Originally posted by SALADIN
well Blade.. thats debatable.
if you are black or asian and you are sitting there and the fans are throwing bananes and doing monkey chants (like they used to at Upton park and other grounds in the 70s) it takes a diffirent prospective... this so called ' terrace banter'!!!
I admit that some namecalling is more offensive than others... but I have Irish friends who I call Paddy, Scottish friends who I call Jock, and Welsh friends I call Taff... I also have an half Asian friend called Warren but I call him Abdul... stereotypical namecalling that certainly doesn't offend my friends...
I agree that the monkey chants are offensive, and to my knowledge have not even ever been construed as humourous.
All I was saying is that people are far too quick to say something is offensive these days... I don't get offended if someone calls me a tight Yorkshireman.
Words are after all, only words... a form of communication.
Whilst we may not agree with a lot of what is shouted at football grounds, or anywhere else for that matter... this used to be a country of free-speech, a place where you could voice opinions and argue with other people's.
People should still feel free to say what they want, if it offends, hard luck. Move on, and speak to someone who doesn't offend you.
(I'm talking hypothetically now of course, and have drifted somewhat from the original debate I feel!)
What I'm actually trying very ineloquently to say is that I think the country is in a poorer state now that people don't think they have the right to free-speech for fear of being vilified by some do-gooders. It's society's problem, not just footballs.