Quote Originally Posted by Jetmaster View Post
Sticks and stones I reckon...

When I was a kid at school back in the dark ages we had a lunchtime "sockah" comp with teams based on our heritage. Those teams were Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Australia and Indigenous. We didn't call them that - it was Wogs, Spicks, Yugos, Aussies and Abbos, names agreeable with all. The insults during those games would get you hauled before a court these days but not one soul ever took offence. I was once called a "fat gorilla" - what is the difference between that and being called an "ape"?

I agree we need to be tolerant but we are going too far to the other side......guys like Laurie Cunningham, Clyde Best, Paul Cannoville and Cyrill Regis went through far more hell than Goodes, just for being black. Nicer guys you could not meet. Now that indigenous footballers around the nation are coming up with "solidarity" gestures the divide is widening, not closing. I would not boo him but I do not like Goodes or agree with what he is doing - for some reason that makes me a "racist", which I know I am not.
i understand this comparison - when you're all on the schoolyard together, for the most part everyone is equal. the shit flows around and no-one takes offence - but are you a wog, spick or an abo?

when you're off the yard - it's back to a completely different power dynamic. the wogs, the spicks and the abos for the most part are discriminated against compared to those who are in the dominant group.

those dealing out the epithets don't really get to decide what is racist and what isn't - it's the person on the receiving end of it.

i agree with you that you aren't a racist, and to paint everyone who's ever booed goodes as one is part of the problem here.

when you call people things, they don't like it - no-one likes being called a racist, especially if they aren't. quite similar to what goodes is going through now. he's not an ape, he's not a monkey - he's a bloke. just like you taking offence at being called racist, he has a right to take offence to being called an ape.

anyway not trying to give a lecture to you, everyone is their own person, and like you said - you can't just chuck people into the racist/non-racist buckets based on one situation - just throwing around ideas.