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	<title>Real Street &#187; Sport</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/category/sport/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.realstreet.co.uk</link>
	<description>Stewart Cowan&#039;s Blog</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:02:19 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Footballer Sacked over Twitter Jibe: The Use of &#8216;Homophobia&#8217; as a Tool of Abuse of Power</title>
		<link>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2012/01/footballer-sacked-over-twitter-jibe/</link>
		<comments>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2012/01/footballer-sacked-over-twitter-jibe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:33:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stewart Cowan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Authoritarianism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime and Punishment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homosexuality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sport]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stonewall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA['divide and rule]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Brother]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[football]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gareth Thomas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guardian Watch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homophobia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lee Steele]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mike Ford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oxford City FC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soviet Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the Justin Campaign]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.realstreet.co.uk/?p=4301</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is a strange irony that the greater the number of social networking websites which appear, the less people are allowed to say before getting into trouble with the Thought Police and their snitches.
The agenda is exactly the same all over the Western World: make people feel afraid of expressing opinions that are &#8220;off-message&#8221;. It&#8217;s globalism; global tyranny. It is [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is a strange irony that the greater the number of social networking websites which appear, the less people are allowed to say before getting into trouble with the Thought Police and their snitches.</p>
<p>The agenda is exactly the same all over the Western World: make people feel afraid of expressing opinions that are &#8220;off-message&#8221;. It&#8217;s globalism; global tyranny. It is just developing at slightly different speeds depending on the success of the opposition by decent, aware people. The threats to our freedoms &#8211; very basic freedoms, at that &#8211; are increasing all the time, as evidenced by this story: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jan/11/oxford-homophobic-tweet-gareth-thomas">Footballer sacked over homophobic tweet aimed at Gareth Thomas</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>Mike Ford, manager of the Southern Football League Premier Division club, said the decision was taken in response to Steele tweeting about Thomas&#8217;s appearance in Celebrity Big Brother. Steele wrote: &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas #padlockmyarse&#8221;.</p></blockquote>
<p>And that is it. Out the dressing room door you go, Steele.</p>
<blockquote><p>Ford told the BBC: &#8220;On this occasion Lee&#8217;s had to pay for his error of judgment. He&#8217;s made a homophobic comment, [but] that doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean he&#8217;s homophobic.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>But Mr Ford, manager of the diddy team playing three divisions down from the Football League, gives Steele no chance to make amends. He is an outcast and forced to wear a metaphorical yellow star in the football world.</p>
<blockquote><p>Steele, 38, had a long career in the Football League playing for clubs including Shrewsbury, Oxford United and Leyton Orient, and was part of the Brighton squad that won the old Division Two in 2001-02.</p></blockquote>
<p>Some careers end because of broken legs, illness and accidents. Mr Ford ended Lee Steele&#8217;s career because of a quip on the internet.</p>
<blockquote><p>Reacting to the sacking, the Justin Campaign against homophobia in football said: &#8220;While it is never pleasing to see someone lose a position in a club or company, we fully applaud the club&#8217;s decision to terminate the player&#8217;s contract.</p></blockquote>
<p>Fancy that; no mercy from the &#8216;gay&#8217; lobby. No calls for a bit of common sense and sense of proportion. They don&#8217;t even realise that to show forgiveness and clemency would further their aims no end.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;For far too long homophobic comments like the ones Steele made have been defended using the erroneous argument that such remarks as simply harmless &#8216;banter&#8217;. However, we no longer accept racist &#8216;banter&#8217;, and likewise, we must never accept homophobic &#8216;banter&#8217;.</p></blockquote>
<p>To help answer that tired old comparison with racism, and other points, I will turn to this interesting analysis on the <em>Guardian Watch</em> blog entitled, <a href="http://graunwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/homophobia-the-gays-secret-weapon/">Homophobia – The Gays’ Secret Weapon</a>.</p>
<p>The writer has some sympathy for the club&#8217;s position, but then states,</p>
<blockquote><p>So for the footballer in this case to be sacked for expressing what is a very very common feeling amongst straight men [‘latent homosexual tendencies’], especially straight men who find themselves in environments surrounded by other men, such as football, seems incredibly unfair. He was basically sacked for being a man!</p></blockquote>
<p>I think this tells us exactly what is going on &#8211; and deserves to be in bold text:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>This increased use of ‘homophobia’ as a ‘criminal’ offence is all part of the Big Gay Project. Again as Simpson has so clearly explained (back in 1996 in his book Anti Gay for example), the ‘gay’ identity has developed in part through the development of the concept of ‘homophobia’:<br />
‘So, in the As [After Stonewall] epoch, homosexuality, with its nasty medicinal odour, was now an increasingly redundant term. Instead, ‘homo-phobia’, a word with a nasty medicinal odour, was coined to explain the origins of the obviously mentally imbalanced idea that gay wasn’t good. While the innocent BS [Before Stonewall] homosexual was the victim of pathologisation and prejudice, the guilty AS [After Stonewall]  homophobe was obviously deserving of pathologisation and prejudice. ‘</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>Now onto the comparison with &#8216; racism&#8217;:</p>
<blockquote><p>I find this conflation of racism with homophobia troubling, in part for the reasons I have stated above. If ‘homo-anxiety’ and ‘latent homosexuality’ are in fact an aspect of nearly all men, then ‘homophobia’ does not relate to an ‘other’, separate from the ‘homophobe’ as racism does.</p>
