My Grandad was anti Kean, my Dad is anti Kean, therefore growing up in the same social sphere as my forebearers: I am also inherently Keanist as well, and won't be told differently.

A very well reasoned and thought provoking post:

I fink Messi is best innit...

As you say, and I less eloquently suggested previously, when the 'offending' word is an adjective then is the 'attacker' being racist? Crouch is a lanky *** as Beardsley is an ugly *** as Scholes is a ginger ***. They are all genetic as is the colour of a persons skin.

There are a great many words used in a derogatory manner, these usually refer to the social stereotypes of the time, place, social standing etc not a description of appearance.

You wonder the people that we're treating as second class citizens now. Perhaps in the future those with mental health issues will have cause to revolt. Or the physically disabled, there's 3 loos in my work building - ladies, gents and disabled. Has their gender been rendered null and void by their disability?

My head hurts, and hurts even more after reading that DD.
I wish I could say education is the key, but sadly some very well educated people are the worst culprits.
religous beliefs can be manipulated to cause hatred.
Some people are brought up with racial hatred and see it as the norm.
Some people are just brain dead and cant decide on what is right or wrong .
Some people even use the colour of their skin as an excuse.
Institutional racism is wide spread.
Some people may not have a problem with peoples skin colour or beliefs but just use it as an insult in an idividual case.
Some cases could be a joke gone wrong.

I dont really give two hoots what colour peoples skin is or where they come from. Sadly there are horrible people in all parts of society, but at the same time there are nice people in society. I try and ignore the horrible folk in life and try to embrace the nice folk.
I would maybe say we have to take the rough with the smooth and just get on with life, because if we hate the racists, we are in ways exactlty the same as them.

Good article DD, thought provoking.... We have had an interesting board!

John Terry is too thick to be genuinely racist. He was just angry and frustrated that the QPR game was going so badly and let his annoyance show with his stupid comments when it was clear they were destined to lose.

I knew where Blatter was coming from when he said it was often heat of the moment stuff and should stay on the field, but as usual he failed to understand depth of feelings and provide context to his words.

No I would not take any offence if being called a stupid white man. A lot of the time it would be true!!

But I would be worried about saying that to someone with darker skin and replacing the word white with black. Even now I worry about the correct wording to describe someone who looks different than I, so as to not cause any offence.

Chris Samba is a big Black man...get past him....

Its a great opener, with some great posts in response. My own thoughts on this are that I hate institutional discrimination - that someone should be discriminated against for no other reason than the fact that they are different from the majority (whether by age, race or sexuality) and I like to think that society and all of us should treat others equally until they demonstrate failings. Its what I try (and frequently fail) to live up to.

For me therefore any overt form of racism is bad, destructive for society and self-limiting - I have friends from all nationalities who have enriched my life and am happy with the stuff I have learned from all places I have visited.

I think there are terms that are offensive in themselves and display inherent racism - everyone knows to which I refer. The words themselves have so much hate and history attached to them that they are racist used by themselves.

However, using an adjective becomes much more grey. I have been termed a white and took no offence at colour being attached, much more concerned about the second part. The important part about all of the insults thrown about are that they are intended to cause offense, potentially in the heat of the moment but to actually to try to injure someone's feelings. Most can easily be laughed off but there is a higher degree of sensitivity attached by coloured people to the issue of colour - specifically because of (in my mind) the worse crime of continued institutional/societal racism (together with history).

In my mind the last (adjective based) is not racist generally except where it is used as the outlet for racist feelings and society should 'decriminalise' the crime - not in legal terms but by making people of all races and backgrounds comfortable in our world.

As you say DD there's a number of different definitions of racism but I've always taken it to be in a practical sense using a person's skin colour as a negative in how you behave towards them. Whether that be verbally, physically or otherwise. So as you said in another topic you wouldn't be offended by someone calling you a "silly white man", well thats still racist in my opinion because its including skin colour as part of a negative comment. Of course the same could apply to a national, religious or even hair colour term being included in the same sentence and to me it would still be just as wrong. If the person you're saying it to doesn't find it offensive (i.e. one of your mates who does the same back) then I don't see the harm, but intrinsically its still wrong and offensive and could reasonably be taken as such by someone else.

Blatter and FIFA are just an utter joke in every sense. They are an organisation as far behind the times as its possible to get and no way would they have survived in any other business environment. They are corrupt, undemocratic, greedy, self-serving dinosaurs. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that he prefers to sweep racism in football under the carpet. The pathetic fines handed out to eastern european countries for such behaviour in the past says it all about FIFA's real attitude towards it. Couldn't care less as long as they keep raking it in and maintaining their power.

We have had an interesting board!

We have always had an interesting board!

"Blatter and FIFA are just an utter joke in every sense. They are an organisation as far behind the times as its possible to get and no way would they have survived in any other business environment. They are corrupt, undemocratic, greedy, self-serving dinosaurs."

Oh I don't know, they could impersonate the Conservative government without too many problems...

Thank you for all the enlightened responses. I will reply individually when time permits.

I thought you were King of timelessness!

Everyone talks about it and condemns it but no one including Blatter and that French R*t Platini because they are all to busy feathering their own nests and that kinda thing blows over in a few weeks!Big bucks are more important than ethics or standards and norms. In my mind I can still see him prancing around with the European Cup and the dead bodys lined up behind the goal.