For context, England lost against Italy on Sunday night. We had a really early 2 minute goal but failed to really keep up our momentum, let Italy score a goal against us and stalled the game out...
For context, England lost against Italy on Sunday night. We had a really early 2 minute goal but failed to really keep up our momentum, let Italy score a goal against us and stalled the game out to penalties. Three of our black players: Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed their shots. Two of them were specifically substituted in with mere minutes to go because of their skill at taking penalties.
I've seen some vile abuse thrown at these players online since. Tonnes of emoji filled comments depicting various black racial stereotypes, some calling them the N-word, etc. One particularly nasty comment wished the equivalent of the Munich air disaster upon Saka because he missed his shot. Savills (an estate agent) came under fire because one of their employees openly tweeted "[SLUR] ruined everything" in response to our loss. Said employee has probably, and rightfully, lost his job over this.
Our black players weren't the only ones suffering xenophobic abuse either. Videos have surfaced of Italian spectators having the shit kicked out of them by disgruntled England fans as they were leaving Wembley.
You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.
Have anyone suggested a solution or approach to this? It's not surprising at all so the outrage is as to be expected. I'm deeply saddened that this seems so wide spread and seems to be the default...
Have anyone suggested a solution or approach to this? It's not surprising at all so the outrage is as to be expected. I'm deeply saddened that this seems so wide spread and seems to be the default response whenever a POC is involved in anything. I have two questions that might be somewhat controversial:
How many of these people do you think don't feel racist but only want to say the most vile thing you can come up with to hurt as much as possible?
(This is of course by no means an excuse but I think a solution would differ greatly if the majority are ignorant edgy assholes and not plain racist. Or maybe that doesn't really matter, that's why I'm asking.)
We're never going to eradicate assholes and racists completely so what possible solution is there to a problem where every person with internet access can say anything and everything to anybody?
It is probably not productive to expect a complete solution for things like this, but it is possible to greatly reduce bad behavior. As you said, intention is irrelevant here. The behavior is...
It is probably not productive to expect a complete solution for things like this, but it is possible to greatly reduce bad behavior. As you said, intention is irrelevant here. The behavior is hurtful either way, it carries the same consequences. Racism in stadiums is effectively reduced by removing points from the team and moving home games to the adversary location. That wouldn't work for online harassment. Pressuring platforms to take action is probably the best course of action.
Yeah, that was a bit naive I'll admit. Removing points and moving home games would really help I think. Then we have the ol' should a platform take responsibility for their users content.
Yeah, that was a bit naive I'll admit. Removing points and moving home games would really help I think. Then we have the ol' should a platform take responsibility for their users content.
I forgot to say, identifying bad actors and banning them from sports events for life has also been proven effective. Those people love going to the stadiums so that's a real threat.
I forgot to say, identifying bad actors and banning them from sports events for life has also been proven effective. Those people love going to the stadiums so that's a real threat.
For context, England lost against Italy on Sunday night. We had a really early 2 minute goal but failed to really keep up our momentum, let Italy score a goal against us and stalled the game out to penalties. Three of our black players: Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed their shots. Two of them were specifically substituted in with mere minutes to go because of their skill at taking penalties.
I've seen some vile abuse thrown at these players online since. Tonnes of emoji filled comments depicting various black racial stereotypes, some calling them the N-word, etc. One particularly nasty comment wished the equivalent of the Munich air disaster upon Saka because he missed his shot. Savills (an estate agent) came under fire because one of their employees openly tweeted "[SLUR] ruined everything" in response to our loss. Said employee has probably, and rightfully, lost his job over this.
Our black players weren't the only ones suffering xenophobic abuse either. Videos have surfaced of Italian spectators having the shit kicked out of them by disgruntled England fans as they were leaving Wembley.
Boris Johnson (our PM) and Priti Patel (our Home Secretary) have both condemned the racist abuse. Which is ironic and hypocritical because of the myriad of xenophobic comments that Johnson's made in the past, and because mere weeks ago Patel supported fans who were booing the England squad for taking the knee and showing solidarity towards BLM.
It's important to remember that Boris isn't just xenophobic, he's also been openly racist on plenty of occasions
Tyrone Mings, a member of the English team, called out Patel yesterday for her hypocrisy:
Have anyone suggested a solution or approach to this? It's not surprising at all so the outrage is as to be expected. I'm deeply saddened that this seems so wide spread and seems to be the default response whenever a POC is involved in anything. I have two questions that might be somewhat controversial:
How many of these people do you think don't feel racist but only want to say the most vile thing you can come up with to hurt as much as possible?
(This is of course by no means an excuse but I think a solution would differ greatly if the majority are ignorant edgy assholes and not plain racist. Or maybe that doesn't really matter, that's why I'm asking.)
We're never going to eradicate assholes and racists completely so what possible solution is there to a problem where every person with internet access can say anything and everything to anybody?
It is probably not productive to expect a complete solution for things like this, but it is possible to greatly reduce bad behavior. As you said, intention is irrelevant here. The behavior is hurtful either way, it carries the same consequences. Racism in stadiums is effectively reduced by removing points from the team and moving home games to the adversary location. That wouldn't work for online harassment. Pressuring platforms to take action is probably the best course of action.
Yeah, that was a bit naive I'll admit. Removing points and moving home games would really help I think. Then we have the ol' should a platform take responsibility for their users content.
I forgot to say, identifying bad actors and banning them from sports events for life has also been proven effective. Those people love going to the stadiums so that's a real threat.