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English FA punishing players for decade old tweets. A step too far?

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Just saw this on BBC sport.


The player in question is being punished by the FA (English Football Association) for a, what appears to be a homophobic tweet, the player made....... almost ten years ago when the player was 14 years old.

I really don't agree with this. Yes, all forms of bigotry are bad, but punishing a player for a tweet he made at 14 years old is absolutely over the top.

Also, as stated in the article, West Ham player Jarred Bowen, got the same treatment from the FA this year for a tweet he made when he was 15. However, the FA took his age at the time of making the tweet into consideration and he was let off with a warning, plus put through an FA education course, whatever the fuck that is.

I understand that these players represent their football clubs and the tweets could be problematic, but I don't think it's right to financially punish these people for tweets they made when they were teens, and especially not put them through education courses.
 

Star-Lord

Member
It’s a tough one. He was a minor in the eyes of the law, but still accountable for his actions, and hate crime is still a crime regardless of how long ago it happened. If someone beat someone else up ten years ago and got away with it until now, do they still not deserve to be punished? On the scale of it, a few tweets are nothing, but the FA has to be seen doing something or risk being accused of allowing racism within the sport.
 
It’s a tough one. He was a minor in the eyes of the law, but still accountable for his actions, and hate crime is still a crime regardless of how long ago it happened. If someone beat someone else up ten years ago and got away with it until now, do they still not deserve to be punished? On the scale of it, a few tweets are nothing, but the FA has to be seen doing something or risk being accused of allowing racism within the sport.
he was 14
 
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dcll

Banned
The cult of the woke never stops, it destroys and consumes everything. I’m sure the UK’s special task force is on top of this! GrOoming aka rape gangs and rising crime ehhh no big deal but if some kid says something on the internet send in the big guns!!!!
 
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I fail to see your point. 14, in the UK, is what’s counted as an age at which someone can be legally accountable for a crime. If he’d stabbed someone, they’d be charging him. Committing a hate crime is no different.
He isn’t being charged with a hate crime. Read the article.
 

thefool

Member
I enter the thread and read equivalences of stabbing with a tweet by a 14 year old

SleepyNarrowDiamondbackrattlesnake-size_restricted.gif
 

catvonpee

Member
I hate cancel culture. Like hold people accountable for what they do, not what they say. I realize words can be hurtful... but they're just words. People say mean shit to me all the time and idgaf. This is why social media was a huge mistake.
 
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Sure, pal.
From your article:

When a homophobic or transphobic hate incident becomes a criminal offence, it’s known as a hate crime.
This is accurate. Crimes have elements that need to proved up in court. Simply being homophobic is not a crime. By your reasoning, every homophobic person in the UK is a criminal.
 
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And here I was thinking ResetEra were the homophobes. This thread alone has revealed people’s true colours. I should know what a hate crime against a homosexual is, you know, being a victim of homophobic hate crime myself. But hey, what do I know? I’m out.
So now I'm a homophobe? That's pretty harsh. Take care.
 
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dr_octagon

Banned
And here I was thinking ResetEra were the homophobes. This thread alone has revealed people’s true colours. I should know what a hate crime against a homosexual is, you know, being a victim of homophobic hate crime myself. But hey, what do I know? I’m out.
who's been homophobic?

people pointed out that depending on the content, it is not automatically a (hate) crime and that's based on the law
 

badblue

Gold Member
people pointed out that depending on the content, it is not automatically a (hate) crime and that's based on the law

The UK did charge someone over singing rap lyrics.

