The whole Marler saga, is one of many recent events that have given a bitter taste in my mouth, and made me extremely concerned about aspects of today's society, and where we are heading as a society, particularly in the UK. To get things in perspective, I think it is worth reviewing what actually happened here. During a minor mele which occurred in an international game of rugby, Joe Marler tried to get the attention of his opposite number Samson Lee (a member of a Gypsy family), and in order to do so shouted, "hey, Gypsy boy". That's not downplaying the incident, or being contrite. That is exactly what happened. There is no indication that Marler used the words in a defamatory way whatsoever, either to malign Lee or gypsies. You can see and hear it for yourself here : And that's it. That is what has caused endless press coverage, the concerted harassment of the English player, and the England camp, and two and shortly to be three formal investigations. The referee said nothing about it, the players said nothing about it, and the game continued moments later, with the 'incident' apparently forgotten by all involved. No harm or offence was intended, and no harm of offence was caused. (Probably for legal reasons), Marler's manager told him to apologise to Lee at half time, which he did, after complaints had made by 'outraged' members of the public, after the comment was picked up on the referee's microphone and broadcast to the nation. Lee, and his manager, both said after the game that it was a non issue, and Lee had in all likelyhood forgotten about it within seconds of the so called incident occurring. It was a total non issue in fact, until it was picked up by the political correctness police, since when the player who made the comment, his manager, the player to whom the comment was made, his manager, and various others, have been subjected to various degrees of accusations, hatred, and intimidation, by the p.c. 'good guys'. Joe Marler in particular has been put through two weeks and counting of vitriol from all and sundry, been labelled a racist, and no doubt threatened and intimidated countless times. Whatever sanction he is given for his innocous comment by the International Rugby Board, no doubt he realises, that as a result of this furore, he will potentially forever be labelled a racist, and regarded as an enemy by some factions of the gypsy community, which - unlike his comment - is potentially a serious matter. The irony that as if often the case, those shouting 'equality' actually show infinitely more spite, and cause infinitely more harm, than those they are shouting it to, is not the only apparent contradiction in the handling and coverage of this matter. Indeed, as in many instances of public outcry, upon closer inspection, the whole episode can be seen to be something of a fare. For example, in spite of formal protests by the Welsh Rugby Union about the incident, Lee's Scarlets team mate Rob Evans, has previously been quoted as saying that Lee has regularly been called Gypsy by numerous Welsh players, and indeed that everybody in his junior Scarlets (a leading professional Welsh club) team knew him as, "Samson Lee the gypsy" (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-prop-rob-evans-jokes-11005553). According to Wales Online, this was regarded as a, "joke". This seems remarkable when the RFU were so vocal in condemning the England set up (and indeed their own head coach) for initially describing the comment as "banter". So far as I am aware, the WRU has not made a complaint about the Scarlets, or about the Welsh players who call Lee "the gypsy", or about the classification of the apparently ritual identification of Samson amongst Welsh players as "the gypsy", as a "joke", by Wales Online. And conversly, how would an incident have been handled in which someone had shouted to an English player playing overseas, "hey English boy" ? Well, this is speculation, but I suspect that any complaint against the comment would be met with the incredulity and distain it would merit. Certainly, an IRB investigation and endless press coverage would seem out of the question. Why should it be different when it is an English player who makes the comment ? Is the singling out of a group of society in this way, not the real racism ? Another apparent contradiction can be found in the position now taken by the International Rugby Board, who have criticised the six nations for their handling of the issue and them finding Marler not guilty of misconduct. The basis of the IRB's complaint was that the Six Nations should have referred the matter for an independent and objective investigation, rather than investigating the matter itself. This criticism seems at best somewhat hypocritical, when the IRB itself declared that Marler was "guilty" of a racially aggravated offence, before referring the matter to its own disciplinary panel for assessment, and indeed, even advised that panel that Marler is guilty. It is my understanding that the IRB did not clarify how they had concluded that the Six Nations' investigation was subjective and bias, or