<p>However, there are ways in which ‘racism’ and ‘homophobia’ DO function in similar ways as discourses. The ‘born this way’ version of gay identities suggests that being ‘gay’, like having a certain skin colour, or being from a certain place, is innate, natural, fixed. But, as is often the case with identity politics there is an irony here. It is, in part, using Simpson’s ideas,  this ‘fixed, natural, innate’ gay identity that enables ‘homophobia’ to exist.  Without ‘homophobia’ ‘gay’ may not be here at all, and this is why gays use ‘homophobia’ so strategically in their crusades.</p>
<p>As James Baldwin has put it so eloquently:</p>
<p>“People invent categories in order to feel safe. White people invented black people to give white people identity. . . . Straight cats invented faggots so they could sleep with them without becoming faggots themselves.”</p>
<p>– James Baldwin to Nikki Giovanni</p>
<p>I might add to that statement – ‘faggots invented homophobia so they could continue to exist as a distinct identity group in an ever-changing world’.</p>
<p>So if we want to get rid of homophobia (and indeed racism, for whilst skin colour is something we are born with, the ‘black’ or ‘white’ identity is not), we need to challenge the categories on which it is based. And that means challenging the notion of a ‘gay’ identity, especially challenging the idea that ‘gay’ is particularly special, particularly oppressed, and particularly, to use Simpson’s word: ‘fabby’.</p></blockquote>
<p>I don&#8217;t know where the writer gets the idea that &#8216;homo-anxiety’ and ‘latent homosexuality’ are an aspect of most men; it would be interesting to read any believable research. Certainly, there has been a major shift in what is considered normal and acceptable behaviour. As the writer indicates, homosexuality was the mental illness of the past, but now not thinking that &#8216;gay&#8217; is good is considered its replacement clinical condition.</p>
<p>The extra danger now to freedom is that once something has been labelled a mental condition, it makes it easier for &#8216;dissenting&#8217; individuals to be abused by the state, as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry_in_the_Soviet_Union">happened in the USSR</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Soviet psychiatric hospitals were used by the authorities as prisons in order to isolate hundreds or thousands of political prisoners from the rest of society, discredit their ideas, and break them physically and mentally. This method was also employed against religious prisoners and most especially against well-educated former atheists who adopted a religion. In such cases their religious faith was determined to be a form of mental illness that needed to be cured.</p></blockquote>
<p>Many people wonder why one or two percent of the population has so much influence in how our society is evolving, or rather, being re-engineered, but in my opinion the main reasons for the promotion of homosexuality are these:</p>
<p>1) as a divide and rule tactic;</p>
<p>2) for the weakening of traditional family life, society&#8217;s basic unit of strength;</p>
<p>3) as one part of the agenda to erode the West&#8217;s moral values and culture;</p>
<p>4) to aid in the control of thought and speech.</p>
<p>It has nothing to do with equality, fairness and justice and everything to do with control of the masses. The Tories promised to reverse this madness of political correctness, but it keeps marching on. Of course it does; they are party to it. They wouldn&#8217;t be allowed to form a government if they weren&#8217;t keen as mustard. It&#8217;s a global phenomenon. It&#8217;s also surely one of the reasons we didn&#8217;t get our EU referendum. The EU is one of PC&#8217;s major steering groups and 27 countries are subject to its diktats, so that isn&#8217;t something the globalists will sit idly by and watch disintegrating if they can avoid it.</p>
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			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2012/01/footballer-sacked-over-twitter-jibe/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Race hate&#8217; on eBay?</title>
		<link>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2010/03/ebay-hate-speech/</link>
		<comments>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2010/03/ebay-hate-speech/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:52:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stewart Cowan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Easy Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sport]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taking the Mickey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eBay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Engerland]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.realstreet.co.uk/?p=2183</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Most of you know that I sell flags for a living and occasionally I have a look at what is for sale on eBay. I rarely buy from there as the quality is generally not as good as I get from my regular suppliers, but I have just spotted this item&#8230;

The Terms and Conditions include [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most of you know that I sell flags for a living and occasionally I have a look at what is for sale on eBay. I rarely buy from there as the quality is generally not as good as I get from my regular suppliers, but I have just spotted <a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/72-X-ENGLAND-WORLD-CUP-FOOTBALL-HATS-ST-GEORGE-FLAG_W0QQitemZ160413664506QQcmdZ">this item</a>&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ebay-hats.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2181" title="ebay-hats" src="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ebay-hats.jpg" alt="" width="848" height="258" /></a></p>
<p>The Terms and Conditions include these words of wisdom&#8230;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ebay-hats-scottish.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2182" title="ebay-hats-scottish" src="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/ebay-hats-scottish.jpg" alt="" width="387" height="79" /></a>It&#8217;s called having a laugh, but don&#8217;t tell the &#8216;authorities&#8217; or they might want to <a href="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2010/02/everybody-needs-good-neighbours/">have a word</a>.</p>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Everybody needs good neighbours</title>
		<link>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2010/02/everybody-needs-good-neighbours/</link>
		<comments>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2010/02/everybody-needs-good-neighbours/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:30:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stewart Cowan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crime and Punishment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sport]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taking the Mickey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tolerance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grampian Police]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Slanj]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[T-shirts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.realstreet.co.uk/?p=2094</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I think a lot of bloggers will pick up on this story.

