I am outraged that whoever started this story leapt to the conclusion that a joke about monkeys could be seen as referring to people of African descent. As Joe Piscopo and Eddy Murphy firmly established, monkeys are far more similar in their thin-lipped, white skinned, hairy, tree-hugging natures to people of European descent. It seems to me this was very racist of the PC brigade. I believe that those in the Kick it Out campaign and others who raised this issue should be removed from their official duties while an investigation is conducted into their racist activities.
We have got into this mess, as usual, because of the actions of a minority which have made perfectly normal phrases possibly racist. Because I am not a racist it is very easy for me to, say, call a misbehaving child, a 'cheeky monkey' (a phrase which was perfectly normal in my youth). But because of the actions of the racists that phrase, whether I like it or not, is offensive if addressed to a black child. Of course Hodgson isn't a racist, but it was a mistake to use the phrase. What i meant by showing solidarity is altering our own phraseology to avoid any possibility of giving offence.
And now we have a Jamaican-born woman on FA board saying The FA board is made up entirely of white men - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24592596
Agreed. I was sat watching eastenders last night (blame the Mrs... Honest!) and one of the characters says '' he's just a monkey '' suggesting the other white character is nothing more then a clueless follower. Clearly if a black person was casted they couldn't use that wording yet as been pointed out. If racist groups latch onto words like Monkey to insult and cause stress to black people, then that's how this mess started. On the face of it Roy said '' feed the monkey '' to two black players, he was just unlucky one of the players never fully understood why he used the analogy, and couldn't separate the word monkey from how racists use it. I guess we shouldn't be too harsh on smalling as maybe he's been subjected to monkey chants in the past so if he has then as soon as he hears the word monkey he will get defensive.
I'm not sure there's that much planning involved. But I like KOKIO. And it seems to me KIO should be the first people to sign up for it. They really need to understand how much they've done to legitimize racism by assuming certain words refer to people of African descent when they clearly do not. It's racist stereoptyping, plain and simple. And I wonder how blinkered their racism is. If they heard a certain former Spur was often compared to a monkey or chimpanzee, would they claim that he therefore had to be of African ancestry?
Boss and Power I completely get what you're saying about adapting and taking into consideration that words such as monkey can be taken out of context in cases such as this. I would never use the phrase 'cheeky monkey' in reference to a black child whereas I use it freely towards my young white cousin. I also believe there is a flip side to this coin however, where black people have to understand that just because the word monkey is being used in their presence doesn't mean that a racist remark is being made. They don't own that particular word, its not like the y-word or the n-word which only apply to particular groups of people. This applies especially in this context where Roy seems to pre-empt the use of the phrase by explaining that it is in the context of a joke that is, apparently, reasonably well known in some circles and does not seem to be inherently racist in any way. However he still should have not made this particular joke/analogy as he surely would have realised that it could, and thus probably would be taken the wrong way by someone and possibly leaked like this. But it shouldn't have got to this stage.
The person who took offence at what Hodgson said is like those people who find sexual innuendo in otherwise perfectly innocent phrases. If you have a dirty mind, that's your problem, not mine.
My experience is that people of all races object to normally objectionable things. Professional political correctness folk annoy those they claim to represent at least as much as they annoy everyone else, for understandable reasons: they make a mockery of a real problem, and unfortunately tend to justify the haters in their hatred by being a bunch of twats. I say it's time to hoist KIO by its own petard. They introduced hurtful racial stereotypes into a place they did not exist. This reinforces them. They of all people ought to understand that this is simply not acceptable. The fact that they're the ones who usually lead the witch hunt does not give them a free pass to practice witchcraft. On the contrary. As Robespierre discovered, live by the guillotine, die by the guillotine.
Well said. The more the offended protest about being offended, the more ammunition they give to the offenders. But the byproduct is that the innocent - like Hodgson - who meant no offence are drawn into the pantomime. The result is that an us and them mentality is created where ordinary people are afraid to use ordinary language for fear that they may offend a particular group. This breeds insularity where groups are consequently seen as different, distinct, peculiar, not to be associated with etc and not to be commented upon. So the representatives of the so called offended achieve exactly the opposite of what they purport to stand for.
Exactly. And reasonable people can and should get on the front foot about these issues. Otherwise "the best lose all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity."
I can't be alone in noticing this chain of events from last week: i.) Roy Hodgson makes a comment in the dressing room that is leaked to the press, sparking a minor race row ii.) A Jamaican-born woman on the FA board saying The FA is made up solely of white men iii.) Rio Ferdinand gets a spot on the FA commission Throw in Peter Herbert latching onto the first, and Sol Campbell chipping in his tuppence worth for the second, it looks like a stitch-up to me.
Herbert DID latch onto it,he sent a four page letter of Complaint to the FA when they said here was no case to Answer
