I'm not racist but...

As the country is gripped by scandal after scandal, racism is at the forefront of front page sports coverage today. There's no escaping, denying or defending it. But can someone please define it?

Suarez' actions, along with those of the Northumbria Student and the Liverpool fan were pretty hard to excuse (despite what Dogleash attempted) but where do we draw the line? When does an offensive comment suddenly become punishable by law?

For example:

If we were to fill that gap with the colour black, the offensive element would be the fact that he has chosen an aspect of the person he is speaking to, over which they have no control, and paired it with a word many women say is the most offensive possible, ****.

But let's substitute 'black' for 'ginger' or more relevantly 'Dutch' why is this suddenly fine? Can Michael Richardson control the ginger gene? No! can Tim Krul dictate where he is born and raised? No! And yet Bellamy, in full view of TV cameras, TWICE, repeated the above sentence!

I think the level of hypocrisy and double standards shown in this country today is ridiculous, HOWEVER, I feel our dealing with situations like this is ****ing lightyears ahead of other top European governing bodies!

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11833/7419428/Alves-racist-abuse-condemned

In the above article about Alves' racist abuse and monkey chants, the Espanyol President gave both sets of supporters a 10/10...

So in the nature of creating debate...Where do you think the line should be drawn? What do you think the punishment should be? Our National and club players are continuously targeted in racist attacks over sea's and in European competition, are we ahead of the other countries in terms of integration and racial acceptance or have we gone too far? Is it now the case that we can attack any aspect of someone, as long as it isn't their skin colour?

THE RULE:

All responses must begin with the phrase

 

oh good, a race debate, just what this board needs...

 

Well why not, its in the news more than ever now, this is a football board...There is no reason for this to become offensive or have to be closed!

 

its just that they never work out well

 

Yes to both in my opinion, we're ahead of most, if not all of europe in terms of racial intergration/acceptance but I also think that it's gone too far and even terms that have been used for decades in this country and have no racial connotations what so ever are classed/seen to be offensive simply because they have the word black in i.e. Baa baa black sheep not being used in schools anymore

 

I think the uk has gone ott on some things,me being raised in Spain,have grown up with calling a mate "Negro"( all being that he is black) he dosnt have a problem with it ,so I don't have a problem with it ,he calls me "chan" that is what foreigners are called ,I don't have a problem so he dosnt

I only think it becomes racist if you include other words in the sentence that stimulate abuse
Just my 2cents though

 

at a wild guess when it's against the law to make such a comment

 

Stories and 'accusations' such as this are not going to help matters:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16463861

 

A very dangerous thread mate. I've already reported the situation to the police for a similarly offensive one.

 

Its all to do with labeling, soon as u add an observation that deffines someone ei black, dutch, asian you are causing a segregation in the comment and making the insult specific to a group rather than an individual this means by saying black you are excluding other race from the situation except for black people, and as its a group thing you cannot be defended by i have black friends that are ok with it as you friend isnt the benchmark for the whole groups thoughts,

 

Thanks for sticking up for us ginger's

In all seriousness you raise a good point there is no difference between abusing someone by colour, nationality etc. Or at least there shouldn't be.

 

Any derogatory reference based on skin colour is racist. Not that hard is it?

 

True, I'd be interested in seeing a red top account of this report!

 

You racist little twat! Haha. This is what I don't get about this country, we're way, way too sensitive. Its just got ridiculous. We assume that our views on racism are replicated around the world, 100% correct and the way to be. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. What we view as racism in this country has become farcical. South America and latin countries in particular view it very differently. Calling someone a negro is not racist for them. The Suarez thing just boils down to what is not acceptable in one country, might well be in another. The important thing is to respect the rules of the country you're in and make sure you're aware of them. The clubs and FA etc should help this process with education.

Personally if someone called me a white english ****, the only bit I'd be offended at is the ****. I am white and english afterall. I laughed my socks off when someone said Bellamy was racist for calling Tim Krul a dutch ****. Hilarious. People need to grow a pair.

 

I don't think gingers or Dutch people have ever been treated as "inferior beings" like black or Jewish people have been in the past. Hence why its not south a big deal to slag someone off for being ginger or Dutch.

In reality though, being nasty to anyone because of something they cannot help is unacceptable in my eyes, but I suppose you have to pick your battles

 

Also the excuse of, its ok where im from is not good enough, its just plain ignorance, how harmless something may seem to you, can be massively offensive to others, aka patting someones head as a act of enderment here if normal but in another culture its is very disrespectful

 

Disagree with this point.

 

Gingers don't have souls

 

...Well its not quite as cut and dry as that though is it...

If the abuse had been aimed at say Tiote and someone said "**** off you African ****" or a cricketer had been targeted with "**** off you Pakistani ****" I can't help but feel that these phrases would be seen as far more inflammatory as "**** off you Dutch ****".

Skin colour isn't referenced in any of the above comments - but I would probably been more shocked if 'African' or 'Pakistani' were used in an insult...

 

Shut it, old man!