No Jansey, I don't believe it was racist.

You stated that this non-indigenous dog owner was a close friend of yours.
Could you really expect that a close friend would be maliciously racist in naming her dog with a name that would insult you?

Now that it appears that you have lost them as a friend, do you think it was worth the fuss you made about the dogs name?

As for the racist remark made against Adam Goodes at the football, I believe they did the correct action by removing the nasty little teenager from the venue.
You are warned before going to the footy that racist taunts against players will not be tolerated, and there are plenty of advertisements on TV etc reminding people about how unsporting and wrong this behaviour is.

Both the teenager and the parents of this kid should be ashamed of themselves ...

Jansey, the other thing I forgot to mention is that being offended is not in and of itself something our society has bothered to protect us from, although with the rise of feminist activists and other professional outrage-mongers into positions of influence that is changing, which is to be deplored.

Basically, it's a case of have a sense of perspective, suck it up and move on, as expressed in the "sticks and stones" chant we teach children. In the case you have raised, it's not even a personal attack, just what I suspect to be a rather silly ironicism which it was assumed would be understood as such. I suspect your friend is upset that you would assume she was in any way similar to the sort of redneck who might have been expected to use the term.

In other words, it's crass and childish, but not offensive.

NO!
I have never heard the word used that way.
Having been mates will hundreds, played foot ball with at least a hundred, Aboriginals NEVER.
However used as an insult and in pure friendship, [as a club once existed to help charity's called the *old Barsta*ds*] the term are used by our first Nation talking to each other.
Our site automatically bars those words so it will not be seen here and rightfully so.
I am concerned at the truely bad things young Aboriginals are calling whites, sad but true, not even heated words but as surely racist as any.
The instant handling of the Melbourne football thing has my support and I am very pleased by it.
But fear things like this threads subject are doing more harm than good for these folk, stop racism but lets also stop inventing it too.

It's highly offensive for a non-African American to refer to an African American with the N word, but a friend of mine from Brazil tells me it is consider a compliment in there.

Does anyone know for certain that a deliberate & overtly racist comment was made ?? If the few seconds of media reports I heard told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (that alone is a very long shot), the comment wasn't even remotely racist & the player should take a spoonful of concrete and harden up. Problem here is that our fine upstanding media is rarely guilty of allowing the truth to interfere with a good story, consequently its unlikely that anyone who wasn't actually there at the time really knows what REALLY happened. Sporting stars are also inclined to be exceedingly precious and its not inconceivable that an over-reaction occurred.

>>very close non-Aboriginal friend recently bought a black dog and called it Jigga Boo. I pointed out to her that this name is another name for n....r, and that some people might find it a bit offensive.<<

Would it have been as offensive if she'd bought a white dog called it Jigga Boo?

>>I heard about it on the news but they only said that the girl made racist remarks, they didn't disclose what she actually said. If they want to make it a public issue then they need to tell us what the offensive remarks were. How else are we to judge?<<

She called him an 'ape'. I've been known to call unpleasant women 'bitches' and cowardly men 'pussies' and 'dogs' and nobody bats an eyelid. Shakespeare himself referred to women as rodents - 'The Taming of the Shrew'. I can't see how insults referring to a person's animalistic qualities are racist.

I'm not entirely sure who Adam Goodes is but he seems to be an AFL player. If he is slow-witted, violent and more in slave to his passions than his reason - as so many footballers are - than I would also describe him in simian terms because they seem quite appropriate. Is that really racist? I don't even know what colour Mr. Goodes is... so much for Antiseptic's mens rea.

>>Was my reaction to the dog's name justified?<<

No.

I am reminded of this scene from the film 'Clerks 2':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0R3OjMcOqg

Is Randal being racist? If he is it is clearly only by accident - that doesn't really count in my book. Racism is offensive because it says that some people are inferior to others because of their pigmentation. Randal isn't referring to pigmentation, much less suggesting inferiority on the basis of pigmentation.

Your friend is like Randal: she may have used a 'racial slur' but she obviously didn't intend it to suggest that some races are inferior to others. You are like the black woman in this scene: over-reacting.

I like her husband. That bloke has definitely got the right idea.

Cheers,

Tony