Bravo for dealing with racism, now for sexism

Rob r Charteris says:

08:05am | 17/06/10

Eric you really are a grubby little man. If it weren’t for idiots like you we probably would not have a problem with either sex scandals or racism in the poor mans game. The same type of people that gave your grubby little mate Matty his own TV program.

megan says:

09:55am | 17/06/10

“feminist-dominated media” - you have just shown how naive you really are eric

Budz says:

09:56am | 17/06/10

I have to agree with Eric here. I have no idea what Matthew Johns did has to do with sexism. I think the issue there is teaching these young females to have more respect for them and not to be searching for fame by trying to sleep with famous footy players.

What the hell are these men meant to do when women keep throwing themselves at them? True if they are married or in a relationship they owe it to themselves, their partner and their family not to cheat on them, but if they are single, I say go for it! The women want the footy players, and the footy players want the women, what exactly is the problem here?

BTS says:

10:04am | 17/06/10

Come on Rob,

Lift your game.  Name calling indicates you yourself are struggling to make a point.  You can handle criticise someone elses behaviour when you’re beahving worse yourself.  Make your point, personal abuse is unnecessary.

mm says:

10:32am | 17/06/10

Budz, the problem in the matty johns scenario, is that a naive young woman went back with one player (make sexist judgements about that all you like) but she didn’t deserve to be ambushed by an entire team.
That girl’s life has been ruined. The players themslves admit they snuck in thorugh windows, and entered the room, she was terrified.
Would you really raise a son to treat someone like that??!?!
Thank god men like ROB r have some empathy and don’t jump on the defensive.

Elphaba says:

12:04pm | 17/06/10

Eric, you obviously don’t work in media.  I do.  It’s a boys club.  Pure and simple.

Feminist-dominated media - honestly, do you listen to yourself sometimes?  Wake up to yourself.

Budz, I’m inclined to agree.  One cannot ask for respect when they don’t respect themselves.  Girls who get involved in gang-bangs with footy players don’t respect themselves.

Andrew Johns, on the other hand, is a complete twat.  If Kerry was still alive and running Channel 9 they would have sacked him ages ago.

Rob r Charteris says:

01:18pm | 17/06/10

BTS says:10:04am; Get real, that sort of ignorance is the same sort of ignorance that kept peado priests active within there organisations. You can call it name calling, I’m calling it what it is.

Heather says:

02:41pm | 17/06/10

Dear Eric,

Please, for the love of God, get a new hobby. Every time I read a Punch article that mentions a woman, women, or even hints at a subject approaching feminism, you come out with all guns blazing. I understand that you have an axe to grind, but really, you have made your point. I’ve reached the point where I can anticipate what you’re going to say about almost any given topic.

I really believe that your energy could be better spent elsewhere. If you believe in these anti-feminist issues so strongly that you want to spend hours every day reading about feminism, only to rubbish it, perhaps you should follow your calling and find a job in the media, and go about fixing what you hate so much.

Or, like I said, you could just get a more constructive hobby.

Ps. Tory, I personally think this is a really great article.

BK says:

03:33pm | 17/06/10

mm

She went back with two players. She claimed that others snuck in through a bathroom window. Players claim that this would be impossible. She rejected one player as too ugly and he accepted this. Whatever the facts, men have right to expect women who are unhappy about what is going on to say so.

Press says:

04:09pm | 17/06/10

Heather’s right. If Eric had ever had anything useful or factual to say, by now we’d have heard it. 

Instead, he bores us rigid with repetitive, inaccurate and predictable empty opinion. His posts, stored in the great bit-bucket in the sky, stand as a tawdry monument to man’s baser silliness.

Greek Snake says:

12:09pm | 17/06/10

Dear Mr Bear, your final sentence is what’s wrong with sport these days.

“The Johns brothers? Good footballers but….”

Yes but what? You know what, who cares about the but. They are there to play football. They are there to play well and perform for their team. Believe it or not their contracts do not state that they have to be role models for your kids or others. This pathetic mindset of parents who think the world will teach their kids only good and those who don’t should be punished on your kids behalf?... give me a damn break.

It is your job as parent to differentiate to your children what aspects of a sportsman to look up to, and what not to replicate. There are experiences in life where you must show your children to build on the positives and not repeat the negatives. In every such experience there will be a good and a bad. If you struggle teaching right from wrong, what hope have you got?

