Re: Adam Goodes

[Tigers of Old]

I don't see any reason why they should feel otherwise.
Up until the last year or so, Adam Goodes had made himself a rich man with a good standing in the game. He had won medals and been involved in premierships.
There was no animosity shown towards him over his career and I am sure if there was, then Adam would have been the first to comment.
Did we as a community accept and tolerate Adam Goodes?
My answer is yes. You would have to ask Adam Goodes himself as to whether he felt tolerated and included up until circa 2013 though.
I cannot guess or assume what he felt but he did not seem unhappy and was performing well on the field also.
As he got older then he changed the way he played the game. He seemed more angry or frustrated and started to become nasty.
This is when I first started to dislike him and on occasion, boo him.
Dermie and Aker are two former players who understand what the fans are trying to say. It is a shame many others in the media would rather tow the party line and ignore what the masses are saying.
No, I cannot assume or guess what current day players are feeling however I do understand that there are pressures on individual players to make sure they don't say anything that could be deemed inflammatory as it could be used against them as an individual or against the team later on. The AFL may also step in depending on what they say and the PC brigade would never let the player survive. It is just not worth it.
Very similar to the drugs saga. Nothing to see there either until people dig deeper and there are players in clubs left right and centre taking and dealing in the stuff.

like a lot of other players in the history of the game there's no doubt some poor things have crept into Adam's play, not unusual for older players and not to be excused.
No way known though it has warranted the relentless & obscene amount of booing and bulling he's received though. It's been disproportionate and leads to questions why.
That's why the race issue has come to the fore.

 

[KnightersRevenge]

Beautifully said, Rosy.

IMO, the solution lies in reducing racial consciousness. Indigenous teams, etc, sound like a great idea, but they encourage the identification of individual to racial group. Therefore, they also encourage the individual to conceptualise others in terms of which racial group they belong to.

Unwittingly, most Pro-Indigenous action is inherently Pro-Racial Categorising.

This needs to stop.

I can see where you're going with this line of thinking Chimpa but I think you are getting ahead of yourself. I think of race as a social construct. Biologically it doesn't exist. But you have to be much closer to squaring the ledger before you can start to ease it out of consciousness all together. At the moment the disadvantage for Indigenous Australians is too great. Have to narrow the gap first, IMO.

 

[KnightersRevenge]

If throwing imaginary implements offends you, feel free to retaliate with imaginary booing.

:hihi

 

[Giardiasis]

Pretty safe bet given your main issue in life seems to be that you'd prefer that the government didnt compel you to pay tax to fund schools, roads and hospitals. Life's tough.

Life's tough for Adam Goodes at the top, no?

I've had about as much direct experience as AG has, but my Opa knows a thing or two about it. He and his family were kicked off their farm by Communist partisans because they refused to cave into their demands for tribute. That's how they ended up in Aus.

In any case, the point you were trying make was a complete non sequitur.

 

[KnightersRevenge]

I cannot read minds but maybe I have taken the same drugs that allows others to read minds and deem everyone a racist who boos? ;D
Sorry, I am being facetious but it is frustrating when many people seem to assume and know why all people are booing and calling them racists like everyone is booing for the same reason and that reason is because of his skin colour.

No. What IS frustrating is that repeatedly telling someone that the number of people who boo for racist reasons means that ALL that booing is felt on the field the exact same way and having them pretend that they don't understand. As I asked someone else several pages back; Can Adam Goodes tell that you are booing for the "right" reasons? When a sea of angry faces boo him constantly can he take comfort that the person in seat 13b has good reasons? You know this to be ridiculous, so why not just stop booing because you can no longer claim ignorance and see what happens? Why not be part of something significant that might be a watershed moment in Australia's growth? Or you could childishly just say," but I like booing and the fact that is a symbol of racism doesn't bother me."

 

[Chelsea]

Well done Warnie. Spot on champ :clap

 

[year of the tiger]

Any one watch the Marngrook Footy show - they have come out firing - lined up Warnie, Channel 9 and plenty of others in their commentary - worth a listen (first 30 mins about does it) - powerful stuff.

I haven't heard what Warnie has said? He is a very smart cricket commentator and I highly respect his views in this space, but beyond that, doesn't bat that deep I am afraid.

