Play Nice Indigenous AFL players call out Adam Goodes's treatment ahead of The Final Quarter documentary release

[AndyLucimitis]

20,000 - 25,000 people relentlessly booing one player for 10-11 games.

Can't believe people still think is OK ???

 

[ferball]

I disagree. What if I said nothing is getting done about Walters flopping because of his skin colour? Its the same argument imo
I dont believe jumping to a race based conclusion on something like that is right. I mean look at the football media. Lingy would most likely not go after Selwood because they played together or simply because it wasnt flavour of the month.
But hey i could be wrong on that i just dont want to be(if that makes sense)

The only member of the footy media who mentioned what was happening and criticised it was Wayne Carey. It wasn't just Ling either, that interview was just the worst particular example. Thomas was gutted about his uncles death and was being presented an award - maybe BOG for the game - while obviously struggling to hold back tears. It was an incredible level of disrespect and reminded me exactly of what i've seen and experienced with real racism.

Brereton called Thomas out for ducking when Dunkley grabbed him round the head and dragged him to the ground by his head. Never said a word about exact same plays by Sicily, Selwood and a couple of other players that weekend either.

In my opinion this gets divided pretty much down skin colour and racial lines - jumping to a race based conclusion. I don't know a single black person who wouldn't agree with me. Well onviously thats a fairly bigg assumption but I'm confident its accurate. We might all have different opinions to the extent it was only racism and what other factors are at play but that is about it. Now maybe we see more racism than there is cos we are so used to experiencing it but the same thing applies to white people in the opposite direction and it never gets acknowledged either. Its central to the points I've been trying to make. (And with respect to all that - i'm sure some of what motivated Ling to bring attention to focus on Thomas was the fact he played and won flags with Selwood. But its not gonna be the only element and he was just one of an entire media scrum.)

I haven't watched much other footy this year, especially Freo games (just because I live in NSW and they rarely make it to FTA here) but don't you guys and Freo constantly hassle each over your players who "dive"? I couldn't really comment on Walters. Really haven't seen enough this year to make a valid comment. Tho he has a thread on the main board about diving and Zorko (for example) doesn't.

After he left north there was this:

 

[DrEvil_]

Would it not be because they copped their right whack at the tribunal where as Goodes seemingly got away with stuff.

Goodes got muscle memory though.

 

[Tinyparts]

It was an incredible level of disrespect and reminded me exactly of what i've seen and experienced with real racism.

I still feel its a reach to say it was racially motivated to focus on an on field "issue"
Insensitive? Definitely. Racist? There seems to be more an emotional reason to see it that way(Please note im not judging you on this point as it is not my place to say you cant be emotional about these things)

I couldn't really comment on Walters. Really haven't seen enough this year to make a valid comment. Tho he has a thread on the main board about diving and Zorko (for example) doesn't.

TBF this is a fan forum site and not mainstream media but i do see what you're trying to say

After he left north there was this:

Jeez i had forgot about that hit. Bad hit sure but Lingy was well out of line here Selwood got off punching him in the head iirc. Pure crap
Honestly i really dont like Thomas myself but that is purely after he broke Rohan's leg and got away with it

 

[ferball]

Jeez i had forgot about that hit. Bad hit sure but Lingy was well out of line here Selwood got off punching him in the head iirc. Pure crap
Honestly i really dont like Thomas myself but that is purely after he broke Rohan's leg and got away with it

You can't blame anyone for injuries to Gary Rohan. Every time he hits a contest an opposition player get suspended for causing a concussion. And honestly that was an accident. Thomas was tracking the ball as it moved in an arc. I re watched it a few times today to be sure after that earlier argument with that * clown cos I never thought it was a malicious thing. He didn't line up Rohan or even initiate the contest for the ball. He was chasing a loose ball that changed direction. If it wasn't Rohan there is a fair chance that would have been forgotten within seconds. That sort of thing happens all the time i footy but it was nearly always a hysterical over reaction if he was involved.

The hit on Hunter is another example. Mick Malthouse and Drew Petrie (who was a team mate so not as credible) both spoke out in the media about the trial by media he was subject to.

