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The Forum > Article Comments > What it meant for AFL players to ‘take a knee’ this weekend > Comments

What it meant for AFL players to ‘take a knee’ this weekend : Comments

By Michael Viljoen, published 16/6/2020

Protests are, by definition, risky. The aim of a protest is to draw attention to injustice. You’re wanting to challenge the status-quo, to upset the apple-cart.

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"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.
Posted by mhaze, Tuesday, 16 June 2020 11:08:28 AM
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'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
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 16 June 2020 11:26:40 AM
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“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 !
Posted by individual, Tuesday, 16 June 2020 11:39:39 AM
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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.
Posted by Alan B., Tuesday, 16 June 2020 12:27:32 PM
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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
Posted by individual, Tuesday, 16 June 2020 2:19:09 PM
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> 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.
Posted by Aidan, Tuesday, 16 June 2020 3:46:21 PM
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