In 2017, 19-year old Croxteth resident Chelsea Russell quoted a line from Snap Dogg's song "I'm Trippin'" on her Instagram page. The line, which read "Kill a snitch nigga, rob a rich nigga", was copied from a friend's page as part of a tribute to Frankie Murphy who was killed in a car accident at age 13.[38][39] Hate crime investigators were alerted to the presence of the slur and charged Russell with "sending a grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network". Defence lawyer Carole Clarke stated that she received a request from one of the arresting officers that the word "nigga", the subject of the trial, not be used in court.[40] In April 2018, District Judge Jack McGarva found Russell guilty and delivered a sentence which included a £585 fine, a curfew and an ankle monitoring bracelet.[41] However, Russell's conviction was overturned by Liverpool Crown Court on 21 February 2019.[42]
 
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And here I was thinking ResetEra were the homophobes. This thread alone has revealed people’s true colours. I should know what a hate crime against a homosexual is, you know, being a victim of homophobic hate crime myself. But hey, what do I know? I’m out.
I'm sorry that the world does not revolve around you and that your personal morality code does not get to be law. Just because something happened to you does not mean you are an authority. I've been mugged at gunpoint, so I guess everyone should listen to my and only my opinion on what should happen to someone that mugs someone, right? That's how this works apparently.
 

FunkMiller

Member
I'm sorry that the world does not revolve around you and that your personal morality code does not get to be law. Just because something happened to you does not mean you are an authority. I've been mugged at gunpoint, so I guess everyone should listen to my and only my opinion on what should happen to someone that mugs someone, right? That's how this works apparently.

You were mugged at gunpoint for your possessions, you absolute roaster. You weren't picked out simply because of who you are.

FML, where are all these knuckledraggers coming from these days?
 
You're downplaying the seriousness of homophobia, which makes you a cunt, if nothing else.
If you think labeling me as a homophobe is justified based on my posts in this thread, I'm not really sure what to tell you.

Unless you're okay with people just using the term homophobe willy nilly.
 

bender

What time is it?
And here I was thinking ResetEra were the homophobes. This thread alone has revealed people’s true colours. I should know what a hate crime against a homosexual is, you know, being a victim of homophobic hate crime myself. But hey, what do I know? I’m out.

I'm sure you said plenty of uninformed things in your youth. I'm also sure your opinions on those subject matters evolved as you had more exposure to said subject matters. We are most sheltered from the unknown in our youths. Empathy is much easier when you have exposure to those unknowns. Damning someone for ignorant statements they made as a child is silly. Do you not believe the humans have the capability to grow?
 

Lanrutcon

Member
I couldn't see the tweet in the article, but lots of stuff is blocked on this laptop. What did he say? (paraphrase)
 
He just said something was "gay" on Twitter when he was 14 years old, he's now 23, and has been charged with misconduct for it. This might be getting mixed up with the other footballer who said the N word when he was 15 and had the same punishment back in March.

I think their only crime is being stupid enough to keep the same twitter account for so long.
 

FunkMiller

Member
Has he apologised for this? Because that would probably mitigate any punishment. If he seems suitably contrite and realised that what he did was wrong, then he shouldn’t be too harshly dealt with probably.
 
You were mugged at gunpoint for your possessions, you absolute roaster. You weren't picked out simply because of who you are.

FML, where are all these knuckledraggers coming from these days?
So, if a person ever said the "n-word" because they thought it was funny or if they made fun of something by saying it's "gay" when they were a teenager and didn't know better, they're now automatically racist AND homophobic?

Jesus fucking Christ, you must be the most perfect specimen living in this planet.
 

Winter John

Member
I genuinely feel sorry for kids today. Social media is meaningless to me, but I didn’t grow up with it. I wasn’t born into it’s system, and by the time it came around I was too set in my ways to be indoctrinated into it. Kids like this one never had that chance. They were trapped in it before they understood what it was, and the power it has to shape their lives. Now they live in a state of constant public surveillance where everything they have ever said or done can be used to ruin their lives
 

FunkMiller

Member
So, if a person ever said the "n-word" because they thought it was funny or if they made fun of something by saying it's "gay" when they were a teenager and didn't know better, they're now automatically racist AND homophobic?

Jesus fucking Christ, you must be the most perfect specimen living in this planet.

They have certainly said something racist or homophobic, yes. How they respond when they’re told this dictates whether they are racist or homophobic people.

Much like some reactions on this thread.

