What it meant is that the players are a cowardly lot. Not a single one of them remained upright, too frightened to offend anyone. They should go to America and play gridiron if they are going to be that pathetic. It would be interesting to know what the spectators thought of the silly, wet girls. I don't remember ever having used the hackneyed expression, 'UnAustralian', but I will in this case. BLM is a con, no matter where it is hauled out, and it certainly has no application in our country.

The hypocrisy of the Australian Left is appalling. Damning America on the one hand, but slavishly copying all of its meaningless silliness on the other.

virtue signalling has become a sign of hypocrisy and cowardice these days. Bowing one's knee does more harm than good to black communities, It just stops them from having to look at facts instead of false narrative. Black coloured people are far more likely to be murdered, receive child abuse, raped and suffer domestic violence than whites. The obvious factor than the lying media leave out is that it almost always blacks committing the offenses. In the US far more whites are murdered by blacks than vice versa.

I'd have thought our Govt & Opposition would legislate against such intimidation compliance. It's undermining our values & rights !
If people want to help other people then they should go & live with them & help them get on the right track. Undermining yourself & your fellow citizens to give the one who wants to see your demise is about as stupid as stupid can be !
Is that the result of our billions thrown at Education ? Sack the bloody lot & start anew !

No individual, but it is the result of the radical feminist take over of the education system.

I think the author doth protest too much.

In previous articles he had written;

“Standing on the wing at Kardinia Park, Dad was primed to yell encouragement for the Geelong Hoops. However, when the Carlton team ran out with a little number “5” whose skin was much darker than Dad’s, he knew he had found a team of fairness and equity. First year player, Syd Jackson, didn’t kick any goals but Jezza kicked five, and from that day our blood bled Navy Blue.”

And;

“Goodes is correct to say that education is the key.”

The symbolism of the players taking a knee in support of not only the movement in the US but also the focus on the plight of indigenous Australians is both powerful and motivating a wider conversation.

I have spoken to quite a few people who were perplexed by it and taken the opportunity to tell of the insanely high incarceration rates of indigenous people in the NT and WA.

It was both potent and welcomed.

Frankly, I found it embarrassing.
It is an admission of sin and asking for forgiveness.
I was surprised the crowd didn't boo.
Perhaps the mics were turned off, just in case.

"What it meant " was that the bloody game started a minute late. Nothing more.

Who give a rats what people whose only skill in life is running, kicking and catching think about this or any other political issue. Its magical to watch them ply their skills, boring to watch them pretend they have the faintest idea what the issue is about.

Oh and by the way that lost minute caused the Swans to lose. :)

But I'm sure Shaun Burgoyne was pretty happy with the whole charade. They were never gunna rub out an aboriginal player after all that virtue signalling. Any other time, any other melanin colour and he'd be social distancing for a few weeks longer.

'I have spoken to quite a few people who were perplexed by it and taken the opportunity to tell of the insanely high incarceration rates of indigenous people in the NT and WA.'

anyone who wanted to know the truth would be perplexed at the outrageous crime rate with black bashing black. Then again pointing out the truth would be considered racist. One day someone might take a bow to the Police who have to put up with racism, being spat upon, arresting thugs and attending rallies to be abused by Antifa/regressive low lifes with no decency

“Goodes is correct to say that education is the key.”
SteeleRedux,
Absolutely ! We need to rid ourselves of the present indoctrination process & get education up & running asap !
Import decent teachers until ours catch up in mentality !

I was impressed by this respectful and peaceful protest! That will have the cage rattlers the world over frothing at the mouth at their impotence of their available, legitimate responses in the face of this, non-violent protest!

Imagine if a million or more did it in silent protest outside the Whitehouse and every state government legislation house? A few days before the November elections?

A, how dare you, Uncle Donald would probably cut my (NATO) allowance if I joined in this silent and peaceful protest? And OK, cause it's SFA now, anyway! But likely to impress the redneck brigade, or their shared but lonely brain?
Alan B.

the insanely high incarceration rates of indigenous people
SteeleRedux,
In the last community I resided in for 10 years, this rate was well short of what it should have been ! Leftist Magistrates aided by taxpayer funded parasitic Legal Aid ensured the perpetuation of break-ins by indigenous juveniles for years to come

> Protests are, by definition, risky.
Your definition is wrong!

