There’s plenty in the news cycle this week about AFL star Adam Goodes.
Or should that be indigenous star? Or maybe Australian of the Year, AFL legend and Aboriginal rights campaigner Adam Goodes.
After all, I don’t want to offend. Or even worse, appear racist.
Either way, I’m of the opinion the man is always playing the victim. He’s called Australia a racist country … and he is our Australian of the Year.
He speaks of Invasion Day, and calls fans from opposition teams ‘bigots’ for daring to boo him at games. And he’s kindly reminded us to “remember whose lands you’re on”.
It’s this antagonism toward a nation which has bestowed one of its highest honours upon him that grates with me. I applaud indigenous peoples who try to advance themselves, and indeed causes which they are passionate about. And I celebrate with fellow Australians the effort and achievements of so many indigenous athletes both past and present.
My current sporting idol is Johnathon Thurston. He is named by many as the best rugby league player in the world, but he is simply more than that. My personal experience with Thurston has led me to believe he is someone who perhaps the “spear throwing, war cry” favouring Goodes should look to.
Thurston is a bloke who’s done more for race relations than Adam Goodes ever could. His methods are simple, respectful and above else non-divisive. From handing out headgear to young fans at each game (at both half time and full time) to always picking up his kicking tee and giving it to ball boys with a pat on the back or rub on the head thrown in. It’s these subtleties which I believe garner respect and admiration.
This writer also recalls seeing Thurston playing impromptu games of touch footy with holiday makers, children mostly, on Magnetic Island just off the Coast from his beloved Townsville. These were not media-organised photo opportunities but a genuine proud indigenous man simply living and loving life – and not jumping on a soap box to scream inequality at every chance.
There is no doubt Adam Goodes is a brilliant AFL talent. On the field his achievements are plentiful – Brownlow Medals and Premierships. Off the field however, he’s way out of form.
Marcus Paul is the host of Canberra Live 3pm weekdays on 2CC.
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[quote comment="552138"][quote comment="552077"][quote comment="552053"]I'm a middle class white male and I have been subjected to racism. I was born in Finland and went to high school in the '70's in multicultural Weston Creek. Class mates included Greeks and Italians with darker skin than mine who were "wogs". I was a "wog" too but because I had fair skin it was decided that I was to be a "white wog".
Took it on the chin and wasn't scarred for life.[/quote]
Stout fellow, you are a champion of your people and an example of what the Fins can achieve if only they would pull their socks up.[/quote]
The Finns built Canberra...[/quote]
Tell that to the Greeks
[quote comment="552138"][quote comment="552077"][quote comment="552053"]I'm a middle class white male and I have been subjected to racism. I was born in Finland and went to high school in the '70's in multicultural Weston Creek. Class mates included Greeks and Italians with darker skin than mine who were "wogs". I was a "wog" too but because I had fair skin it was decided that I was to be a "white wog".
Took it on the chin and wasn't scarred for life.[/quote]
Stout fellow, you are a champion of your people and an example of what the Fins can achieve if only they would pull their socks up.[/quote]
The Finns built Canberra...[/quote]
...and drank to their success.
[quote comment="552077"][quote comment="552053"]I'm a middle class white male and I have been subjected to racism. I was born in Finland and went to high school in the '70's in multicultural Weston Creek. Class mates included Greeks and Italians with darker skin than mine who were "wogs". I was a "wog" too but because I had fair skin it was decided that I was to be a "white wog".
Took it on the chin and wasn't scarred for life.[/quote]
Stout fellow, you are a champion of your people and an example of what the Fins can achieve if only they would pull their socks up.[/quote]
The Finns built Canberra...
[quote comment="551992"]
That is my point, sort of. Racism does exist but just because people react to someone being a knob doesn't make them a racist or homophobe or whatever, if the target happens to be in a minority group. Only if all the members of that group are treated poorly is it bigotry etc. We should be free to call a knob a knob without that card always being played[/quote]
Except he hasn't done anything remotely like being a knob? Its easy to believe the Alan Jones and Andrew Bolts of the world, but they neglect to say when he pointed out 13 yo girl, he also called to apologise for the treatment she received from the ground staff and also pointed out she was most likely bought up thinking it was ok to say that. Sounds like a reasonable bloke to me. Then in the AFLs indigenous round he did a dance celebrating his heritage. I'm not seeing any behaviour that would describe him as a knob. Yet a footy player can get drunk down at the pub and grope a few women and thats not a problem ?!?!?! no booing because he is a knob/scum.
There is a line and the people booing in this instance has overstepped the mark. By all means boo a bad decision or unsportsmanlike play on the field, some players thrive on it and others less so. But then let it go. If Goodes had committed suicide because of his mental health, would we all be saying he was a knob and deserved it? We are not talking about bleeding heart do gooders here, but just being a decent person.
