There's a new series starting on Nat Geo on Foxtel Or Austar called...

Wait for it.

Ape Man. Da Dar!

Mostly I've been avoiding the racism threads. Not an issue I've been close enough too to feel like I understand the issues well.

As for kids being a protected species when they act abusively, that I've seen enough of to be a little more certain of and I really think they are better served by being pulled up on behaviour young than having it left until they are adult and face adult consequences.

I've also been around enough kids to put paid to any belief in childhood innocence. They may not always understand the harm they do but many kids are willing to be very brutal in inflicting harm on others. Have a read up on bullying and kids that have been driven to suicide by bullies. That can all start a lot earlier than 13.

On the broader topic, there is a boundary between some friendly stirring between friends and intent to hurt. Not sure where using a name for a dog fit's and I wasn't there for the discussion between the dog owner and Jansey to know how that played out.

Not a name I'd have chosen but I have named some chooks after prominent federal politicians. Bit hard on the two of the chooks who are actually quite lovely (although utterly unproductive) and about right for the other (brutal thing it is). There is a story to the names.

R0bert

to Lexi
I'd be willing to bet that in the history of the AFL there have been
men called gorillas or apes before, from the screaming crowd and they wouldn't have been Aboriginal, only white.

The only difference being that the hairy, white, male would
understand that it was directed at the fact that he looked
like a gorilla,(as a lot of hairy, brawny, men tend to do)and not
carry on the way this fellow did as though it was a racial
taunt. This bloke's black beard, does make him look like an ape
as it would do most males that have a big black beard. You can't
deny that it does.

I wouldn't hesitate to say, "stop acting like a big Gorilla" to any white man that I thought was using all brawn and no brain" it is a common English colloquialism.

At the football, where I have heard the crowd call players all sorts
of things and sing out things in a sing-song voice the whole game
about some players looks or unfortunate mistakes,it is par for the
course.

It's obvious that this girl meant "stop acting like an ape" in
the sense that she resented his winning style of aggression towards her team.

She would have used the same attack on a white or Greek or
whatever race who had a big black beard and dark hair that
made him look more like a gorilla. because that's what she saw in her
vision, a hairy man looking like a gorilla attacking her team I
doubt she rationalized it in her head, oh I am going to call him
a Gorilla and insult him because he is an Aboriginal.

Poirot, "..your effort to invalidate the actual offence"

You sidestep once again. I am criticisng you for your dimissiveness of the child's rights and callous unconcern about her treatment; the MCG administration for its lack of training and policies for children and hamfisted management; and those who have made a meal out of the child and sensationalised it. You know those are the targets of my criticism and not Adam Goodes. But you duck by trying to make Goodes responsible for what you and others do to make your own mileage out of it.

Players on the field are hyped up. As Goode demonstrated, likely to interpret incidents and react according to their own perception and their own life experience. He took offence to what he heard and interpreted through his own mental filters and pointed. Others say he was close enough to the girl to notice her age and maybe he should have done differently. But he is a professional footballer and his prowess is in ball skills, not personal interaction and diplomacy.

On the other hand, one should be able to expect that others who are responsible for managing the ground and reporting on it or even commenting on it later in forums, such as you do Poirot, should have cooler heads and act reasonably, taking into account the very obvious considerations, the most evident being the age of the alleged offender.

OTB: [poirot] You sidestep once again.

You get used to that from poirot. He's been taking lessons from his Middle Eastern mates, you know.

OTB: As Goode demonstrated, likely to interpret incidents and react according to their own perception and their own life experience. He took offence to what he heard and interpreted through his own mental filters and pointed.

He does have a point. & A man without a point, has no point at all. "He has a point there." "The Point."

I agree with CHEARFULL. She also, has a good point there.

Okay, onthebeach,

Let's exercise cool headedness.

Let's go even a step further, rewind the whole sorry episode, and for a moment pretend that it hasn't happened - yet.

Here's the revised scenario.

Goodes notices that someone is belligerently calling him an "ape' from the stalls. He decides, against his better judgement, to pocket the insult, and accept that it's just one more challenge for an indigenous player, tough luck and all that. The young girl isn't pulled up, she isn't reprimanded by the footballer or the people in her vicinity...she goes on yelling her racist abuse...

She yells it for many years more, and eventually takes her own kids to the footy. Those kids decide to emulate their mum and her cohorts, as years later do their kids.....etc, etc, etc

So all's well that ends well, eh, onthebeach?

Is that a cool enough head for you?