I still feel its a reach to say it was racially motivated to focus on an on field "issue"
Insensitive? Definitely. Racist? There seems to be more an emotional reason to see it that way(Please note im not judging you on this point as it is not my place to say you cant be emotional about these things)

Maybe. I'm as likely to have confimrmation bias as anyone else. But to me it was another example of Ling's attitude to Thomas, the same attitude he showed after that hit on Selwood when LT was at Port and throughout his commentating career.

 

[romeohwho]

The universally admired Andrew McLeod is a good example of how this isn’t true. And I think the difference in how each advocated for constitutional change, probably highlights one of the reasons why. While McLeod’s perspective was of a more inclusive “shared story”, Goodes took the “so just remember whose lands you’re on” angle.

I didn’t need to be sold on this issue. I’m already in complete agreement with Goodes and McLeod. And yet as people, I was as impressed with how McLeod spoke as I was put off by Goodes. Variables of race and racial issues have been situationally factored out here; what remains is a difference in how each presented themselves and their ideas.

Goodes has spoken extremely well numerous times- he is reasonable, sensible, compassionate, honest. Have you seen the doco or actually read the speech for AOTY? Hard to believe anyone would take issue with the things he has to say, so intelligent and inclusive are they.

 

[Quintero]

He he. I like that how all the booers set themselves up against “the media”. It assumes the media is a monolith. There was plenty of media that sounded like the s**t I’m reading in this thread and all those who say they are “thinking for themselves against a PC media” were probably gobbling up Andrew Bolt’s bulls**t every day.

Putting aside racism (which is hard) this became bullying behaviour

The saddest thing in the doco was watching him booed all the way to the final siren of his last game.

It was like dumb school yard stuff. He said it was upsetting him so people did it more. It’s actually really f’ed up

No it's football. Booing wasn't that bad, should go to England or Scotland or Argentina for a real hearty boo.

This was a Sunday kickabout and not even close to as bad you are making it out to be, you need to clearly get out more.

See I thought someone would say something like this.

Your first response is instantly “RACISM WHOOAA” *massive monologue*

Dude, he was a diving spud who almost single handedly created contact below the knees, an awful rule.

But everything is always conflated and boiled down to someone’s skin colour.

That doesn’t mean s**t.

Just like I hate Sam Mitchell

Your entitled to your opinion but 350 goals and 150+ assists suggests he wasn't a spud.

He was hounded out of the game for doing what Selwood does every week. Or Shuey. Or AMT or Zerrett from your team.

But I personally really loved how he milked that free in the 2014 Elimination Final off Bagueley... Went down like he was shot, it was beautiful. Did that one hurt?

Christ some of the s**t people spin.
I really think it sucks that you were accosted by a-hole racists back in the day. That sucks.
But we're talking about today.
Today I dislike the way players play like Lindsay, Mitchell, Walters, Selwood.
I don't want to physically attack them. Jesus.
Why won't you get this - HIS SKIN COLOUR DOESN'T MATTER.
It's football. There are supporters who don't like other teams players.

But you call me a racist over this kind of trivial s**t.
It's actually a really awful thing to say to someone but it's been normalised these days by hysterical ideologues.
I can't change that. If you and Goodes want to perpetuate the victim narrative then fire away.
It's only going to fester and decay and create greater racial division.
I wish you good luck and all the success in the world.

What about Captain tap tap taparoo diving cheat Michael Long? Or Matthew Mitchum um sorry, Lloyd?

Your club has barely had a single year in 120 where it hasn't cheated in some way yet you're triggered by Lindsay winning the odd kick.

I suggest you go and have a lie down because you're cooked.

 

[SherbertLemon]

No it's football. Booing wasn't that bad, should go to England or Scotland or Argentina for a real hearty boo.

This was a Sunday kickabout and not even close to as bad you are making it out to be, you need to clearly get out more.



Your entitled to your opinion but 350 goals and 150+ assists suggests he wasn't a spud.

He was hounded out of the game for doing what Selwood does every week. Or Shuey. Or AMT or Zerrett from your team.