how they had ascertained Marler's guilt of a racial offense, without even hearing from the player. In fact, even the treatment of the Marler incident to other rugby incidents in the last few days, including incidents in the same game, appear to demonstrate hypocrisy and illogical hysteria. For example, a few days after the England v Wales game, while fervent incriminations of Marler were still going on, an all in brawl occured in a game between the French and British navies .Unlike when Marler said "gypsy", however, the British press (to the extent that they reported the navy fight at all), reported it as if it was all a bit of fun. A bit of banter, if you like. And this was 30 trained soldiers fighting each other like their lives depended on it. How can a sensible society consider this as banter, but condemn those who regarded a fleeting, harmless and completely innocent verbal comment, as banter ? The two navies by the way, apparently shook hands over a pint after the game. Again, it seems incredible, that if 30 blokes can shake hands minutes after standing toe to toe hammering seven bells out of each other, someone saying "gypsy" can result in the guy being publicly castigated, subjected to a prolonged mass vendetta and labelled a racist and villain Furthermore, during the second half of the England v Wales game in which Marler said "gypsy", a Wales player put his finger in the eye of an English player . This act is regarded in the game, as one of the worst offences that can occur, not least because similar incidents have resulted in players being permanently blinded. How can things be right, when such an incident receives almost no public attention, and someone calling a member of a gypsy family "gypsy boy" causes so much public outrage ? What kind of imbalance do we have, when (vastly) more outrage is taken at a member of a gypsy family (who was caused no offence whatsoever) being called a gypsy, than when someone commits an assault which had the potential to leave the victim blinded ? It strikes me as madness. Indeed, the British public and press is more outraged about Marler calling a gypsy "gypsy", than it is about many truly shocking and terrifying events around the world. Over a 100 people were killed for example, when Saudi armed forces decided to drop bombs on a wedding party in Yemen recently. Where is the outrage about this in the UK ? The outrage about masses of people being killed by state forces in cold blood ? How is it that they can find someone saying "gypsy" more worthy of attention and condemnation, than people fleeing for their lives, and being blown to bits by an army supplied with weapons by western governments ? One might wonder how this farcical nonsense could come to be. And the answer appears to me to lie in society's preoccupation with political correctness, society's systematic encouragement of particular members and groups of society to take offence at the merest use of an outlawed word, and to an extent, society's advantaged empowerment of some sections of society over others, in the name of so called equality. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss other high profile incidents, but one preciant example of a high profile incident in which an apparently innocuous comment resulted in a severe public attack in the name of equality upon the individual concerned, would be the incident last year where a female barrister pursued a prolonged, intense, highly self-publicised, vitriolic and aggressive attack on a solicitor who had complimented her appearance in her photograph after she contacted him on Linkedin. There is no doubt that womens' rights movements have achieved a great deal in achieving equality for women, in a way which is beneficial to society. However when that ideal is used as a vehicle for a malicious attack, in which the victim is purposefully threatened and ridiculed as publicly as possible, it is obvious that something has gone wrong with a society. Indeed, it strikes me that we are living in a world where justice is handed out based on public vitreol, where hatred, aggression and bullying is sanctioned by society so long as it is done in the name of the 'right cause', and where people are brought up being taught to take offence and taught that they have a right to take offence at the merest hint of a perceptable slight, and where those not traditionally associated with prejudice are fare game for infinite domineering by those who are. Britain has led the world in defeating ignorance and prejudice, and the world is a better place for it. It has given us the opportunity to create a society in which bullying, victimisation, malice and unnecessary unpleasantness becomes a thing of the past, and is replaced by respect, tolerance and fairness, and where we can focus our attention on the genuine suffering of others and attempted to aid their plight. But incidents such as the one involving Joe Marler, show that we are a long way from achieving that, and that instead we have gone off on an unsavoury tangent, where we ignore real issues to focus on mindless obsessions, and put innocent