I can't believe this issue is still running more than a week after it broke. I always listen to overnight talk radio and yet again this morning almost every call during the six hour show was about Goodes. Could someone put a sock in it please?
[quote comment="552085"]I think the idiots booing Adam Gooes should be instantly removed and banned from the sport grounds. It costs good money to go to watch any sporting activity and fans don't need to listen to or watch these brainless twerps. Adam is doing a lot of good things in his life and these morons can't do any better than this! Talk about pack mentality. Australians sure know how to make fools of themseves.[/quote]
I have never been to a football match where Goodes was playing (I don't follow AFL) but I have been to plenty of other code matches and there has been booing at them.
So, why are we allowed to boo everyone except Goodes?
Why his he so precious?
I think the idiots booing Adam Gooes should be instantly removed and banned from the sport grounds. It costs good money to go to watch any sporting activity and fans don't need to listen to or watch these brainless twerps. Adam is doing a lot of good things in his life and these morons can't do any better than this! Talk about pack mentality. Australians sure know how to make fools of themseves.
[quote comment="552057"][quote comment="552043"]Three questions.
1. Are Australians racist ?
2. If they are then what other countries are racist ?
3. What countries are not racist ?[/quote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovF1zsDoeM[/quote]
Everyone's a little bit, some are a lot
[quote comment="552053"]I'm a middle class white male and I have been subjected to racism. I was born in Finland and went to high school in the '70's in multicultural Weston Creek. Class mates included Greeks and Italians with darker skin than mine who were "wogs". I was a "wog" too but because I had fair skin it was decided that I was to be a "white wog".
Took it on the chin and wasn't scarred for life.[/quote]
Stout fellow, you are a champion of your people and an example of what the Fins can achieve if only they would pull their socks up.
Goodes' is being harassed in his workplace. Who will come out and say that is okay? Sadly Goodes' time out from football suggests he is suffering clinical depression no doubt from the sustained persecution of him in his workplace (and now further afield). Depression is an illness that effects the chemistry of the brain, it is crippling and doesn't go away with a simple pill. nd BTW Goodes isn't weak or a cry baby, he's stood up for what he believes in, sustained himself against years of attacks and continued to behave admirably. This is what strength is. How many of those people booing could hack what he's taken?
Harassment in the workplace the larger picture here. It is an epidemic fueled by racism, sexism homophobia, envy, narcacism and outright vindictiveness. The Goodes case has many of these elements.
So what is going on in our society, in our workplaces, in our schools, that people are so stuck in these pathetic internal worlds that they feel they are entitled to torment another human being until they drive them to mental illness and possible suicide?
Would Adam Goodes get a game for any other club?
[quote comment="552043"]Three questions.
1. Are Australians racist ?
2. If they are then what other countries are racist ?
3. What countries are not racist ?[/quote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovF1zsDoeM
"It's this antagonism toward a nation which has bestowed one of its highest honours upon him that grates with me."
Marcus, can you see how patronising this statement is? It's like saying "look at everything we have given this black guy and he has the nerve to say what he believes, making us feel uncomfortable". Can't you see that through his observations he is trying to make Australia a better place?
I'm a middle class white male and I have been subjected to racism. I was born in Finland and went to high school in the '70's in multicultural Weston Creek. Class mates included Greeks and Italians with darker skin than mine who were "wogs". I was a "wog" too but because I had fair skin it was decided that I was to be a "white wog".
Took it on the chin and wasn't scarred for life.
[quote comment="552032"][quote comment="552005"]Good comment here.
http://theblacksteamtrain.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/the-wayland-smithers-school-of.html[/quote]
Dungers, you are as predictable as the sun coming up in the east and setting in the west.[/quote]
Someone has to challenge the elitists who demand to be offended, the morally vain and the climate change missionaries or this blog would end up being a boring, lefty love-in.
Being Australian of the Year does not deprive someone of their right to speak out to make this country a better place. Indeed, I believe the position carries an obligation to use it to highlight issues that must be overcome.
By your logic, Rosie Batty is wrong for speaking out about bad government policy and underfunding regarding domestic violence services, just because she is Aussie of the year.
And he is perfectly entitled to call it Invasion Day, because that's what it is. We do not improve the future if we ignore the past.
Three questions.
1. Are Australians racist ?
2. If they are then what other countries are racist ?
3. What countries are not racist ?
[quote comment="552005"]Good comment here.
http://theblacksteamtrain.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/the-wayland-smithers-school-of.html[/quote]
Dungers, you are as predictable as the sun coming up in the east and setting in the west.