But I personally really loved how he milked that free in the 2014 Elimination Final off Bagueley... Went down like he was shot, it was beautiful. Did that one hurt?



What about Captain tap tap taparoo diving cheat Michael Long? Or Matthew Mitchum um sorry, Lloyd?

Your club has barely had a single year in 120 where it hasn't cheated in some way yet you're triggered by Lindsay winning the odd kick.

I suggest you go and have a lie down because you're cooked.

This makes me happy - we're bantering about football which is what this site is all about

 

[DaveEgoat]

Oh Jesus we’re still going on about a millionaire footballer being booed.

Please just stop. It’s really not that a big of a deal.

Let’s talk about real life and death struggles with oppression. This isn’t even on the radar. Enoughs enough. Stop feeding this rubbish.

 

[JackOutback]

Oh Jesus we’re still going on about a millionaire footballer being booed.

Please just stop. It’s really not that a big of a deal.

Let’s talk about real life and death struggles with oppression. This isn’t even on the radar. Enoughs enough. Stop feeding this rubbish.

Like anyone wants to actually talk about real racism. Half this country can’t accept objective facts about our past, as this thread has shown. And it’s a poor attempt at deflection anyway. To paraphrase Russell Brand, when poor people complain about racism, they’re just bitter, when a successful person talks about racism, he’s a whinger and a hypocrite. I think you just don’t want to talk about racism.

 

[Back One Out]

20,000 - 25,000 people relentlessly booing one player for 10-11 games.

Can't believe people still think is OK ???

Massive exaggeration

Sucked in by Ian Darling's propaganda film which made it sound like Goodes had 100,000 angry rednecks roaring their disapproval at every match. The booing of Goodes wasn't even that loud by normal "boo" standards. Many of the games where he was booed, you had to really listen for it.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The loudest boos for Goodes happened in the game vs West Coast: 10,000 of the 38,760 crowd AT MOST. In every crowd shot, you could hear the (loud) boos, but only see 2 or 3 people booing and 10-20 people smiling. Probably 6,000 or 7,000 people booing him that day. This was the absolute nadir of the booing and it came just a few weeks after the media frenzy surrounding his war cry at the small group of travelling Carlton fans.

Eagles fans around that time booed whenever the wind gusted. They booed every time someone in the crowd farted. The fortnightly Subiaco boos became a meme on Big Footy. Umpires would give the victorious Eagles an armchair ride, but still they'd get booed off ground at half time and full time. And we're supposed to believe it's the end of the world because these WA ferals booed an arrogant Swans knob just a few weeks after he kicked a goal, then shook his spear and baited the Blues fans.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Goodes was also booed loudly in the 2014 game vs Essendon after knocking over a few Bomber opponents and receiving a free kick for diving. The documentary tried to portray this night as the beginning of the racist boos, but it was nothing of the sort. Just your typical rude loudmouth belligerent Bomber fans heckling the Sydney protected species for a few minor trangressions, which they also did to Roughead, Hodge, Franklin, Carey and every other opposition champ.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Goodes was booed by a similar number of Hawthorn fans during the 2014 GF. 10k at most. WAY fewer people and much 'quieter' boos than those given to that traitor, Buddy Franklin. It was a happy crowd, by the way. Hawks had the flag in the bag and Hawk fans were in celebration mode and a few of 'em were giving it to Sydney's superstars. Nothing racial about the booing. The media condemned the "racist Hawk fans" afterwards which (IMO) just fanned the flames and made people boo Goodes more loudly next time we played Sydney at the MCG in 2015.

Sydney was Hawthorn's biggest rival by far after they beat us in the 2012 GF and used their COLA to pinch Buddy from us in 2013. Hawk fans HATED the Swans during this period - more than Essendon and Geelong - and Franklin and Goodes were Sydney's marquee poster boys. There was nothing sinister about the Hawthorn tribe giving it to a pair of stuck-up Sydney flogs. That's just standard tribal barracking from a real football club towards an enemy; something which is done all around the world.

Maybe a handful of racists were hiding under the cover of the crowd, but so what? Racist rednecks drape themselves in the Australian flag, so does that mean we should stop flying it?