They certainly can be risky, of course. But drawing attention to injustice isn't necessarily risky, for two reasons: firstly the perpetrators or that injustice aren't always aware of the effects of their actions. And secondly, the perpetrators don't always have any power over the protesters.

And even when the perpetrators of injustice do have power over the protestors, the risk of them using that power is (at least in the Australian context) normally very low. Public opinion matters, and they have far more to lose from taking action against the protestors (which is rightly seen as an abuse of power) than from capitulating.

One of the nice things about Australia I noticed when I first came here is that the right to protest was regarded as important. And on a related note (though at the time I didn't understand how closely related) Australians knew how to protest peacefully.

Alas there's been some erosion of this over the past thirty years. The situation here is still much better than in most countries, but it's no longer good enough. Unfortunately I doubt that's something a protest would be much use in fixing.

However I think it's fair to say that having conditions conducive to protests won't make those protests any less effective. How much attention protestors draw to a perceived injustice is not in any way proportional to the risk they put themselves in.

Perhaps Aiden we should have protests about unruly protests.
A demo demo so to speak.
I am afraid many younger people are copyists and will start to think
their point is not made unless a building is burnt down, but not before
the goods inside are removed safely.
I wonder if the school teachers are to blame for this trend ?
Is it sort of do things my way not the way your father might have done it.

Two years of National Service will filter out the indoctrinated stupidity & a healthier mentality will ensue !

Mhaze,
I think you're probably correct about Shaun Burgoyne. I'm not sure how much malice was in it, but these days there is such a thing as a dangerous tackle. Burgoyne did get fined, but the rest of us are left scratching our heads as to why he's not been given at least a week or two worth of holiday to self-reflect upon dangerous play.

Individual said;
Two years of National Service will sort it out !

OH ! YOU CAN'T SAY THAT !

Oh dear they will have your guts for garters.
National service.
Why it it is even worse than the Police Force !
They might even give them a gun !
Oh dear.

I would love you guys to tell NRL and AFL players who knelt down to support a cause that they are soft.

They would look at you, and look at each other,and then piss themselves laughing.

And then you could say, it is not your fault, it is the fault of leftist scum, lesbians, homosexuals, academics and communists.

Then the AFL and NRL would collapse from laughter.

Yep, I reckon that is what would happen.

Bazz,
I mentioned that at the time, I didn't understand how closely related the right to protest being seen as important was to knowing how to protest peacefully. From your reply, I see that you still don't. You fail to appreciate that it's a two way process.

Those who turn protests violent are traitors to their cause. But in the vast majority of cases, they didn't set out to be traitors. The violence wasn't planned, but was a spontaneous reaction to police using heavy handed techniques on them. One very clear recent example of that is when a peaceful protest suddenly became violent in response to the police trying to clear the area so Trump could do that press conference in front of the church.

The Left and Right have very different approaches to law and order: the Left seek to create conditions conducive to good behaviour, while the Right prefer to rely on harsh penalties to discourage bad behaviour. The Right's approach isn't actually more effective, but is easier to communicate, and so far it has tended to be politically popular. It's too soon to say whether this will shift public opinion.

NRL and AFL players
Chris Lewis,
Footballers, your idea of Crème de la crème of society ?

ttbn's opening comments were spot on.
In that not everyone agrees with everyone else, unfortunately for a lot of people today, they are too gutless or scared of what others may think of them if they do not comply or be seen to comply.
I may have some reservations about SOME police, but when a policeman calls out "STOP", you STOP!
To do otherwise is a call to arms by the very police who are wanting you to stop.
The do gooders can barf on as much as they like about police brutality, but the answer is simple, just do as they say and no one gets hurt.
The West Australian has a very interesting article today.
A moronic minister is pushing a bill through which he says will reduce the number of blacks in jail.
These blacks he speaks of (which are a large majority) are incarcerated for non payment of fines.
So this cretin is suggesting that the fines be paid.
So far he hasn't said exactly how these fines are going to be paid, if not by the offender.
The only way these fines can be paid, is from the tax payer funded kitty already afforded them.
So it looks like we fork out more money again for an arrogant, selfish, entitled lot who still want more, and all this without reason or justification.
I can't wait for people to grab a brain and a spine and attack anyone who takes advantage of our generosity and selflessness, beginning with the pollies and people who promote such greed and averace.

