The most fantastically ignorant newspaper article of the year?

[sp1814]

To summarise - "there was a lot more racism in football 20 years ago, so if black players face racial abuse today, they should put up and shut up":

http://www.dailymail....n-Ferdinand-game.html

Now I know that newspapers tend to publish articles to appeal to their readership demographics - but really...who in their right minds thinks that this is a valid argument?

[ludwig]

Sorry to make light of your serious post Naomi. To be serious for a sec, I get your point entirely, but..

// ..every time you take offence at the word, you're agreeing with the racist that it is an insult ..//

I don't think that's what's happening - you're not taking offence at the word but at the fact that THEY see it as an insult. So you're not saying 'I'm offended because you've insulted me with the word black' - you're saying 'I'm offended that YOU consider the word black to be an insult'.

[naomi24]

I see what you mean, but I think a racist uses the word 'black' as an insult because he knows he will get the reaction he's looking for - if you see what I mean. :o/

If he gets no reaction, he's wasting his time continuing because his purpose is not served. Black people need to rise above his level of mentality.

[sp1814]

naomi24

Hang on - Rosa Parks stood up to racists. She absolutely didn't back down. What the writer of the piece in my original link would say to Rosa is, "Okay love...why don't you just accept the situation and sit where you're told".

That's unnacceptable.

Also, I'm not sure that by simply ignoring racism it will fade away, in the same way that if you ignore sexism it will disappear.

I strongly believe that the women's movement in the 1970s paved the way for equal pay, and equal treatment at work. If those women in the 1970s had kept quiet, we can only guess as to where we'd be now.

Perhaps you're correct in saying that racists should be ignored, but at the same time, their racism should also be highlighted for everyone to see...before being isolated.

[mungbeanz]

// I strongly believe that the women's movement in the 1970s paved the way for equal pay, and equal treatment at work. If those women in the 1970s had kept quiet, we can only guess as to where we'd be now. //

Saudi Arabia.

[naomi24]

SP, of course Rosa Parks stood up to them, but she didn't do it by crying 'racist' because she lived in an appallingly racist society so that would have got her precisely nowhere. She did it by standing her ground - or sitting her seat if you like - and by holding her head high and refusing to be less than the next person. Fortunately, you don't need to go to such lengths.

As Ludwig says, racists see the word 'black' as an insult, but if you don't then where is the insult? If people say you're black, then so be it - you are - so don't let the racist win by allowing what he perceives to be an insult to offend you. Racist words can only offend you if you allow them to. All the complaints in the world will never educate mindless morons, so best to treat them as the idiots they are. The word 'disdain' springs foremost to my mind - but of course, all of this is only my opinion.

[sp1814]

naomi24

Sorry - but I know quite a lot about Rosa Parks, having studied the American Civil Rights movement at school.

Her act of defiance was a scream rather than a murmur. She didn't turn the other cheek - she confronted the racists in the Deep South. No-one can speak for her or Dr King or Malcolm X, but I believe that if any of them were called a f**king black c**t, they wouldn't simply turn the other cheek.

At least I really hope not.

[naomi24]

SP, Black people in this country aren't in Rosa Parks situation. I'm not suggesting you turn the other cheek, but that you treat idiots with the disdain they deserve rather than give them what they want. Some play the race card far too readily. I've been branded racist here on AB simply for disagreeing with people on issues that have nothing to do with race. All I'm saying is maintain your dignity and complain when a complaint is really warranted - otherwise you are undermining not only your cause, but yourself.

[sp1814]

I would strongly suggest that being called a 'f**king black c**t' falls well within the realms of something that warrants a complaint and certainly, if someone were to be called that, they couldn't really be accused of playing the race card, simply because whoever uses a phrase like that has already played the card, and you cannot play it twice in the same game!

[naomi24]

SP, but, the point I'm making is that instead of being upset by the real insult, eg ... 'you are a 'f**king c**t' ...... you're upset by the word 'black', and by taking that word as an insult (which the racist intends it to be) you are undermining yourself because you are, in effect, agreeing with him.

Anyway, you're clearly not happy with me for seeing the problem from a different angle and attempting to support black people in their fight against racism, so I'll leave it at that. Good luck.

[sp1814]

Think we see racism from completely different viewpoints, so let's agree to disagree.