So I'm trying to get my mind around this one. John Terry could have called Anton Ferdinand a "f*****g c**t" and nobody would have batted an eyelid. That's just the industrial language of your average working class footballer apparently. The issue was that he called Anton Ferdinand a "f*****g black c**t".
Now I always maintained that the only word used by Terry that was not insulting was the word black. He could have called Anton a black genius and there would not have been an issue. And now, Jason Roberts and the Ferdinands are trying to prove my point. If Terry can't even use the word black, why in God's name is it acceptable for black players to establish themselves as a separate body, using that word black to do so?
Anton is, by many people's definition, a "f*****g c**t" - he is certainly defending like one this season. And now he, apparently, not only wants the word "black" associated with him but wants to be defined by it. So, and I am not calling him this, if he is a "f****g c**t" in the industrial language of footballers and he now identifies himself as a "black" footballer, wouldn't Terry be justified in calling him a "f*****g black c**t" by virtue of Ferdinand being a member of the "Black Players Association"?
Tell me, if John Terry applies to be a member of the "Black Footballers Association" would he be allowed to join? If not, isn't he being barred on the basis of colour? And if that is the case, isn't that racist by definition? And please, explain, if it is OK for Roberts and the Ferdinands to set up a Black Footballers Association, why couldn't Terry set up a White Footballers Association? And what would FIFA's reaction to that be?
It seems to me that some people want to have their cake and eat it!
There are undoubtedly many anomalies and inconsistencies in society around acceptable language, that much is true. I guess that language is all about intention and has to be interpreted in context. That is, a judgement has to be made about why certain words are juxtaposed. Is it chance, or are they chosen for added impact. To call someone a F*****g C**t is agricultural, agreed. It is also highly unacceptable to large swathes of the population in virtually any context, if not all contexts. On a personal level, I would confine my use of it to a football ground and that is all part of the attraction for me - a last opportunity to spout Chaucerian language! (It wouldn't go down too well in the staff room or on parents' evening!) That said, even at a football ground, there is a line. When you accentuate the phrase with an additional adjective, particularly if that adjective identifies a person by his colour or creed, then the three words are read together, not in isolation. They are used for power, in an emotive and provocative sense. In short, they incite and are venomous, they are racist.
ReplyDeleteWhether we agree with it or not, I'm not sure a black players association is racist by definition either, any more than the Women's institute is sexist or the Masons are misogynistic. They are a minority group in a society that still, in their view, tolerates abuse towards a section of its citizens. They feel that their professional association and their governing body has not taken their issues seriously enough and they have chosen to recourse, within a free and democratic society, to form their own pressure group. I suspect that, as a person of Asian descent is now free to join the BNP, if any white player wished to join them then they would be welcomed in. Presumably it is a name of a group, not a constitutional statement of position.
Sorry, that was a long post.
*stands back and waits for the dog's abuse......
Calling someone a black c*nt is derogatory. just as calling someone a fat c*nt or a thick c*nt or a northern c*nt is. It is all in the intent and in Terry's ridiculously small mind there is clearly something wrong with being black so by preceding the word c*nt with the word black he is using the former to compound the latter as a derogatory term.
ReplyDeleteYour arguments are very logical, lucid and dare I say with many colourful examples.
ReplyDeleteyeah it seems pretty obvious that a Black players association would be racist.
ReplyDeleteI bit like the black music awards...
If there was a whites only music awards what would be the reaction?
2214 why on earth did you not just include that shpeel in the article you goon'? I'm not surprised it took you 60 minutes to write.
ReplyDeleteMisuse of adjectives? Come off it Headmaster. In my opinion it's pc gone stark, staring mad. In the 'right-on'70's the Afro- Caribbean’s openly wanted themselves to be referred to as 'blacks'. The 1968 Olympics was marred by the 'back glove salute' given by US athletes on the medal rostrum. The Afro- Carib community has considered itself to be permanently persecuted and actions by white middle class lefties in society have done little except to nurture this condition. Any failure and the word 'black' is avoided, but a triumph is exalted. Hence, MOBO and the like. It’s a crazy world out there.
ReplyDeleteLord Canning is a closet nazi c**t. Send him back....to the 1000 year Reich, or Rhodesia. What an ignoramus. Bet he don't even live in Newham - if he does, he must be blind.
ReplyDeleteHf is a racist defending his ilk,headmaster is a crashing bore.
ReplyDelete