Don’t expect footballers to teach your kids, they are there to play football. Morals start at home.

marley says:

01:11pm | 17/06/10

Dear Mr. Snake - I might agree with you if the Johns boys were still just players.  But they’ve both moved on to bigger and better things, haven’t they?  They have roles now which go beyond just playing well and performing for the team. 

It’s one thing to be a boofhead with Neandertal values when your only responsibility is to hit the opposition hard and kick the ball straight.  It’s another when you’re being hired specifically to influence the thinking and approaches of others, either as a TV commentator or a coach.

marley says:

01:14pm | 17/06/10

I don’t think Tahu walked out just because he was disgusted with Johns’ remarks.  I think he walked out because the NSW heirarchy didn’t care about the kind of remarks Johns was making.  His walk out wasn’t directed at Johns, it was directed at the NSW management.  And very effective it was, too.

Gazza says:

01:36pm | 17/06/10

I don’t think he is a racist either.  A goose but not a racist.  If he had of use any other word like fat or ugly or stupid instead of ‘black’ no one would have cared and his intent with the comment would have been exactly the same.  If Tahu was so offended why didn’t he front Johns straight away?  Instead he takes nearly 2 days to become offended and then quits.  Then he makes this home made video statement about how he is a role model to kids.  He’s never been too worried about being a role model before so why now?

A man can stand outside a Police Station and call the cops “F**ken Pigs” and a court of law says that it’s OK to say that and Thurston can abuse a referee on national TV and the Rugby League Judiciary says that’s OK too but use the word ‘black” and you are judged by the court of public opinion to be a racist that should burn in the fires of hell.

Adam Diver says:

04:15pm | 17/06/10

@ Gazza, I am so happy to hear someone with common sense. This issue has made me feel like the only sane person around.

As for role models, Johns said a supposedly racist remark, in private, in the context of a psyche up and has been publicly demonised.

I am pretty sure the message to the kiddies by johns (who has publicly apologised) and society it too stay the hell away from anything mildly racist. You can learn more than just positive behaviour from role models, you can learn consequences of bad behaviour as well.

Harley says:

10:46pm | 17/06/10

Gazza - Though it might seem lie simple name-calling to those of us who have not personally experienced on-going racial abuse, I think that if you heard that sort of talk day in and day out for years and years, you would just get to the point where you draw the line in the sand. I think this incident was the straw that broke the camels back for Tahu. It is obvious from Johns distress that he is almost bewildered by the reaction, which is a clue that this sort of talk is not out of the ordinary in Johns world. I think Tahu has drawn a very important line, and I applaud him for it. Hopefully this incident will lead to positive change, and hopefully Tahu and Johns can both heal and recover from the emotional effects of the incident.

TheRealDave says:

10:52am | 17/06/10

Zeta, you’re confusing Rugby Union with Rugby League. Artie Beetson retired in 1980 - games changed since then.

nic says:

10:57am | 17/06/10

Zeta, some great points, but your Lote Tuqiri example wasn’t the best one you could have used.

Dale says:

12:13pm | 17/06/10

I’d probably be going with someone like the Minichiello boys or Hazem elMasri. There mums would slap them upside the head if they did anything like that.
I wanna clarify, thats not a racial thing either: they’re just decent human beings.

Eric says:

06:49pm | 17/06/10

Zeta, your comment is racist.

Have a nice day.

acker says:

11:02am | 17/06/10

@matt if we wan’t to go back to the start and unscramble the egg perhaps Joey Johns should have been more considerate when he opened his mouth in the first place. Johns is not the victim in this saga, he is the instigater

BTS says:

11:17am | 17/06/10

Well Dave,

I don’t recall them doing it this match.  There was an eerie silence before the storm…blew them all away.

Michael says:

12:12pm | 17/06/10

Maybe if NSW Rugby League cut out the ingrained racist culture which is infested so deeply, maybe looked to some of their own overlooked indigenous superstars they might put up some sort of fight. As a QLDer I am thankful that NSW deem themselves above selecting the likes of Michael Jennings and Jamie Soward, because even just those two to name a couple, have plenty to offer. They would rather play a washed up (but white) Barrett and an unremarkable (but white) Beau Scott. I will also point out the snubbings of Preston Campbell and Nathan Blacklock and the underselection of David Peachy.