A company selling &#8220;Anyone but England&#8221; T-shirts for this year&#8217;s World Cup has rejected suggestions it is racist after police in Aberdeen visited its store.
Police warned Slanj, which also has stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh, that a window display featuring the shirt could cause [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I think a lot of bloggers will pick up on <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8533791.stm">this story</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/t-shirt-abe.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2097" title="t-shirt-abe" src="http://www.realstreet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/t-shirt-abe.jpg" alt="Anyone but England" width="226" height="170" /></a></p>
<blockquote><p>A company selling &#8220;Anyone but England&#8221; T-shirts for this year&#8217;s World Cup has rejected suggestions it is racist after police in Aberdeen visited its store.</p>
<p>Police warned Slanj, which also has stores in Glasgow and Edinburgh, that a window display featuring the shirt could cause offence.</p>
<p>Grampian officers advised a store worker to consider whether the display was appropriate and should be removed.</p>
<p>A spokesman for Slanj said staff were &#8220;flabbergasted&#8221; by the warning.</p>
<p>Ross Lyle, from the company, said: &#8220;To be honest we&#8217;re absolutely flabbergasted.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have been selling this T-shirt for the past three months and we&#8217;ve had a great response.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even the English people who come into the store think it&#8217;s a laugh and just a bit of tongue-in-cheek football banter.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re certainly not being racist. We are the same race as the English. It&#8217;s just daft to say it&#8217;s offensive.&#8221;</p>
<p>A spokesman for Grampian Police said the force&#8217;s visit to the Slanj store was not in response to any public complaint about the shirt slogan and was prompted by an officer acting on his own initiative.</p>
<p>In a statement, the force said it was purely an &#8220;advisory visit&#8221; and there was no criminal investigation as a result.</p>
<p>Pc Kirk Hemmings added: &#8220;The primary role of any police force is to preserve the peace and we would be failing in our duty if we did not make people aware of the potential for disturbance such a window display could cause.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Grampian area, in common with the rest of the country, has recorded incidents relating to nationality and we have a responsibility to do our best to ensure that incidents of this nature are kept to a minimum.</p>
<p>&#8220;The public expect no less of us.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>During the last football World Cup, we sold a few flags to Scots of the teams England played and I expect it will be the same this year. Personally, I find it embarrassing how narrow-minded Scots can be at times, but I&#8217;ll pocket the money from selling them flags as it is not for me to judge their motives.</p>
<p>The police involvement in this is just pathetic. The company sells a few <a href="http://www.slanjkilts.com/Leisurewear/Mens/T-Shirts/View-all-products.html">nice T-shirts</a>, so they can only win with the media attention. Freedom is what we are losing with the &#8216;authorities&#8217; constantly het up due to their diversity and equality brainwashing.</p>
<p>I lived among the English for thirteen years and I hope they do well.</p>
<p>So there!</p>
<p>But let me know if you want any flags&#8230;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Congratulations to England</title>
		<link>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2009/09/congratulations-to-england/</link>
		<comments>http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2009/09/congratulations-to-england/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:36:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stewart Cowan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Easy Blogging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Proud to be British?]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sport]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.realstreet.co.uk/?p=802</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As a retailer and wholesaler of flags, I wish to offer my sincerest congratulations to the England team for qualifying for next year&#8217;s World Cup finals in South Africa.
As for Scotland, thanks for nothing. You&#8217;ve cost me thousands.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As a retailer and wholesaler of flags, I wish to offer my sincerest congratulations to the England team for qualifying for next year&#8217;s World Cup finals in South Africa.</p>
<p>As for Scotland, thanks for nothing. You&#8217;ve cost me thousands.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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