Joey Barton is a Legend

[vblockranger]

Yes, you do seem to have a smidgen of a grasp, as to what my grandfather, and millions like him, fought and died for.
There was a slogan at the first general election after WW2, "I may not like what you say, but I will defend your right to say it."
As far as I'm aware, there was no list as to what was "acceptable", and what was not "acceptable," with regards to free speech.
The, "you can say what you like, as long as I like what I hear", is an altogether modern concept, as is most of what is warped about modernity.

its called Liberalism these days mate

[BUSHRANGER1982]

The issue isn't free speech though. You are not free to racially abuse a player at a football match, for example. Were you booing John Terry for being a racist, or do you uphold his freedom to express racist views?

If any gay footballer does have the courage to come out then I hope the authorities will demonstrate the same zero tolerance to homophobic comments as to racist ones. Unfortunately if the comments on this board are anything to go by, there won't be many of us left in the ground.

I would boo John Terry, just for being John Terry, and yes, I booed John Terry for racialy abusing Anton Ferdinand.
And yes, I would defend John Terry's right to express his opinions, no matter how distasteful I found them.
That, is what free speech is about, anything else is just what the Germans had under Hitler, and what the Russians had under Stalin, and that, was not worth fighting and dying for.

[BUSHRANGER1982]

God, my sides are splitting, that was so funny. So because I don't like homophobes I must be a "po*ve"/ "fagg*t"/ insert your favourite term of abuse. And if I was one you wouldn't be safe because you are just such a gorgeous human being I would want to jump into bed with you???? Good grief. I'm surprised you didn't offer that other hilarious bon mot "backs to the wall chaps!" For the record I'm married with two kids but if you think that's a smokescreen and I spend all my spare time with Graham Le Saux in the showers, I cdnt give a monkeys.

You are free to have whatever opinions you like. Your opinions, such as you are able to express them, are supremely uninteresting to me. But what Gilly and Deepcut and many others have tried to get through to your brain is this: what isn't acceptable is to insult people. Its not homosexuals that now have to stay in the closet, but homophobes - saying you hate someone just because of what they get up to with another consenting adult is no longer acceptable. Sorry about that. Its a shame that the law and the world in general has moved on and passed you by.

I have come to the conclusion that you have a major problem reading English when it is written down.
Where, anywhere, on these boards have I said I hated anyone?
The gays can do what they goddamn please, but I don't want to be informed every bloody minute of every bloody day, about how fantasticaly "normal", "natural", it is for one man to put his willy up another man's back passage.
Now, why on earth is that so hard for some people to grasp? No pun intended.

[paulmason]

I have come to the conclusion that you have a major problem reading English when it is written down:

Yep, I am glad someone else has realised how pathetic he is in the way he turns everything you say into something you didn't. I hate Adel according to him, even though if he was fit and healthy he would be the 2nd name on my team sheet and it's laughable he is a moderator who can give points, when he can't read.

[BUSHRANGER1982]

bet you think hitler was right on "po*ves" tho? (seeing as you brought him into the argument).

Unsurprisingly, you'd be wrong.
I'm not for jailing gays, nor do I advocate killing gays, all I want is for them to live their lives quietly, without feeling the need to shout from the rooftops about something that many will feel, rightly or wrongly, is very sordid.

[BUSHRANGER1982]

its called Liberalism these days mate

I call it Nazism, even communism, it's certainly not democratic, that's for sure.

[DeepcutHoop]

Unsurprisingly, you'd be wrong.
I'm not for jailing gays, nor do I advocate killing gays, all I want is for them to live their lives quietly, without feeling the need to shout from the rooftops about something that many will feel, rightly or wrongly, is very sordid.

"I'm not for jailing gays, nor do I advocate killing gays" - your compassion is commendable...........

But gay footballers can't live their lives normally, and have to remain hidden from public view, because of all that lovely democratic free-speech that would rain down from the terraces and from their teammates.

Is that acceptable?

[BUSHRANGER1982]

Yep, I am glad someone else has realised how pathetic he is in the way he turns everything you say into something you didn't. I hate Adel according to him, even though if he was fit and healthy he would be the 2nd name on my team sheet and it's laughable he is a moderator who can give points, when he can't read.

Yes, Josef Goebbels could have learned a lot from him.

[RochestR]

Unsurprisingly, you'd be wrong.
I'm not for jailing gays, nor do I advocate killing gays, all I want is for them to live their lives quietly, without feeling the need to shout from the rooftops about something that many will feel, rightly or wrongly, is very sordid.

It's very liberal of you not to advocate killing gays. Well done. But you'd like them to keep quiet about it, which is what they've been doing in football since time immemorial. It's a matter of public record that the only player ever to come out eventually killed himself because of the opprobrium lavished upon him by the tabloid press, by football managers like Brian Clough, by his own brother and by homophobic fans. Far from 'shouting it from the rooftops' gay players live in constant fear, unlike in the rest of society, which is unacceptable in a multi-billion pound business in the 21st century. That climate of fear is the only thing I find sordid.

[brightonr]

'It's a man's game' - Yes, and they're men.

You don't have to accept it, it's a fact of life.

We were giving Terry stick for being a racist, but you should be stick-free for being a homophobe?

You seem proud to work in a bullying environment, which is odd. If it's not too close to real life, can I ask what industry you're in?

Would you hide your wife or girlfriend away from public life, and never be seen in public with her, or acknowledge her existence for any amount of money?

Apologies for the immature way that this may come across, but I do believe that in a quite incredible point of irony, he is a "tunnelling engineer"

[BUSHRANGER1982]

But gay footballers can't live their lives normally, and have to remain hidden from public view, because of all that lovely democratic free-speech that would rain down from the terraces and from their teammates.

Is that acceptable?

I know it's hard for totalitarians to grasp, but that's how democracy works, the majority decision is that which shapes society.
The minority view cannot ever hold sway over the majority, it will only end in tears.

[Rebel R's]

Akos is not gay. My mate saw him out in Vodka Revs in Beaconsfield copping hold of a lovely blonde sort.

Was this "lovely blonde sort" a man or a woman?

[W12_Ranger]

W12....that is a very dated view.

Just out of cureiosity, what industry do you work in? Mining?

Yeah i do....Mining and tunnelling....that was quite funny

[BUSHRANGER1982]

It's very liberal of you not to advocate killing gays. Well done. But you'd like them to keep quiet about it, which is what they've been doing in football since time immemorial. It's a matter of public record that the only player ever to come out eventually killed himself because of the opprobrium lavished upon him by the tabloid press, by football managers like Brian Clough, by his own brother and by homophobic fans. Far from 'shouting it from the rooftops' gay players live in constant fear, unlike in the rest of society, which is unacceptable in a multi-billion pound business in the 21st century. That climate of fear is the only thing I find sordid.

No way am I a liberal.

I do not accept that now, in 2012, gay players live in "constant fear," sounds like the script for melodrama from the days of silent movies.

[gilly]

No way am I a liberal.

I do not accept that now, in 2012, gay players live in "constant fear," sounds like the script for melodrama from the days of silent movies.

How do you account for the absence of openly gay footballers then?