06-09-2021, 10:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-09-2021, 10:37 AM by crashlander.)
My surname in 5 letters long and as Anglo-Saxon as you can get: Beare. Pronounced liked the animal, although most people get it wrong. The things I copped for that! Particularly as I was overweight as a child.
Things were like that in those days, and things haven't changed that much today. I grew a relatively thick skin, and led the clowns in the direction I preferred: "There's a Beare in There! And a chair as well!"
Maybe I don't know what it is like to be a 'black fella'. But I do know what it is like to be abused by idiots. I would not have knocked back an honour like that. I would feel vindicated.
While I didn't boo Adam Goodes more than about twice, it was never racist for me. I didn't like him because he was a hypocrite. And he remains one.
There were times when he actively hid behind his aboriginality, using it to shield from criticism that he deserved. He used it at the tribunal. But when things the other way, he was the first to shout 'racist'.
Nor did it stop him using racist language at others, just because they not black.
Similarly when it came to his slide tackles. he was the first to complain for anything done to him or his teammates, yet he did things that were designed to injure.
I have a lot of respect for people like Barry Cable, Syd Jackson and Eddie Betts, who were abused verbally most unfairly, yet did not retaliate with bile. They copped it and moved on, to be champions in spite of everything they were subjected to. They were not hypocritical. When I hear some of the stories that Eddie tells I must admit that I am horrified. They were true to themselves and would definitely not have forgone an honour like being a Hall of Famer.
I can remember only one time when Syd hid behind his ethnicity. He was involved in a fight in the 2nd semi final and was let off because he said he had been racially abused. He copped a lot of racial abuse that day, just not from the player he hit. He told a porkie pie and go to play as a result in the 1970 GF. He is not proud of that. He admits that publicly. I can't see Adam Goodes admitting that he did anything wrong. he appears to like being represented as a 'victim', rather than rising above it.
In another field, I am reminded of a certain 1st black President of South Africa. He suffered more racism that any aboriginal has ever done. He was locked up for years in conditions we would not keep an animal in. Yet, he did not seek revenge. He something else far more difficult. He may not have made South Africa into a Paradise, but he made it a much better and more just place than it could have been.
if I were Adam Goodes, I would look towards Nelson Mandela for a way to improve things. He certainly had more class than a man who rejects honours offered to him. He would be a bigger man to accept, and to make his point other ways.
Things were like that in those days, and things haven't changed that much today. I grew a relatively thick skin, and led the clowns in the direction I preferred: "There's a Beare in There! And a chair as well!"
Maybe I don't know what it is like to be a 'black fella'. But I do know what it is like to be abused by idiots. I would not have knocked back an honour like that. I would feel vindicated.
While I didn't boo Adam Goodes more than about twice, it was never racist for me. I didn't like him because he was a hypocrite. And he remains one.
There were times when he actively hid behind his aboriginality, using it to shield from criticism that he deserved. He used it at the tribunal. But when things the other way, he was the first to shout 'racist'.
Nor did it stop him using racist language at others, just because they not black.
Similarly when it came to his slide tackles. he was the first to complain for anything done to him or his teammates, yet he did things that were designed to injure.
I have a lot of respect for people like Barry Cable, Syd Jackson and Eddie Betts, who were abused verbally most unfairly, yet did not retaliate with bile. They copped it and moved on, to be champions in spite of everything they were subjected to. They were not hypocritical. When I hear some of the stories that Eddie tells I must admit that I am horrified. They were true to themselves and would definitely not have forgone an honour like being a Hall of Famer.
I can remember only one time when Syd hid behind his ethnicity. He was involved in a fight in the 2nd semi final and was let off because he said he had been racially abused. He copped a lot of racial abuse that day, just not from the player he hit. He told a porkie pie and go to play as a result in the 1970 GF. He is not proud of that. He admits that publicly. I can't see Adam Goodes admitting that he did anything wrong. he appears to like being represented as a 'victim', rather than rising above it.
In another field, I am reminded of a certain 1st black President of South Africa. He suffered more racism that any aboriginal has ever done. He was locked up for years in conditions we would not keep an animal in. Yet, he did not seek revenge. He something else far more difficult. He may not have made South Africa into a Paradise, but he made it a much better and more just place than it could have been.
if I were Adam Goodes, I would look towards Nelson Mandela for a way to improve things. He certainly had more class than a man who rejects honours offered to him. He would be a bigger man to accept, and to make his point other ways.
Live Long and Prosper!