and well meaning people at the mercy of those with a propensity to be malicious. We are in the process of creating an extremely negative, vexacious and unjust society, the common theme of which is restriction of free speech, public humiliation and harassment of those who have committed technical infringements of ever growing amounts of regulations, the ritual encouragement of society to take offence and exercise arbitrary rights and powers over their peers. and the empowered of individuals and factions of society, to cast often malicious judgement of those who are often entirely innocent in nature. Worse still, we are creating a society in which illogical public vitriol is given such deference that nobody dare point out its unfortunate consequences, for fear of falling victim to the mob. The UK and other countries have spent centuries becoming enlightened to move away from cultures bent on witch hunting, ganging up on poor souls who have inadvertantly taken a misplaced step, and ogling their subsequent demise. Within the space of just a few years, we have taken an exorcet path straight back to such a society. One of the most recent victims is Joe Marler. Unless a radical shakeup of our culture is facilitated, there will be countless more. ADDENDUM " OK, so I have thought this over a little in light of Michael's revelation that a national newspaper has employed a lip reader, who has advised that Marler also told Lee to, "get back to (his) caravan". This is a phrase that as a part of our society's informal cultural equality training, we have been taught to be shocked and outraged by. And although his intended 'victim' was caused no harm at all by the immediate comments, no doubt Marler is for it now, and no doubt many will celebrate and applaud his demise. But it is those two divergent consequences - the delight of those who seek to see and participate in the mighty falling, versus the personal calamity of a good natured individual who has made a momentary mistake in the heat of battle - that highlights the real underlieing problem. And that is that legislation such as that cited in the article (which as the article rightly points out, we all need to be aware of, and abide by), is out of date. Whilst it was badly needed to correct a mischief in our society at the time it was introduced, it has now largely served its purpose, and ingrained in 'us', the error of our ways as a society. And this has enabled us in the UK to create probably the most successful multicultural, egalitarian culture in the world. It has stopped the widespread bullying, abuse and disadvantage of minorities - racial and otherwise - as was intended. But now, it is creating its own mischief. It is being used not as a shield, but as a sword. It has become not a tool of those who want an equal opportunity to take pride in themselves, and to work hard, but often a tool of those who want to blame and harass. It has become not a bully breaker, but a bullies' charter. In this instance, none of those involved were offended, but courtesy of the press, who have brought the comments to the attention of those who were not intended to hear them, many will take offence, as they have been trained to do, and taught they are 'entitled' to do. And no doubt pressure will be applied to Lee to teach him that he too has a duty to be offended by the comments, and he will receive morals training, teaching him how he should feel offended. A victim will be created. In that case, who is it that has caused the offence ? is it Marler ? or is it those who have thrust the players into the spotlight and thrust the comments in all of our faces ? or those who have taught us how to take offence, and how to take revenge ? I know what my answer would be, and its not the person who will inevitably be made to suffer. Marler's comments weren't clever, and he has been rightly reprimanded for it. But the real harm is caused by the press who like nothing better than putting a man in the stocks and sections of the public who like nothing more than a chance to get on their ready made high horse, and scream abuse at him. This double act is becoming far too influential in our society. And legislation such as that relevant to this issue, is one of their most treasured weapons. We need to ask ourselves what we want as a society ? Do we want people to be tolerant, fair and forgiving, or do we want a society driven by the press and the baying mob that it stirs into a frenzy ? I prefer the former, and for that, throwing Joe Marler to the wolves isn't the solution.
Probably. Although that Trotsky MP guy's probably had his head up his ass all week, so he might not have seen it either.
Sorry @RobSpur i would read all that but i only come to gc to shout things at the doirty pikeys and sweaty skirt wearers that flood this ****hole like refugees to dover
Good punch up in that Navy match. I assume the stout hearted Brits got the better of the cheese eating surrender monkeys?
None of the above, ive only seen mrs brown boys once (full of pikeys i couldnt understand) and i couldnt tell ya what the others are tbh dont really watch tv