ALTRAV,
I doubt I'm the only reader here who appreciates the irony of you calling that WA Minister moronic!
AIUI what he's pushing for is a community service alternative to the fines, bringing WA into line with the rest of the nation. And it's a much cheaper solution than locking people up.

______________________________________________________________________________

individual,
I won't comment on the NRL, but the AFL players are certainly up there...

Hey ALTRAV,
What they will likely do is the same as they have in other states.
Instead of throwing everyone in jail as a fine defaulter they change the rules so that people who don't enter into a payment plan in regards to their fines have their drivers licenses suspended.

http://www.qld.gov.au/law/fines-and-penalties/fine-enforcement/licence-suspension

"Your driver licence will be suspended if you ignore an enforcement order from the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER).
We can suspend your driver licence for any type of debt, not just those related to vehicle offences."

Side note: These fools can't spell.
Even people working for the government are illiterate.
- That's not how you spell license and its not how you spell offense.
The grammar is crap too, it should be drivers license (with an 's'), not driver license.

When I was at school, even in Year 8 and 9 the kids that were good at English WOULD NOT make these kinds of errors.
The bars set pretty low these days...
Probably more 'on purpose' than 'accident'.

Aidan, I would like to agree, but for the fact we are talking about a politician.
This type of initiative has been spoken of before in other times and nothing of real substance came of them.
I for one doubt very much that if this minister gets his way, all that is going to happen is that those who are currently incarcerated and any future incarcerations will be avoided thereby making these mongrel politicians look good by showing that there is no longer a high incarceration rate any more, as if they have solved the problem, in other words do what they usually do, LIE!
The truth is that they will keep offending, but now it will be with impunity, knowing full well that they will not have to go to jail anymore.
More relevant is the fact that the system will not spend the money to enforce any punitive action the criminals would have to atone for, because it will be seen as prejudicial and even racist possibly.
And so now we end up worse off again, and even more in danger, because now they know they will be handled with kit gloves and not as harshly as they should otherwise be.
Let's see if we get the same treatment if we decide not to pay our fines.

...but the AFL players are certainly up there..
Aidan,
At least you got a sense of humour !

these afl players are starting to look more like the Victorian Labour party who respect women so much that they call them ---. To think this generation has the self righteousness to think that somehow they are morally superior because they wear a rainbow badge.

Armchair, shouldn't it be driver's license ?
No expert myself, but the public service is populated by the left
leaning product of the current under educated teachers.

Guys, as usual, the govt response to so may things like this, is superfluous and only for the purpose of making themselves seem viable and garner support and popularity from the general population.
Removing someones ability to drive "legally" is in this particular context, an absolutely extreme waste of time and they know it, because if memory serves, they drive cars illegally as a rule, based on their personal beliefs and entitlements.
So again a waste of time, they will still drive, still steal cars and go for joy rides and whatever other related illegal and unsociable activities they engage in.
Seriously, if anyone thinks they are going to honour the courts ruling of community service, you are naive and delusional to think they will suddenly change their evil, or anti-social ways.
I'm really curious how they spin this obvious "get out of jail free" card, without it costing us even more again, through the loss of revenue.
I do have the answer; let all the do-gooders pay for their fines, then we can see just how caring and virtuous the do-gooders are.
So we then can kill two birds with one stone, the do-gooders can go around bragging how they helped the poor underprivileged, and the miscreants can continue their reign of terror and un-sociable behaviour, unabated.