---------------------------------------------------------------

The handful of other games where Goodes was booed, it was very much by a small minority. e.g. barely 1000 Blues fans were at the SCG for the Indigenous round in 2015. Maybe a couple of hundred of these Blues fans AT MOST would've booed Goodes that night before he kicked that goal and charged at them with his imaginary spear.

Historical revisionism at it's finest to suggest Goodes was booed "relentlessly for 10-11 games by 20,000 - 25,000 people"
(unless you were saying 20-25k was the total number of people who booed Goodes????)

Most of the "noise" came from the media and people arguing about it online.
It's way out of proportion with the amount of booing that Goodes actually received.

 

[Monkey King]

Goodes has spoken extremely well numerous times- he is reasonable, sensible, compassionate, honest. Have you seen the doco or actually read the speech for AOTY? Hard to believe anyone would take issue with the things he has to say, so intelligent and inclusive are they.

The example I put forth demonstrates my point. If you want to overlook the obvious contrast within the example, in deference to the times Goodes has spoken well, that’s your choice.

I haven’t seen the whole doco, doubt I will. The trailer portrayed a filmmaker working off a premise I already don’t agree with. Had the trailer been more neutral, less propagandist, I may have given it my time.

I’m not without sympathy for Goodes. I don’t think what occurred is at all a desirable outcome in our sport. It was abusive and bullying. I also consider the conclusion of this being an expression of racism as a cognitive rest stop, not a destination. Those who can’t think beyond this point, lack dimension to their thinking IMO.

 

[Monkey King]

He is not divisive as such..so he allows himself the opportunity to 'hang about'..

Orators skilled at drawing on the empathy of their audience tend not to alienate them. Btw. Rain is wet.

 

[Monkey King]

Its a pretty constant thing throughout Australian history that black people have to be concilatory, inclusive and even submissive in their political discussions about this stuff.

But why should all blackfellas in this debate be held to that standard when the other side has the likes Maguire and Newman talking their garbage? Its a clear double standard.

And I'm not having a go at you about this but that double standard is very real and gets ignored all the time. Most people reading this thread probably think it doesn't exist.

I don’t think there’s any standard anyone needs to be held to. Goodes can be as floggish as he wants, just as Sam Newman and the detestable Andrew Bolt can be. No one gets a pass for having “a just cause”.

If Goodes’ intention with those words was to generate animosity, then I consider him a skilled operator. If his intentions were to draw people together in a push for constitutional amendment, then he should take some lessons from Andrew McLeod or study Mark Antony’s “lend me your ears” speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

 

[Back One Out]

I’m not without sympathy for Goodes. I don’t think what occurred is at all a desirable outcome in our sport. It was abusive and bullying. I also consider the conclusion of this being an expression of racism as a cognitive rest stop, not a destination. Those who can’t think beyond this point, lack dimension to their thinking IMO.

Why do people use the words "abusive" and "bullying" to describe the booing of Adam Goodes from a small minority of football fans?


abuse: I never heard any abuse towards him. Just people giving him a cursory boo. Not even angry. I know there was awful racist reactionary shiit written by anonymous keyboard warriors, but this type of trolling is directed towards other people reading. Not at Goodes. People shouldn't conflate this with the booing.


bullying: Since when do footballers get protection from so-called "bullies" ? This aint primary school. It's AFL football. AFL fans (and media) relentlessly target opposition stars and young guns and easy targets.

Tom Boyd... Jack Watts... Bryce Gibbs...
Lance Franklin... Gary Ablett... Patrick Dangerfield... Richo...
Ben Stratton pinchy pinchy... Harry Lumumba... Stephen Milne...
James Sicily, for f**k's sake! Textbook bullying...

