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Two talk-back callers rang SEN and ran slap bang into Dr Turf. One caller said calling a person an ape wasn't necessarily racist - there might be other reasons such as the person might be born with a deformity etc! The next caller said Bruce McA had likened Daniher running to a giraffe and questioned the difference between that and being called an ape! Dr Turf responded that if they wished to ring up with that sort of crap they should ring 3AW. He is a big supporter of Goodes and like Waleed Aly has nailed the real cause of animosity to Adam.
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Those who have the greatest power to hurt us are those we love. -
Bloods
"Lockett is the best of all time" - Robert Harvey, Darrel Baldock, Nathan Burke, Kevin Bartlett, Bob SkiltonComment
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AFL360 provided some genuine sanity to the debate last night. Gerard Wheatley has a profound ability to see through bulls***. He summed up the doomsayers by assigning them to pantomime and daring them to continue to shelter behind false arguments. Together with the Murdoch journalist they form quite a bulwark against the inane comments and poor journalism that is propagating this farce.Comment
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One of the interesting things about the invective toward Adam Goodes is that everyone on all sides of the matter knows full well that it's racially motivated, yet the discussion continues as if it were a matter of contention.
Under the rubric of freedom of speech, bigotry and vilification of minorities has become a regular part of the mainstream media, while any expression of a minority culture outside permissible limits is somehow deemed personally offensive to those controlling the airwaves.Comment
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That might be a very sensitive interpretation. I said Leigh gave the bullets to the racists with his "protected species" statement in an earlier age and is still being dished up today. I doubt Leigh is racist but his recent statements suggests he's certainly not in support of Goodes and he's still in the camp to give Goodes, and through him the Swans, a kicking when he's down. That might be fair as an opposition coach but puts him on the Dermie side of commentators this week. More opportunistic than principles.Comment
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Another great newspaper article in the Daily Telegraph (online) by Richard Hinds. It was right down at the bottom of the page and therefore easily missed. Worth reading, sorry I don't know how to link it.
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He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)Comment
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I agree with that. I was thinking about the booing of Adam after the Hawks game and how and why it's got to this stage, and concluded the hate probably started at that point, when Matthews said he was a 'protected speices'. It gave a convenient excuse for the haters to begin their crap, and with subsequent incidents, seized upon and sensationalised by a headline seeking media, it has just got worse. It's now at a very unhealthy and worrying level indeed, and yes, I think Leigh Matthews is indeed partly responsible for the situation Adam finds himself in today. No wonder we hate the Hawks, considering it was also Dermie who whipped up the hate more with his 'Goodes is a slider' crap a few years later. Easy to see why it's Hawk fans who boo most......arrogant ignorants.....Comment
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"be tough, only when it gets tough"
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Yes, Ludwig, exactly. But I would go further and say that that is the modus operandi of all the talkback ranters and the divorced from reality tabloid columnists that seem to dominate large sections of the commercial media. And I would also say that this sort of mean spirited demagoguery has been around for a very long time: probably since the dawn of history. That is, I think there has always been people (probably psychopaths) that have been able to advance their own status and power, by being able to exploit a couple of the negative aspects of human nature.
The first of these, is the fact that while we are capable of remarkable in-group cooperation, we have always had a tendency towards out-group aggression. And the second, is our tendency to believe that any good fortune that comes our way is due to our own talent and intellect, but any setbacks that come our way are the fault of somebody else. Though while there is obviously a great deal of variability from person to person, I can't help thinking that someone who starts their day by devouring a few Andrew Bolt blogs with breakfast and then tunes into Alan Jones for a brunch full of bitterness, might be more susceptible to these ways of thinking than most. And certainly the sick theatre that these media personalities foist on their consumers, does seem to encourage these negative ways of thinking. That is, almost their entire output seems to be a process of identifying minority groups, or the more outspoken representatives of these groups, and then blaming them for the problems of their listeners and readers. Unfortunately, this encourages a self perpetuating culture of angry victimhood, where people ignore their own flaws as possible reasons for their own problems. For instance, if someone finds that other people look at them in a strange way after they mouth some racist bilge, they may not adopt the sensible policy of not talking such crap in the future, but instead blame political correctness gone mad and/or radical activists allegedly working in the aboriginal industry. Or if they are having a bit of trouble with the women at work, it's not their fault for going the grope or behaving like a petty tyrant, instead it's the fault of the handbag hit squad. Or power bills are up? Well, it's all the fault of the vast leftist, warmist conspiracy that's brainwashed the world's scientists. Anyway, I could go on for a long time with these examples, but I should bring it back to AFL and the Goodesy issue.
