Originally Posted by
Niall_Quinn
Oh good grief, this is painful. Get to the root of the problem? What do you think I'm doing? Do you seriously think racism exists because some people are just meanies? Racism, religious intolerance, all forms of bigotry (except the officially endorsed state sponsored type that raises its head from time to time when expediency calls) are always symptoms of a wider inequality in groups/ societies. Who do you think benefits most when the population is at each other's throats?
Racism isn't about which words should or shouldn't be banned - that's PR and chest thumping, a lousy apology for indifference to the real problems. At its root racism is a systemic agenda that has been carefully nurtured over centuries by those who benefit most from poverty, denial of education to the masses, war. Especially war because it's pretty damn hard to shoot somebody in the face when you perceive them to be the same as you. But a rag-head or some African bloke who "comes from a country that doesn't even have proper toilet paper and they all live in tents but some of my best friends are black people you know", no worries. They are inferior and a lot of the time we're actually doing them a favour by burning up their kids. George Bush and Tony Blair said this, so it's true. Why do you think we had slaves, because blacks are inferior to whites and in our ignorance we recognised some moral entitlement? No, because we had guns and it was fucking profitable to get somebody else to do all the work. Get real.
I mean haven't you been watching the news over the last 20 years? Racism? Do you think the people suffering from the direct effects of racism give a flying fuck about what Suarez did or didn't say? But, you know, I understand why we all need to go around explaining how virtuous we are and how we stood up (with the rest of the herd) when the real condemnations had to be made. Suarez - bastard, bad, bad. Anything other than fanatical condemnation is viewed as a white wash, you said so yourself. Well apologies, I guess my failure to sing loudly about one drop in an ocean in preference to "talking shit" about the ocean itself means I don't get access to the heavenly throng. I can live with that.
As an aside, it's true, there's no genocide in football (barring a few unfortunate incidents of genocide that happened elsewhere so don't count). I'm very confident the same guy who moralises from the stands wouldn't dream of lining up to clap on demand at some monument in London as the war criminals march past. And even if he did, there's no connection. Compartmentalisation is one of the best things ever invented, so convenient. So black and white.
Certain behavior doesn’t have to be taught. We’re naturally selfish and perceive difference as a threat. But this goes way beyond football. In short, Suarez could learn a thing or two here at Arsenal and in London.
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