[quote comment="552005"]Good comment here.
http://theblacksteamtrain.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/the-wayland-smithers-school-of.html[/quote]
From the blog:
"Of course, we have the regular roster of apologists come out, shaming the country and our society for cutting down a sports star who happens to have Aboriginal blood as part of his racial make-up. The caring, informed and sensitive city dwellers who, despite their alabaster skin tone and lack of racial diversity, can not only see, smell and hear racism, but tragically, are so deeply affected by it that they feel they must differentiate themselves from the white person next to them by pointing at them and screaming racist long enough and loud enough that somehow, somewhere in the midst of all their righteous shouting, their own skin tone will be forgotten or ignored.
One thing I’ve come to understand about our society is that often, those who see themselves as the most tolerant, educated and enlightened are usually most racist, close-minded of all. These types were the first to pick up their keyboard or a microphone and declare that speaking negatively about the so-called ‘war dance’ effort from Adam Goodes over the weekend means that we are culturally ignorant, yet in making such a claim, have themselves ignored an entire segment of the Aboriginal community, who are appalled at the ‘performance’."
This about sums it up perfectly. All the bleeding-heart apologists pointing their fingers and yelling "racism" are so desperate to be seen as tolerant, that they are completely oblivious to how they are behaving and how divisive they are being. And that's on top of being mistaken in their judgement of the motives of others.
[quote comment="552024"][quote comment="552002"][quote comment="551983"][quote comment="551979"][quote comment="551973"][quote comment="551941"][quote comment="551933"]I keep hearing about him 'bullying and shaming' the 13 year old girl. Lets not forget the details of the incident however:
- She made what most would consider to be a clearly racist remark - and most definitely Goodes saw it that way.
- He clearly did not know at the time of pointing her out that she was 13 - he reacted to the comment from the crowd, not the person.
- Yes, she was young and immature, but I don't think that should be any excuse for ignorance.
- Goodes showed significant compassion and empathy in the aftermath, asking for support, education and empathy for the girl.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-25/goodes-gutted-but-places-no-blame/4712772[/quote]
Yep. Should should have popped straight into the world with an acute sense of race relations. From her first breath she should have known that an insult, commonly used these days to insult people, regardless of colour, for being slow-witted or brutish, had previously (and predominantly before her time) been used for racial vilification.
Definitely her age is no excuse.
/sarcasm.[/quote]
Sarcasm or not, we aren't talking about a 5 year old here.
By 13, people have a reasonable idea of what is right and wrong (unless there are other issues at play - which as far as I'm aware, there isn't in this case).
Assuming she was attending school as she would, I'd be exceptionally surprised if she hadn't at very least been taught about bullying, and at least been introduced to the concepts of racism.[/quote]
You're expecting a child to understanding the history of language that's before her time. That simply isn't appropriate for her age, and I think your expectation is unreasonable.
[quote comment="551971"]To me, a racist action isn't defined as a racist action by the perpetrator. Its no excuse that she didn't think it was a racial slur - quite clearly the victim took it as a racist slur, and to me that is that.
Just cause you called someone a gorilla back in the day, doesn't mean that someone else won't find it offensive and racist in another context.[/quote]
You can't possibly know how every person you encounter will interpret what they hear, and you shouldn't be expected to. I think the legal concept of 'the reasonable person' should be applied to situations like this. Unforunately, the media have not applied that concept and what we're left with is a case of "you're a racist if you don't agree with him!". It's ludicrous. And what you're advocating for is a situation where entirely unreasonable conclusions can be drawn based on any criteria that suits the offended party - the polar opposite of the 'reasonable person' test. That's a case of forever shifting goalposts (pardon the puns) and it seems pretty ridiculous.[/quote]
And what is a "reasonable person"? A white, middle-class male who has never ever endured any racism in his entire life? It needs to be a reasonable person in the category concerned. An Indigenous man whose family and himself have experienced discrimination and racism not infrequently for most of their lives. Walk a mile in his shoes.[/quote]
The law doesn't exist for a minority - it's there for everyone. That's why the reasonable person is used. It's an idea that represents a general composite of the views of the community - not the views of a specific minority. That considered, I'd say one could argue that much (if not most) of the community feels similarly to the author of this article.
Don't get on your high horse and tell me what I should be feeling. You don't know the colour of my skin, and you don't know what I have and haven't experienced. Face the fact the people are booing Goodes not because of his heritage, but because of his behaviour and his comments. If you can't see that then there's no helping you.[/quote]
The law of racial villification does not use this reasonable man test. For good reason. Racism is contextual. The reasonable man is used in some other areas of the law.[/quote]
It probably uses a test based on a reasonable person in the circumstances of the person concerned. For example, an Indigenous person. Racist taunts have more impact on such a person, because they may have experienced significant racism previously, than they may have on a white person. You need to walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you write off his or her concerns.