They all copped it from fans, but I've never heard people telling the bullies to lay off. Why should they be protected? It's not the real world. It's the theatre of professional sport. They're celebrities. Then again, Goodes always was a protected species. One of the main reasons why many people disliked him as a footballer

 

[Monkey King]

Why do people use the words "abusive" and "bullying" to describe the booing of Adam Goodes from a small minority of football fans?


abuse: I never heard any abuse towards him. Just people giving him a cursory boo. Not even angry. I know there was awful racist reactionary shiit written by anonymous keyboard warriors, but this type of trolling is directed towards other people reading. Not at Goodes. People shouldn't conflate this with the booing.


bullying: Since when do footballers get protection from so-called "bullies" ? This aint primary school. It's AFL football. AFL fans (and media) relentlessly target opposition stars and young guns and easy targets. Tom Boyd... Jack Watts... Bryce Gibbs... Lance Franklin... Gary Ablett... Patrick Dangerfield... Ben Stratton pinchy pinchy... Harry Lumumba... Stephen Milne... etc.. etc...

They all copped it from fans, but I've never people telling the bullies to lay off.

When someone alerts others that their actions/words are causing genuine harm and the others persist in those actions with regularity, perhaps even more fervently, that is abuse. Cut and dry.

When did I say anything about protection?

 

[romeohwho]

The example I put forth demonstrates my point. If you want to overlook the obvious contrast within the example, in deference to the times Goodes has spoken well, that’s your choice.

I haven’t seen the whole doco, doubt I will. The trailer portrayed a filmmaker working off a premise I already don’t agree with. Had the trailer been more neutral, less propagandist, I may have given it my time.

I’m not without sympathy for Goodes. I don’t think what occurred is at all a desirable outcome in our sport. It was abusive and bullying. I also consider the conclusion of this being an expression of racism as a cognitive rest stop, not a destination. Those who can’t think beyond this point, lack dimension to their thinking IMO.

Goodes has spoken quite reasonably on the constitutional issue- not sure why I would take issue with someone simply stating facts.
To dismiss the doco as propaganda, without actually watching it seems a stretch.
Of course, various factors were at play, but equally fair to say that one who can’t recognise that racism played a part in the saga, also ‘lacks dimension.’

 

[Grin]

I just laugh out loud at the way people blindly eat up everything Goodes says about "racism stops with me" etc.

He's waging a war which was already won. Racism at the footy has stopped.

I really despise the way you and others like you try to insinuate I'm racist for posting my well-considered opinions on this topic.

I seriously think the government should fund you to go on a lecture tour telling those pesky, whinging Abos what's what.

 

[skilts]

A few years ago, when I was last offered the Australian of the Year gig, I rejected it out of hand, because of the inherently racist nature of the award.

Seriously though, if the followers of current AFL footy think Goodes' treatment to have been racist, they should have been around back when. Vile insults, threats of physical violence, spittle and vitriol were thrown around like confetti at indigenous players, without demur from anyone else in the crowd, until the late 1970s at least. That this behaviour is no longer acceptable is as it should be, thanks in large part to heroes like Long and Winmar. Such men demanded respect by their very being, and eventually got it.

Underlying this entire campaign on Goodes' behalf is the falsehood that there is only one interpretation available in assessing a situation which has occurred, a statement which has been made, a film which has been shown or a book which has been written.

For instance, the girl who remarked that Goodes, "looks like an ape", could merely have been commenting solely on his appearance, as she saw it, rather than attempting to lay a slur on him for his race. The man is quite hairy, and his skin is dark. To a 13 year-old, whose mind is unfettered by the niceties expected of her elders and wisers, this could easily have been an attempt to slur his appearance, as he presented to her, rather than being an example of the vile racism as interpreted by Goodes. Interpretations of language and actions are never as cut and dried as people like to believe.

To finish this racist rant from me, I'll just say that it will be a cold day in hell when I take lessons on morals from a man who chases a bag of wind around a paddock for a living, Goodes deliberately placed himself at the centre of a political bun fight, and then insisted that he had been poorly treated as a result.

There's an argument in favour of this. There is also a cogent argument that the results of his berating of the girl for his perception of her being racist, and then extending that to the entire Australian population during his AOY speech put him into a political situation for which he was ill-prepared.

