So should he call her out on it so she can be educated on it, or should he ignore it? Considering her mother still seems to believe she did nothing wrong, I don't see her getting that education at home.
excellent question chief.
If The strength of the character of an individual is strong enough that they can ignore it, then fantastic.
However, if the individual being vilified has taken exception to a slur as Goodes has done then they have a right to their grievance. I think he called her out because he was genuinely hurt but the experience she has had might just serve as a learning experience too.
When I was young, I might have heard something said by a friend, or on TV etc without knowing the meaning behind it and repeated it. In the event this had happened and it was not appropriate you can bet your life that I would have been sat down by one or both of my parents and told "this is what this means and you cannot speak that way". Thankfully, this is the environment that I was raised in.
which brings me to the point of the girls mother and you make a very good point again. Does she think she's done nothing wrong because she's just standing up for her daughter or does she think she's done nothing wrong because she thinks Goodes is an "ape" as well? If its the latter then is it really any surprise that a) the girl spoke this way and b) her mother has not given her the "education" that she is seen to be in need of (Goodes made a mention of this in his press conference.
to be honest, the idea of racism is not something i work myself in to a lather about. I dont watch AFL but If those people want to boo him then they can. I'm not in to guessing whether or not it is racially motivated despite being told that it is by players, coaches, media etc that it is racist and bigoted.
The only thing that matters to me is how I decide to treat him. As I said... i do not watch AFL. I think he was within his rights to call the girl out for being racially vilified but I think he should have had the same level of outrage directed against a bloke who should have known better. Someone in here said he can pick and choose who to take action against to get his point across. That's fine. They are entitled to their opinion as I'm entitled to mine.
2 of my uncles married aboriginal women. I have 5 aboriginal cousins. The extended guests at family parties/weddings are aboriginal people. So I think from a young age there was an unspoken rule to be respectful of these people. So in the long run, I think I was fortunate in this regard because I found I was able to grow up and form a positive opinion of indigenous people. But there are people who do not share the same opinion and this will likely rub off on their children.
again, I'm not outraged by racism. And by that I'm not insisting that it is right or acceptable. Fact is, people have disliked each other for whatever reason for years. There really is nothing new under the sun so whenever an event like this occurs I don't join in with the PC brigade to condemn it or shake my head and tut tut the perpetrators.
If you don't like blacks, Jews, gays etc then that's on you. My actions and my attitudes towards blacks, Jews, gays etc are the only thing I care about and i find i get along with all 3 groups swimmingly... not that I know that many Jews but know plenty of aborigines and gays.
