Dean Jones sacked for racist remark

[magsi23]

He has only himself to blame, and Ten Sports did the right thing by sacking him

 

[Anil]

The question we'd have to ask would be - were they both acknowledged mistakes? And did both come with similar intent? I believe therein lies the answer.

in one case the intent was to mock and in the other, to hurt....do we really get an answer either way?? i don't think so.....

As to the humor being mitigating, I get your point. You can have somebody who does that frequently, and the intent can be quite malicious, even if they appear to be "joking". However, I do not identify a pattern of behaviour in this regard for Jones (apart from stupidity, with which he's quite consistent ), and considering it seems his relations with subcontinental players/commentators have been quite friendly to date, I regard his comment as a foolish abberation.

It would be very different if he was known to have a history in making like remarks about particular peoples though.

i understand that it would be wrong to judge a person hastily based on one incident but as with lehmann, this does point to a certain tendency in jones and i think most people are going to the other extreme and shutting their eyes to that and laughing/shrugging it off(or maybe agreeing with him - secretly or otherwise)....

 

[Slow Love™]

in one case the intent was to mock and in the other, to hurt....do we really get an answer either way?? i don't think so.....

Well, I meant that one was an acknowledged thoughtless remark which was apologized for, the other was an out-and-out accusation that wasn't. Can't you see the difference?

i understand that it would be wrong to judge a person hastily based on one incident but as with lehmann, this does point to a certain tendency in jones and i think most people are going to the other extreme and shutting their eyes to that and laughing/shrugging it off(or maybe agreeing with him - secretly or otherwise)....

This goes to my point. I believe it is valuable and constructive to draw a clear distinction between say, Lehmann and Jones' actions. One is an example of falling prey to stereotype and prejudice, the other belies at least a latent hostility to a group of people based in some way on the color of their skin.

I really don't mind if somebody uses the term "racist" to describe Lehmann's offence. I mean, it'd be hard to mind. But given that we've established that what Jones did was something we've all done at one time or another, and he was appropriately remorseful and apologetic, how helpful is it to label him with the racist tag? You might as well make the accusation of everybody.

 

[Anil]

Well, I meant that one was an acknowledged thoughtless remark which was apologized for, the other was an out-and-out accusation that wasn't. Can't you see the difference?

yes i could see that from the beginning...to me though that difference is at the surface level, both remarks come from the same root of intolerance, narrow-mindedness and stupidity dangerous in its blindness....

This goes to my point. I believe it is valuable and constructive to draw a clear distinction between say, Lehmann and Jones' actions. One is an example of falling prey to stereotype and prejudice, the other belies at least a latent hostility to a group of people based in some way on the color of their skin.

I really don't mind if somebody uses the term "racist" to describe Lehmann's offence. I mean, it'd be hard to mind. But given that we've established that what Jones did was something we've all done at one time or another, and he was appropriately remorseful and apologetic, how helpful is it to label him with the racist tag? You might as well make the accusation of everybody.

not labelling jones a racist here, but just because a guy is a muslim and grows a beard, thinking of/mocking him/labelling him as a terrorist...is not something i have ever done(just to be clear what we established a couple of posts ago is that all of us have prejudices and are likely to say or do things that we regret later, but there are degrees to this and peoples' levels of decency prevent them from transgressing certain limits....)...and i don't think it's something every one does....at least i know quite a few people who don't think that way....

 

[AussieDominance]

yes 10 sports did do the right thing but they had no other option

 

[Slow Love™]

yes i could see that from the beginning...to me though that difference is at the surface level, both remarks come from the same root of intolerance, narrow-mindedness and stupidity dangerous in its blindness....

Of course. I'm just saying that it makes a very significant difference whether somebody slips up and makes a comment they regret, or whether somebody decides to let their comment stand or attempts to justify it (and I really don't think the difference is only at surface level). Also, I don't believe that the fact that Jones is a public figure should automatically be used against him, in judging the sincerity of his response. There have been plenty of public figures under the same public pressures who have fought on quite gamely to defend their offensive beliefs.

not labelling jones a racist here, but just because a guy is a muslim and grows a beard, thinking of/mocking him/labelling him as a terrorist...is not something i have ever done(just to be clear what we established a couple of posts ago is that all of us have prejudices and are likely to say or do things that we regret later, but there are degrees to this and peoples' levels of decency prevent them from transgressing certain limits....)...and i don't think it's something every one does....at least i know quite a few people who don't think that way....

As the part in bold is the main purpose of the distinction I'm making, we're pretty close to being on the same page on this (I think). I don't want to argue that there's nothing wrong with Jones' comment (there's plenty wrong), and I wasn't implying that we've all called a muslim a terrorist (jokingly or otherwise) before. Just that we've all said something offensive (to diffferent degrees) to a person or group due to prejudice, and we should always recognize it's wrong and do our best not to be so lazy and judgemental, and that's the appropriate and healthy way to deal with such an act. But IMO, it's when people don't react in that manner and are unapologetic or defiant in their prejudice that the scale is instantly changed and we are dealing with an entirely different beast.

 

[pasag]

Typically resillient Dean Jones has bounced back from his recent sacking to regenerate his worldwide broadcasting career.

Jones, who was suspended for jokingly using the term "terrorist" when referring to South African cricketer Hashim Amla, has been offered a new contract by Ten Sport Dubai - the same company that banned him.

He has also been offered a role in covering the Champions Trophy next month.

Craig Hutchison in The Sunday Age