NSW rarely give their indigenous boys the time of day. Not enough time anyway. And it’s sheer madness because genetically our indigenous tend to be strong, fit and fast and perfectly suited to our football codes.

Dave, I’m sure that these boys have been called worse things than what Johns said, but it’s beside the point. Johns simply represents that ignorant elitist attitude that the NSWRL are infamous for, not least of all Geoff Carr.

Tim says:

12:23pm | 17/06/10

I love how people like Michael can see racism everywhere.
Those players weren’t picked simply because they weren’t good enough or the coach was trying to play a different style of game.
Nothing to do with racism whatsoever.
Soward is tiny, bad defence, good kicking. Not Origin material yet.
Michael Jennings has been injured and in patchy form this year. Bad defence.
Preston Campbell? Laughable, he may be alright at club level, would get smashed in Origin.
Blacklock and Peachy? You’re kidding yourself.
There’s a few hundred other white guys that didn’t get picked, is that racism too?

I’m sick of people playing the victim every time something doesn’t go their way.

Michael says:

06:10pm | 17/06/10

It’s a bit hard to put it down to anything else when NSW seem to have no options. If they were spoilt for talent and options and overlooked these individuals, race may not have even come up. And you might have a point Tim. NSW have said themselves that they are desperate for halves and Barrett’s selection only adds creedance to that.

wk says:

01:59pm | 17/06/10

well said maroon fred, not usually a fan of any maroon, but i’m a fan of you!

Harley says:

05:59am | 18/06/10

Michelle - you miss the point. Tahu should not have to confront Johns or anyone else over this, because he shouldn’t have to put up with it in the first place. In any other Australian workplace this sort of talk would not be tolerated, and rightly so. Johns did not make a “poor choice of words”, he made an ugly racist and sexist abusive tirade. At my work place, if you did that, you would be sacked. It would not be tolerated. Its not rocket science. Its simple really, if “white man” does not want to be accused of racism, don’t stoop to racist abuse.

S.L says:

07:12am | 18/06/10

Well said Michelle

Rose says:

02:42pm | 18/06/10

Give you the big tip Michelle, racism only hangs over the heads of those ignorant enough to believe that they have the right to make racist comments. The rest of us don’t worry about it all because we don’t sink to that level. Excusing racism by calling it a joke, or a slip of the tongue, or a poor choice of words makes it even worse than acknowledging that you screwed up, you offended people and it is your own failing and not the failing of the ‘thin-skinned’ victim. Just quietly, you may want to re-read what you wrote, it seems to me that it absolutely screams of racism and ignorance.

GE says:

09:33am | 18/06/10

Perhaps “....‘feminist dominated media” should be better described as ‘female orientated /targeted/aligned media” which is a statement I total agree with.

Retail media is a business and like any other type of business it relies on patronage to the media content they supply.

So retail media needs to provide content that does not cause their patronage to go elsewhere, else the business will fail.

Working on the premise that women, as a whole, are a lot more sensitive than men and like things to be ‘their own way’ and hence will object/complain / boycott the retail media outlet that supplies content they do not like or agree with .

We are 40 odd years into the Gender Equality movement, so at this point in time women should be :-
1.  Responsible for their own actions
2.  Be willing to be treated (spoken and physical interaction) in an equivalent manner with which they treat men
3.  Expect half the good and half of the bad in all aspects of life.…
However this is not the case as retail media panders to women to pacify and keep their patronage.

You see this in news and current affairs when there is rarely an opposing view from a men’s group in a gender equality stories. (See point 3)

I have watched television commercials regarding violence against women then return to a program where a woman sexual y assault the genitals of a man, or threatens to do so because he did something not to her liking. (See point 2)

I can watch television shows such and movies where women are discussing the genital size and sexual performance of men. (See point 2)

The list of disparities seems incredibe given the time into the Gender Equality movement.

On the NRL front, the Matthew Johns incident was investigated by the police and found to be a case of the revocation of consent after the fact. A “false rape claim” to use the correct terminology, which is a horrendous crime that can ruin the lives of innocent men and hence should be treated with the same seriousness as rape. (see point 1)

Then there are the NRL Domestic Violence issues that turned out to be secondary as the primary violence in the incident was initiated by the (drunken) female partners. Once this came to light ,the incidents stopped being referred to as DV and became a “lovers spat” with no attention paid to the instigators of the DV. (see point 1)