So, it seems to me that the process of morally bankrupt populists exploiting their generally poorly socialized and bitter audience doesn't actually solve any problems. Instead it leads to such things as a champion player, upstanding citizen and articulate spokesperson, like Adam Goodes, being booed at AFL grounds, largely because Bolt and other rightard opionistas, have decided to run a long vendetta against Goodesy for him having the gall to accept the Australian of the Year award and then occasionally using that profile to mildly suggest that Australia could probably do a little bit more to combat indigenous disadvantage.
And it's this reintroduction of race based vilification back to the AFL that really irritates me. This is because the AFL as an organisation has probably done more than any other over the past couple of decades to encourage the participation of Indigenous Australians. I mean, there are many statistical areas where the Indigenous population is greatly over represented; incarceration rates, premature deaths, homelessness, preventable diseases: but to the AFL's credit, they are also over represented in participation rates in Australian Rules Football. And I do think that a major reason for this, is that early on, the AFL realised that there was a problem with racism and they then became the first major sporting organisation to take positive steps to stamp it out. This then led to the creation of a virtuous circle, where more Indigenous players became involved at a high level, and because there was a reduction in racist attitudes, these players were more comfortable and their talents flourished, which meant that there were more positive role models out there. This in turn, led to more kids seeing that there was a path to success and respectability through Aussie Rules, and they themselves became involved, which in turn led to more of them reaching a high level and the creation of another wave of genuine role models.
And I definitely think that Adam Goodes sees himself firmly as part of this process. That is, someone who came from a disadvantaged background, but through a combination of natural talent, hard work, good role models (from a variety of races and backgrounds) and being able to work in a team environment, was able to create a distinguished career for himself. Having done this, he does seem intent on being a role model himself, to encourage further participation and to thus keep the virtuous circle going. Which I also see as being part of the better side of human nature. And while I talked before about some of the negative aspects, I really am much more of a glass half full type of person when it comes to human nature. That is, our remarkable human brains are able to look at the past and identify problems. And due to our powers of cooperation and communication, we are able to formulate plans to correct these problems, which we turn into action in the present, in the hope of creating a better future.
And while I've probably got a fair bit more philosophical than is usual on a footy discussion site, I do see this current debate largely as a clash between contradictory sides of human nature. On one side, you have media demagogues promoting their own privileged position in society, by creating bitterness and intolerance. While on the other side, you have all the people who have been involved in AFL, and who have used their involvement to be both decent role models and to attempt to change Australian society for the better.Comment
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I really enjoyed reading your comments, dejavoodoo44.
We have plenty of examples similar to Australia around the world, and particularly in America. First the Europeans nearly drove the indigenous population to extinction, but certainly to near irrelevancy in the political landscape. And there is the long history regarding the treatment of the decedents of African slaves brought to the Americas to work the plantations. The story of native Australians has historical elements similar to both of these.
The one example I find most analogous to the Adam Goodes situation is that of Mohammed Ali, who was far more confrontational than Goodes, but they both are essentially addressing the same issues. Ali was severely punished for his brazen truth telling which produced a vision of American that White Americans didn't want to see, which is what Adam has done to White Australians. So he is booed on the playing field and castigated in the social media and elements of mainstream media. The treatment of Goodes is mild by comparison, but Adam has played it wisely and has deflected much of the sharp barbs thrown at him. I think he realises what his fate would be if he steps out of line too much.
The aftermath of the Ali story doesn't bode well for Adam Goodes, at least in what he is trying to achieve. Ali is now an American national treasure, but the things he fought for and tried to expose have only gotten worse. America loves it's African American sports stars, but the African American broader population has hardly been in a worse state since the days of slavery.
Swans fans have been privileged by having Adam Goodes on the club we barrack for, because we have probably taken more time than the average Australian to listen to what he has to say and understand the issues facing the Aboriginal community. I sometimes think of what it must be like to be born into an impoverished Aboriginal community, but find it too painful to linger very long on the subject because I doubt that I would have the strength to overcome the massive disadvantage that these fellow Australians find themselves in at the start of life.
I think the issues facing Indigenous Australians will fade into the background as the power elite turns its attention to attacking other minorities with more global relevance.Comment
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