This is sad, and has obviously had an adverse effect on him, but the whole Goodes issue is not as cut and dried as some would make out, especially him, and, it would seem, the filmmaker in question (despite various attempts, I've not yet managed to watch it). None of which in any way excuses what he has interpreted as the unfair attacks on him. However, his interpretations are certainly open to debate.

With good reason, Australia has rarely been known as a land of sensitivity and nuance, as evidenced by the appalling way the indigenous peoples have been treated since 1788. This is often manifested in a refusal to think that there are complexities to life which require more than a superficial treatment.

Just my take, and I'm almost certainly wrong. I've had to live with that possibility for most of my life, It no longer offends me. I see that as a being a part of growing up. I recommend it. In essence, despite the brouhaha still surrounding this issue, nothing happened in the real world. For that matter, neither these boards, nor the internet as a whole are the real world. AFL footy has as one of its main attractions its distance from reality.

To find that, a trip to some of the more remote and disadvantaged communities in this country would be beneficial. Now, there's a cause worth fighting for.

 

[ferball]

I don’t think there’s any standard anyone needs to be held to. Goodes can be as floggish as he wants, just as Sam Newman and the detestable Andrew Bolt can be. No one gets a pass for having “a just cause”.

If Goodes’ intention with those words was to generate animosity, then I consider him a skilled operator. If his intentions were to draw people together in a push for constitutional amendment, then he should take some lessons from Andrew McLeod or study Mark Antony’s “lend me your ears” speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

The animosity is already there. That's what you don't seem to understand. It might not be as prevalent as it was but its never gone away. Less people are * wits than 30 years ago and its harder to get away with killing blackfellas but that is about it.

But as far as the "standards" thing goes - if a member of an obvious minority speaks out and criticises white australia in any way that doesn't involve pandering to white australia's snowflake insecurities then they cop exactly the same criticism you are making. I'm not saying you are doing it for the same reasons tho. I get what you are saying and do agree about inclusiveness being the only way to bring people together. But the dynamic I'm describing happens and its constantly used as an excuse to ignore the criticism.

"Oh I don't like what he said cos I feel a little left out." Usually these are the very same people banging on about how bad it is that everyone gets offended when they wear blackface or drive vehicles at indigenous people.

 

[ferball]

2016 from memory, was on holidays at the time.

My territory is Tweed Heads to Euston and everything inbetween.

I quite enjoy your neck of the woods but tend to stay a bit closer to the beach if possible around Lennox. Will let you know when I'm heading up haha thanks and thanks for the etymology lesson too, I would have thought 'Japs', 'Punjis' and 'Pakis' etc is considered pretty racist, certainly the latter two in England could get you smacked in Birmingham or Halifax but not so much in Australia which may or may not fit people's narrative depending on which side of the argument you sit. On a side note, Argy is even 'whiter' than Australia if that's even possible. My dad being Argy who tend to call everyone by their nationality or city of birth rather than by name has not helped me at all in such discussions (not that I'm using it as an excuse for my lack of understanding)

If you are from Tucaman, you are a Tucamano, a farmer to those from BA or Federal. Just how we were brought up unfortunately, 'racist' and 'elitist'.

Lennox ... I have some awesome memories of Lennox Head over the years. Probably make a great Nate7 gif.

Re the language thing. My missus' grandad fought in ww2 against the germans and japanese. Her mum and dad, who's a bit of a redneck and would definitely be arguing with what i'm typing here, are involved in a decades old student exchange program with and sister sity set up wioth a city in Japan. They've been Japanese exchange students since the 80s when my wife was at school. They travel back and forth and host families and visitors. its an incredible success an incredible program and considering they are a generation after a brutal war its amazing. As a result of all that I've never met a Japanese person who was offended by the term Jap. Seriously. I guess a good part of that is that I've never used that term disrespectfully and that whenever I've met them its a celebration of being different, our differences bring us together, they don't drive us apart.

Plenty of Japanese tourists go to Nimbin too. On the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin me and one of those fellas you probably catch up with in the park were having a kick down near the skate park. A bunch of touros walked past none of them could speak English and we couldn't speak japanese but my mate knew the Japanese word for pussy. Somehow we ended up having a kick to kick session, teaching these guys how to kick a footy properly and the only words we spoke were "Banquo" or however you say it.

