From the Doc.
In my view, this country has turned into a nation of people looking for reasons to be offended. What Leigh Griffiths is accused of doing was disgusting, ill thought out, objectionable, or any other adjective you wish to use, but was it racist? I don’t think so.
The famine song is also disgusting, ill thought out and objectionable, but is it racist?
Or have we all just become too sensitive to things and too quick to look for reasons to be offended?
Are Celtic fans really that offended by the Famine song or the Billy Boys? Or are we just like the Daily Mail readers dredging up mock indignation?
We all of us have our prejudices and we all have our very own moral code. We set the bar at what we think is acceptable and as long as we stay under that limit, all is well.
We all of us have our prejudices and we all have our very own moral code. We set the bar at what we think is acceptable and as long as we stay under that limit, all is well.
If you asked people if they were thieves, they will likely become indignant that they’ve never stolen anything in their lives. How many of us have taken things from work that we shouldn’t have (pens), made personal phone calls, skived when we should be working, bought fake DVD’s / CD’s, been given too much change in the shop / pub, but not owned up, etc, etc – it’s all theft, but I’m comfortable with this and don’t see myself as a thief. Someone who goes into a shop and steals something, that’s a thief. However, they might not see themselves as doing anything wrong, as they are just taking stuff from big conglomerates who are ripping people off, so they are fair game.
Whose moral code is right?
Celtic fans have sung songs that are objectionable and ill thought out (cheer up advocat, oh what can it be, to a sad orange b@st@rd with a shite football team). How many of us sang that song? rangers fans complained it was sectarian, Celtic fans argued that it wasn’t, it was just banter.
Whose moral code is right?
I’m not condoning what Leigh Griffiths did – I also thought it was disgusting, ill thought out and objectionable. However, a sacking offence? No.
I wasn’t madly keen on Leigh Griffiths joining Celtic in the first place because I wasn’t sure that he was good enough, his personal baggage wasn’t a big issue. However, his displays have won me ar ound. He is desperate to succeed, he has brought something to the team that was missing. His strike partner, Anthony Stokes, has also seemed to have benefited form Griffith’s introduction. Stokes also has more than his fair share of personal baggage, but I’ve never read an article suggesting that he should be sacked. Is this because Stokes’ baggage is Celtic minded and we can all identify with it? rangers fans found Stokes behaviour disgusting, ill thought out and objectionable, but we defended him.
Whose moral code is right?
So I’ll finish with the way I finished my previous post, “let him who is without sin, cast the first stone”. If you are super clean and have never sung any objectionable songs, then fair enough, object away. If you have sung songs that some people have found to be objectionable, but still think Griffiths should be sacked, then all you are doing is using your moral code to make you decision.
But is your moral code right?
Here here
Griffiths hasn’t been found guilty of anything yet and may not be since the video footage only showed him standing on a chair and singing and very briefly at that.
It is also impossible to hear whether he was singing the words so readily attributed to him by the unbiased Scoddish media.
Even if this is established, it is a stretch to call it racist, although the words are certainly offensive.
Celtic is supposed to be awaiting the outcome of the police enquiry, but another aspect of this is IF Griffiths is charged are they going to charge everyone else who was in the pub at the time?
If I were Grffith’s defence counsel, I would be confident of an acquittal if the case ever got to court.
Racism and sectarianism are two different things. I’d love to see anyone sing the famine song in my face and not end up with a sore one for it.
I am appalled that just under the surface of this country there is a pure hatred for Catholics, even if i don’t practise it myself.
Although you might like to believe it, your moral code isn’t set by you. HH
Racism and Sectarianism are both wrong…whilst Griffiths should not be sacked he should have his backside well and truly kicked…at the end of the day its not about morals its about right and wrong…Griffiths was wrong full stop, the famine song is wrong full stop, the billy boys is wrong full stop, Some songs sung by our own fans are wrong full stop. Why not be offended its about time people did stand up and say no this is wrong and can’t continue….when people don’t its tacit approval of wrongdoing such as Racism and Sectarianism…why do you think Rangers (IL) got away with it for so long, because no-one stood up and said no this is wrong…it took Martin O’Neil to stand by Neil Lennon at Ibrox and mention it before the Barceloona game before Rangers(IL) and the media to start to break their silence on the issue and deal with it….In the same vein if Griffiths is found to have done wrong then we as Celtic supporters who have suffered more than most over the years need to as one say yep he was wrong and deserves his punishment…otherwise we are hypocrites.
Bravo – excellent article
My moral code is shocking so Griffiths is a saint in my eyes, he most definitely must stay
My moral code is shocking so Griffiths is a saint in my eyes, he most definitely must stay
Griffiths song was not racist or secterian , neither is Catherine Tate when in her bbc programmes mock a boy who works in a carwash by saying are all your friends polish, or is she homophobic with the sketch about the Northern irish gay boy s proud mun
So when 50,000 Huns are singing about ” up to their knees in fenian blood ” at Ibrox, on a European night in years gone past, we should just smile at the ‘ banter ‘?
The famine song IS racist and people SHOULD be offended.
The Huns were and are complete scum!
Their presence in life is offensive in every way!
It’s a yes vote for me…..good luck Wales!
I’m without sin I’m an atheist don’t believe in that christian nonsense
Top stuff, Andy. Still not seen the Griffiths video but I think a lot of the problems arise by the authorities failing to deal straight down the middle with both sides. FOI requests revealed different police forces deal differently (Strathclyde reported only Celtic to SFA for sectarianism but Grampian, Highlands, Lothian, Borders all reported rangers).
Is what Griffiths done as racist or sectarian as bob malcolm writing ftp or nacho novo writing on twitter that all Catholics are paedophiles, fenian bastards and should go home? Only one of those incidents resulted in a police investigation.
The point being that if the authorities refuse to see the problems and deal with them then it becomes much easier for the perpretrator to pass it off as ‘banter’ or ‘a laugh’ and for some not to realise they have done anything wrong.
Here’s my Moral code..
I won’t be found calling anyone a Hun or Orange Bastard (grown up now both mentally and physically)
Call me a Fenian Bastard and I will kick you in the baws.
End of short story.
ya Fenian Bastard 🙂
Mon then? 🙂
;-p
‘Hun’ is as sectarian as ‘Zombie’. I.e. it isn’t. I’ll happily call them both with good moral conscience.
Personally, I don’t care what people call me because I see them as idiots and I have no time for people who hide behind whatever brand of social media they use. I went to school in Leith which was a mixed society but was given verbal abuse because of the school, St. Mary Star of the Sea. Our way, thats my brothers and me, of getting back at them was to give them a hiding on the football field and we were too good for them. I remember a match at tynecastle, we were coming along Dalry after the match which the Tic lost. The dirty jambos were still giving us dogs abuse and I turned round with a juice can at my feet and offered to take them on. They didn’t know how to take it and stopped their nonsense. If I get called a Fenian bastard now I just say yeah, totally unrepentant too.
HH
I just hate Huns……surely God will understand this? 🙂
….and Hearts 🙂
If I did not have a moral dilemma before, I sure have hundreds now after reading all of this.
H H