 

[Rosy]

I was the one who mentioned it and I said the subsequent interviews and off the cuff comments is where I felt he lost his way. If you're selected for AOTY you don't just get up and talk. You sit down with people and plan your speech word for word. You get it edited by several people with painstaking precision. Then you deliver it. So you can be 'staggered' all you like, but I'm not saying that particular speech is full of resentment or his most clumsy. You'd expect it to be his best, considering it was no doubt heavily planned. Now check out his Twitter feed 6 months later... It went to his head and he assumed the role of 'voice of the people', despite his own people feeling ashamed at his behaviour.
........

Agree Chimp. Adam is clearly reading a prepared speech in the few minutes of the AOTY acceptance.

The following is more the kind of thing I imagine people take exception to rather than that scripted speech.

“Imagine watching a film that tells the truth about the terrible injustices committed over 225 years against your people, a film that reveals how Europeans, and the governments that have run our country, have raped, killed and stolen from your people for their own benefit.

“Now imagine how it feels when the people who benefited most from those rapes, those killings and that theft — the people in whose name the oppression was done — turn away in disgust when someone seeks to expose it.

Adam is a half caste aboriginal. He has a father of European heritage. He's mainly learned about his aboriginal heritage in the last 10 years or so. Adam has benefited more than many white Australians. As far as I know his ancestors are as guilty or not as mine are in regards to past atrocities. Yes they happened. Casting blame and dwelling on them isn't going to change it. It seems to me he's lumping non-indigenous Aussies all in the same resentful blame game basket.

 

[Rosy]

I find it interesting that the AFL's head of diversity who also sits on the Indigenous Advisory Board said the booing started out as a mob mentality but now manifests in a racial form. I wonder how he knows there has been a shift in the intent.

 

[joelatengo]

Been a long time since this was an acceptable way to describe aboriginal people.

 

[Rosy]

Well forgive me Joe. I look looked up the definition in the dictionary before I posted it due to the fact some are quick to label others as racists. What is a more appropriate term to describe the fact Adam has a European father? I am happy to learn. Still doesn't change the fact that Europeans are his ancestors too.

 

[Baloo]

mixed-race

 

[Rosy]

I will edit my post tomorrow when I am on the computer. It won't change the content. Can any of those branding others as racist tell when and how it changed from mob mentality.

 

[poppa x]

I will edit my post tomorrow when I am on the computer. It won't change the content. Can any of those branding others as racist tell when and how it changed from mob mentality.

The mob mentality is telling those who boo what they are thinking.
I won't be arrogant enough to tell those accusing many of being racists why I know they are wrong.
But apparently it's ok in reverse.
It's breathtaking arrogance.

 

[Brodders17]

surely those who profess not to be racist would not want to continue with an action so unimportant as booing a footballer if it is being construed as being racist?

surely those who want to see a 'united' australia would not continue with an action that is contributing to the feeling of division when that action is so irrelevant. if there was something to be gained from it i could understand why some would want to continue, but booing at the football??

 

[mld]

Surely any decent person would not want to participate in an ongoing relentless campaign of mass bullying?

 

[Rosy]

I dont know why people boo. Nobody seemed up in arms about it when Jobe or other players or umpires copped it. Neither of those previous comments answer my question. There was a clear claim from an ALL official that what had started as mob mentality had changed to racism. How would he know that. I am not convinced in the least that it's not still mob mentality. I just thought those a using others of being racist might know what and when the change of the booers focus was.

 

[bruntonave.]

Nobody seemed up in arms about it when Jobe or other players or umpires copped it.

Because this is different. Obviously, clearly different.

If Goodes had not been outspoken as australian of the year, it wouldn't be happening.

He was outspoken about indigenous disadvantage in australia and its root causes.

So many who appear to be taking an anti-Goodes, or pro-booing position seem to be taking this personally.

It's been personal for indigenous australians for over 200 years.

They are not going away.

 

[bruntonave.]

Re: Goodes Saga !!

The Goodes saga is an issue that all AFL fans are concerned about but is the Richmond Football Club correct in deciding to wear the Richmond Indigenous jumper tomorrow night ?.

Yes.

 

[bruntonave.]

Reguardless of your view of Goodes. It has now become an issue for all indigenous players who feel like they are being booed when you boo him.

That is what it's come to.

All the equivocating and excuse making for the booing has led to exactly this.