If you've ever seen that those old ww2 comics where the japanese would always attack screaming "Banzai!!" except we were laughing non stop instead of fighting.

A bit under 65 years earlier we would have been murdering each other in the jungles of PNG. But here we were having a good time, laughing kicking a footy packing each other on the back and sharing a scoob.

It changes the context of language when you are friendly.

Same way you can give your friends s**t and say things to them that would start a fight if you said them to a stranger.

That's the thing that often goes missing in these discussions - any sort of nuance. (I do that too ... we all do.)

Having Indian relos in Birmingham and Leicester, I get why those terms are considered racist. The context of their use is very different. FWIW The bigotry toward people from the Punjab among other Indians is as bad as any racism you will see anywhere. And the anti Muslim bigotry among Hindus is full on. (All this post 9/11 bullshit is not that different to hearing my old man while I was growing up.)

Again its all about the context.

 

[Monkey King]

Goodes has spoken quite reasonably on the constitutional issue- not sure why I would take issue with someone simply stating facts.

Migration is the very story of our species, with territorial control a transient construct. It’s like fleas arguing over which part of the dog they own. Right now, I’m an Australian and so with millions of others, Australian lands are “my” lands. The notion that I am not on my own land is neither reasonable nor factual.

To dismiss the doco as propaganda, without actually watching it seems a stretch.

Your stretch not mine. I chose my words carefully. You should have read them carefully.

 

[Back One Out]

I seriously think the government should fund you to go on a lecture tour telling those pesky, whinging Abos what's what.

This is great. We're having a conversation just like Adam wanted.

I've been to remote aboriginal communities; lived in many places; travelled all over this country and seen for myself the racism and bigotry which is so prevalent in rural Australia. But this isn't what's being discussed sadly. Instead we've focused on AFL crowds booing a Swans tall poppy and blown it up into something which it wasn't.

Obviously, I was talking about my hometown Melbourne, in particular the AFL scene. I just think footy more than anything has been (and continues to be) a great equaliser and a positive force. It's something kids of all races and ethnic persuasions can take part in, express themselves and be successful at. It saddens me that Team Goodes would take all of that for granted and shiit in the AFL nest for their own political ends.

Why is there the need to invent fairytales about racism and divide the AFL community when there is so much actual racism in this country we could focus on? Why use the AFL as the political football?

Goodes was right about one thing: racism has a face. Except it's not a little girl. Her face was pixillated. It's his face.
In the end, none of the Swans victories and premierships mattered. That's all left in the shadows and forgotten.

Can you imagine when he finally takes the plunge and enters Australian politics?

We'll have more debates about racism every time someone criticises him.

Won't that be fun?

 

[Monkey King]

The animosity is already there. That's what you don't seem to understand.

Not towards individuals per se, but there are definitely certain relational ambiguities that exist between races, ethnicities, sexes, political and religious alliances etc, where animosity is easily stirred up.

For example, I could state that indigenous Australians ceded their territory by virtue of their inability to defend it; in nature, an ordinary, almost expected occurrence. I wouldn’t be incorrect either, but unless I was wanting to tap into this existing animosity from those to whom this idea is not defined, it would be a tactless approach to any discussion.

 

[DemonZombie_001]

I've been to remote aboriginal communities;

Just on remote Aboriginal Communities. My Aunt worked in Communities like this as a Nurse back in the early 70's and was dismayed to see recent footage of how little the living conditions of these areas have changed (this was about 5 years ago).

This is due to a lack of political will power. Long term solutions need to be put in place (which will not yield votes) and a lot of work out of the spotlight needs to be done as well (again this will not yield votes). And very little to do with racism (granted that is her opinion but she worked in these places).

For me using the label of "racism" and then the ongoing discussions that take place actually work against solving anything.

If you really want an equal society. Stop voting for the big two parties and bring about change (and accept the good with the bad when that happens). Would it not be better to be discussing which political groups have the better ideas to help us achieve a society that provides opportunities to all vs there was at least one racist that booed Adam Goodes ?