My Blog
My Blog
The Human Race
It is difficult to have a debate about racism without being accused of being a racist. These days we have a very immature attitude to racism, when to call into question what constitutes racism invites accusations of bigotry. I believe that as a society the best way to tackle racism is to be able to talk about race in an open and adult way. Currently we are too concerned about what people say and less about what people think. This of course is far more insidious as bigotry is hidden and allowed to fester. I would much rather racism and other forms of bigotry were out there in the open so that could be confronted and tackled.
We generally consider that we live in a less racist society these days, than say 25 years ago. Undoubtedly that is true, but the extent to which it is true is less clear. Today racism and racist language is socially unacceptable, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist - only that we don’t hear it as much.
In recent days there have been a number of high profile “racist” incidents (and I won’t include Ed Milliband’s “Blackbusters” gaffe here - that was just him being the idiot he is) - but how many of them were actually racist?
The horrific murder of the Indian student, Anuj Bidve, in Manchester and the conviction of David Norris and Gary Dobson are clear examples of vile hate crimes motivated by racism.
But how racist was Diane Abbott when she made some a glib statement about white people? Stupid, ill informed, maybe - but racist, I don’t think so. Making sweeping statements about white people maybe racialist but not racist and there is a big difference here. Racism implies hatred, racialism is about ignorance . Should we be lambasting people for their ignorance, making them afraid to express it and driving it underground or should we be exposing it in order to correct it. It was correct to expose Diane Abbott’s ignorance, but not to label her a racist.
Luis Suarez, the Liverpool footballer was recently banned for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra. According to the report issued by the FA he said to Evra that “he didn’t speak to black people” and then proceeded to verbally abuse him with a series of derogative words based on the colour of his skin. That is clearly racist behaviour and Liverpool FC did themselves no favours by arguing that it was just a cultural difference and that it was acceptable in Suarez’s native South America. I’m sure that that kind of language would be acceptable in the local BNP members meeting but that doesn’t make it acceptable in the wider world.
And finally this week, Liverpool FC have been involved in another racist incident when one of their supporters is alleged to have racially abused a black Oldham player. Now I am not condoning this at all, but I do question the reaction to it. The Oldham player was seen to be visibly upset by it and it made me think about the concept of causing offence in this day and age.
It is unclear exactly what was said in this incident, but some have suggested that the abuse from the crowd was misheard and that what was shouted was in fact “You Manc Bastard” rather than “You Black Bastard” . But is the former really any less offensive than the latter? You might argue that as the player isn’t from Manchester (he just happens to play for Oldham) that might be more of an insult than the factually correct latter statement of his race. Why, in this case, does mention of his race rather than where he comes from make the abuse more offensive? Perhaps the player was just upset about the integrity of his mother being called into question - in which case he had better not become a referee and needs to grow a pair!
My point is that yes, people shouldn’t have to put up with abuse, but in life sometimes you have to develop a thicker skin - particularly if you are a footballer. Was the abuse that this player received from one fan really much worse than 40,000 fans baiting David Beckham about the preferred sexual practices of his wife while, Victoria, her parents and their children were sat in the crowd? I would argue not. And to express this view does not make me a racist, although if I were a person of profile who expressed this opinion I would risk being accused of being so.
And this is what I mean when I say that there now exists a climate where these views cannot be discussed sensibly.
The notion of causing offence has really got out of control are people so emotionally weak that they get traumatised by the slightest slur, joke, stereotype or ill judged use of language? Are Tourette's sufferers really hurt by David Cameron’s saying that Ed Balls was “like having someone with Tourette’s sitting opposite them”, or should we, as a society, all just grow up a bit? Let’s have sensible debates about racism, concentrate on tackling hatred and be a bit less concerned about causing fabricated offence.
Sunday, 8 January 2012