Everybody makes mistakes. It’s how they react when those mistakes are challenged that speaks volumes.
 
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Star-Lord

Member
I’ve had some time away to think. I may have over-reacted, but I stand by what I say. If you defend a homophobic comment - regardless how old the person who made the comment was - then you, by alignment, are homophobic. That’s all I have to say on the matter.
 
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nush

Gold Member
I’ve had some time away to think. I may have over-reacted, but I stand by what I say. If you defend a homophobic comment - regardless how old the person who made the comment was - then you, by alignment, are homophobic. That’s all I have to say on the matter.

You're gay, so maybe there's some bias at play here. You already came into the topic windmilling clearly not having read the article or the OP properly.
 
They have certainly said something racist or homophobic, yes. How they respond when they’re told this dictates whether they are racist or homophobic people.
That's not what I asked. There's quite a big difference between saying something racist/homophobic/offensive (especially a long time ago) and actually being a racist/homophobe/mysogynist in the present or actually commiting a hate crime.

I think the rest of your arguments are quite sensible, though. This is what the FA should be focusing on, investigating what kind of person he is today and judging him for that. Not for something that was said ages ago.

If you defend a homophobic comment - regardless how old the person who made the comment was - then you, by alignment, are homophobic.
You're still taking this the wrong way. It's not that this whole charade is ridiculous because of a tweet from a 14-year-old. It's baffling because he's now 23! I can guarantee you that most of us have said some regretful things when we were younger, but we now know better. If it were a teenager posting this right now, then yes, he needs to be educated so that he knows what he's doing is not OK. I hope you can appreciate the difference.
 

YCoCg

Member
14/15 years ago was 2006/7 right, do we not remember what internet culture was like during those "wild west" days? Those years were known as the newf*g era on places like 4chan for example and British school kids and teens were using the word "Gay" as a generic insult.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Has he apologised for this? Because that would probably mitigate any punishment. If he seems suitably contrite and realised that what he did was wrong, then he shouldn’t be too harshly dealt with probably.

This is it. He should apologise for the tweets he made when he was a child, get the tweet deleted and everyone can just move on. I think we all said and did things at 14 that would be considered unacceptable now. It's part of growing, learning from past mistakes and developing as a human.

He doesn't need to be financially punished, or put through the FA's re-education program.
 

Mistake

Member
I’ve had some time away to think. I may have over-reacted, but I stand by what I say. If you defend a homophobic comment - regardless how old the person who made the comment was - then you, by alignment, are homophobic. That’s all I have to say on the matter.
The world is pretty black and white for you, isn’t it? I wasn’t the same person 10 years ago, and I doubt you were either. You know why statutes of limitations exist right? He was under 18 at the time of his post as well, so you’re being extremely harsh. Your inane comparison to physical violence is also out of touch with the reality that people have self control over themselves or how they feel. People say terrible things all the time, but how you handle it defines how emotionally mature you are.

Now yes, the UK has hate speech laws, but again, he was a minor at the time. Let him do a simple apology and be done with it. How ridiculous
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I’ve had some time away to think. I may have over-reacted, but I stand by what I say. If you defend a homophobic comment - regardless how old the person who made the comment was - then you, by alignment, are homophobic. That’s all I have to say on the matter.

I agree that homophobia is a form of bigotry that shouldn't be tolerated today, but shouldn't people, and especially children, who make such comments be given a shot at redemption?
 

clarky

Gold Member
What a load of pish. The world needs to get a grip. Out of curiosity, because I'm bored at work, what was the actual tweet?
 
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The Cockatrice

I'm retarded?
They have certainly said something racist or homophobic, yes. How they respond when they’re told this dictates whether they are racist or homophobic people.

Much like some reactions on this thread.

Everybody makes mistakes. It’s how they react when those mistakes are challenged that speaks volumes.

Will you quit your job if you found out you said a transphobic or homophobic slur +10 years ago, and will you stay jobless to pay for your "crimes"? Please answer truthfully.
 
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