Cassano's Curious Crime

Cassano is an atavistic arsehole for saying what he said about gays in azzuri, but he is entitled to his opinion. And that (incidentally) is my opinion. See how that works? Everyone doesn't have to love everybody. You say can say stupid things if you want, but we have the right to criticize and vituperate in kind. We may even, at times, retaliate in ways that trespass the boundaries of those rights. And I say this as black male, who's withstood racist remarks from whites, and homophobic ones from blacks (despite my ardent heterosexuality).

As a society we do not have the right to dictate the content of the thoughts or beliefs that people espouse. Nor does a bigot have the right to harass any individual with their unsolicited opinion. However, answering a question honestly is not harassment.  Having said that we do have the right to ridicule, ostracize, banish in order to contain/curtail such virulent comments. And when racial abuse reaches levels deemed unacceptable to society, legislators can pass laws to ban certain offensive arrangements of syllables.

Fact: Being allowed to play football is a privilege not a right, but as a player, Cassano does have a right to free speech. Indeed it is not only his duty to express himself honestly, it is essential to future progress.

Consider this: how else are we to rehabilitate a bigot if they feel forced conceal their beliefs?

People are always cynical about post slur apologies but often the expression of such narrow thinking is demonstration of a certain lack of public awareness.  (He comes from a very insular society) And the backlash often acts as a sobering jolt to the system and makes them aware of the heinousness of their comments. And even if's pretending, its a start. You walk before you can run. You pretend before you become.


My point is that Cassano's right to express his opinion, when asked, is the first step in the process of his racial rehabilitation. A process, which could result in there being on less racists in the world. A preferable alternative to a scenario where we inhabit a perpetually edgy society populated with closet racists too paranoid to express their pernicious views.

Sensitivity to the various forms of unacceptable verbal abuse, is an essential trigger in the process of social enlightenment. But have we become overly sensitive (and i mean that in the counter-productive sense).  Process of progress is impeded when our sensibilities become too fragile for dialogue and discussion. An indication that a rethink of our tactics is in order.

The goal of mainstream racial tolerance will continue to elude us unless we are sane in our response to insane responses and maybe gradually the sanity would be contagious.