Symonds calls Uthappa a Gorilla!!!

[Richard]

The names without adjectives approach would have meant the world would never have experienced so many "nice, Shane!" moments!!!

Eh? I don't think Nasser Hussain ever said "nice Shane" to Warne when he beat his outside edge - that was usually Healy (or Gilchrist).

I wasn't proposing banning anything when directed at your team-mates, as most players are generally on familiar terms with team-mates, and Ridley Jacobs saying "well bowled ******" to Nixon McLean, if he knew McLean was perfectly happy for the term to be used toward him, would be perfectly acceptable to my mind (if, obviously, there were no stump-mics or whatever involved - it'd not exactly be the best of pieces of PR to hear the term being used, in any context, on the cricket field).

 

[GIMH]

Eh? I don't think Nasser Hussain ever said "nice Shane" to Warne when he beat his outside edge - that was usually Healy (or Gilchrist).

I wasn't proposing banning anything when directed at your team-mates, as most players are generally on familiar terms with team-mates, and Ridley Jacobs saying "well bowled ******" to Nixon McLean, if he knew McLean was perfectly happy for the term to be used toward him, would be perfectly acceptable to my mind (if, obviously, there were no stump-mics or whatever involved - it'd not exactly be the best of pieces of PR to hear the term being used, in any context, on the cricket field).

I was joking...

 

[Precambrian]

To you and me, maybe not. But to some people, it'd certainly be comparable - in fact, it'd be worse.

Offensiveness of an abusive term is not all-encompassing, nor fixed accross all spectra. Different people find different terms offensive to different degrees. Hence they should (IMO) all be treated with equal disdain and outlawed to an equal degree.

You weren't here through the whole wretched, -some thing in January. If you feel you've got the strength of mind to not lose the will to live in doing so, go back through some of the threads of the time, and see how much absurd back-and-forthing there was from "bastard's a much worse term than monkey"; "no it's not, monkey's a much worse term than bastard".

I agree that all these usages should be banned. The definition should be "anything that the recepient regards as insulting". Including jibes aimed at one's height (how I hate when Tendulkar is called Little master, as if he is a child, though I confess to having used when I was younger), color, caste, looks etc.

 

[Richard]

I was joking...

O I C.

 

[Cevno]

Not really sure why this is an issue, TBH. Symonds is pretty much protected from any allegations of racism given that he's half black himself, and the insult wasn't anything specific to Indians or Asians in general. If anything, it's an insult that Symonds himself would probably have been incensed had he received. Seems to me like just your standard sledging, glad Uthappa decided not to make a massive incident out of it.

Harbhajan is a black/brown too and also from a wthnic religious minority too?

Is he exempt too byb the same rule?Because i think he was

 

[Cevno]

Okay, you clearly have strong feelings about this, but I'll wade in anyway.

The term "gorilla" is not, no matter how much you might want to think it is, a racist term usually directed specifically at Indians or Asians. You have absolutely no proof that Andrew Symonds meant it in a racist way. There is not even the merest suggestion of that, merely the situation that two people of differing racial backgrounds are involved in the incident. If Symonds had racial intent behind the insult, don't you think he would have used an insult that isn't usually reserved for offending people of Caribbean origin like himself?

Not only this, but if Robin Uthappa himself, the recipient of the insult, was not offended by it, then what makes you think you should be? What makes you think you can judge the context and nature of the insult, from your position in front of your computer screen? This is not to suggest that only the recipient of a racist insult should be offended, merely that if the recipient was not, then that suggests there was no hint of racial undertones in the insult.

I am not an Andrew Symonds fan - far from it, I think he's a **** - but this really is a total non-issue unless you're looking for reasons to criticise him.

So basically what you are saying that you can call white australians,english anything and get away with it without it being deemed racist?

Besides,for your knowledge india has also sufferef its share of racism at the past ,with the britishers involved during colonial rule with the use of many terms including perhaps monkey.

And as for uthappa being not offended,it does not mean it gives you the licence to call him anything and not calling a sensitive person anything while abusing him.In that case the crybaby will always benefit.

 

[Precambrian]

Okay, you clearly have strong feelings about this, but I'll wade in anyway.

The term "gorilla" is not, no matter how much you might want to think it is, a racist term usually directed specifically at Indians or Asians. You have absolutely no proof that Andrew Symonds meant it in a racist way. There is not even the merest suggestion of that, merely the situation that two people of differing racial backgrounds are involved in the incident. If Symonds had racial intent behind the insult, don't you think he would have used an insult that isn't usually reserved for offending people of Caribbean origin like himself?

Not only this, but if Robin Uthappa himself, the recipient of the insult, was not offended by it, then what makes you think you should be? What makes you think you can judge the context and nature of the insult, from your position in front of your computer screen? This is not to suggest that only the recipient of a racist insult should be offended, merely that if the recipient was not, then that suggests there was no hint of racial undertones in the insult.

I am not an Andrew Symonds fan - far from it, I think he's a **** - but this really is a total non-issue unless you're looking for reasons to criticise him.

I being an Indian myself can understand Indian psychology better than you, with or without sitting in front of the monitor. India is not just a land of browns, there are much deeper and complex issues, even to the extent of a North South divide, on the lines of aryan-dravidian stuff. (Visit any Rediff.com movie review board). Uthappa, being a dravidian himself (linguistically) represent a group that tends to be at the receiving end from the so-called Aryans (almost same as what blacks receive). A term like Gorrilla is as offensive to a Dravidian (predominantly black-skinned) as much as it to a black.

Now, the fact that Uthappa took it lightly indicates that his morality and understanding is a level above Symonds'. He just subscribed to "forgive and forget" methodology propagated by Mahatma Gandhi. But just because he did that, doesnt degrade the level of the offense.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Could make things difficult if players aren't even allowed to say each other's names

If your name's Anthony Gorilla then I'd say it's entirely appropriate

 

[silentstriker]

DIE STORY DIE.

Uthappa needs to shut his trap hole. Let it go. I don't want to hear another thing about all this crap. If you have a problem with what he said, take a bat and hit him in the head during the next match - at least it'll be mildly entertaining, unlike this crap.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I've heard white players call other white players a 'gorilla' when referring to their size (and obviously not their colour). I think it's a bit of an over-reaction to assume Symonds was using it in a racial manner. Although it doesn't really surprise that the reaction occured.

 

[Johnners]

*explodes*

Agree with SS though, always wanted to see a bit of fisticuffs on the field one day.

 

[Pratters]

Disagree with the theory that Uthappa is the gorilla. The real gorilla:

 

[masterblaster]

 

[Johnners]

 

[Precambrian]

Though the text titles it as a comparison, LMAO>

 

[Son Of Coco]

Racists

 

[Precambrian]

I doubt any of the Aussie/English guys of white decent here would put a Lol here, for fear of being regarded as endorsing the fact that Sreesanth is a gorilla, which would then be regarded as racist.

Oh No..........

 

[masterblaster]

Racists

I'm Indian, I can laugh.

 

[masterblaster]

Plus the gorilla comparison is more about Sreesanth's behaviour on the cricket field than anything to do with race. Which is what makes the comparison pretty damn funny.

 

[Son Of Coco]

I was joking...