic countries of Britain and all over the world. It is the racist who labels him or herself,it's the racists who give themselves away not their targets. I was always told to ignore abuse whatever it was so why don't football players do just that? Just in case any of this has been misunderstood I am totally against racism. In France I've been called an English cow(Vache Anglaise) but I've just ignored it so if I can then footballers can...why not?
Personal experiences of racism.
posted on 19/11/11
What's white on the inside? I'd love to know how people with the same brains think differently. How does a West Indian think any differently from an Englishman? I don't know who Spuriousity is but he sounds like an Ensil type and a stuffed shirt called Histriocity on 606 last year. Just looking to catch people out all the time.All your comments are valid but there are too many to answer.
posted on 19/11/11
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posted on 19/11/11
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posted on 19/11/11
Galvin
I realised that people constantly come out with off-the-cuff remarks they don't even understand themselves.
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Racism isnt something I think about frequently. Like most negative things, it does no good for anyone to get fixated on them. But the Suarez and Terry incidents have certainly brought it to the front of most of our minds.
What you said there really struck a chord. While it might not have been the point you were making, for me, it's not the skinhead EDL-esque racists that bother me (when I think about it). It's the stuff buried deep down in the everyday thoughts and actions of everyone. While it might be the older generation who share the unfunny racist jokes / use words in ignorance, we all believe in / act on stereotypes to some extent, even if it's looking at a job application and wondering if someone with a foreign name is a native speaker.
A lot more can and should be done to educate people on racism and just having a bit more empathy (engaging brain before mouth), I think there will always be something basic human nature that means the low level stuff will never quite go away.
See I told you it wasn't a great idea to fixate and no Spurs til Monday?!!
posted on 19/11/11
Yes Galvin you're right but I still say that Ferdinand was it should have just either ignored Terry but if he was annoyed by it invited him to somewhere quiet and sorted it out man to man. There's no need for all this fuss with Sepp Blatter and the brouhaha which follows.
posted on 19/11/11
Dawn - Anton's a lover not a fighter
posted on 19/11/11
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posted on 19/11/11
Colour is always an emotive subject Galvin and there are many differing opinions about it. If the target isn't offended and ignores it then no harm is done. If it's brought to public attention then other factors become involved like other racists taking it on board and copying and making retaliatory remarks and general retaliation. Ignoring it or sorting it out privately are by far the better options in my opinion. Anyway roll on the footie.
posted on 19/11/11
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posted on 20/11/11
The one thing i always remember that angers me is,My Grandad used to own a pub inbetween Hammersmith and the Olympia it was as if on one street your looking at celebrity million pound houses then you turn a corner and your in shanty town.Anyway a week before hand a black lad was stabbed and killed and there was uproar about it being a racist attack and everyone should help save the innocent black kids on the street,a week later the barman at my Grandads pub was stabbed by a of black youths while he was bleeding out on the ground he heard them say lets watch the whitey die.It was obviously then a racist attack against an innocent white man yet nothing was done or said about it.The thing with racism i find is the double standards.When i growing up in London people might call me an irish b*st*rd meaning it to be offensive but wouldnt dream of calling someone a black b*st*rd because it was racist.Those are the sort of double standards that seriously annoy me racism is a level playing field no one colour creed or nationality should be on or off limits.