A lot of things annoy me in today's world. Don't get me wrong, i tend to concentrate on the positive things in life; family, friends, alcohol and Birmingham City Football Club (debatable), but now and again a horribly annoying topic will rear its ugly head with intent to piss-off my little world. The most recent topic; what terms are acceptable in society.
Last night, Alan Hansen appeared on Match of the Day with no intention of turning half of Twitter's population into an army of politically correct arseholes, but unfortunately, he did.
When asked a question about the controversial topic of racism in football by Gary Lineker, Hansen's response was a nervous one and the use of the word 'coloured' (referring to black players within the premier league) was used once or twice in his retort.
So that's it. That's all the man did.
Now, i'm not oblivious to the fact that it isn't exactly friendly to be referring to black people as coloured, but back in Alan Hansen's glory days, it was a term used and accepted within society.
For example, my grandmother at the grand old age of 74 had to be told, by me, that it isn't acceptable to use that term anymore. This statement was met with a very confused facial expression. In no way is my dear 'Granny' racist, no. She merely cannot understand why a term that she has used for the past 30 or 40 years, is now no longer available for use. To try and explain her astonishment, imagine someone telling you that you are no longer allowed to use the word 'Mexicans' to describe people who live in Mexico.
It's a word that was product of their time.
Back to Hansen, was the vile 'N' word used in any of the program in question? No. So why are Twitter nobodies and writers such as Mr. Toby Young, attempting to turn the public against Alan Hansen? (http://tinyurl.com/d9lb2rl)
Yes, i do agree Hansen is paid far too much for his own opinion on football, but why would anyone set out to ruin another's career because of a simple mistake?
With John Terry attending court in relations to a possible racist remark screamed at Anton Ferdinand and Luis Suarez's ban for the same sort of situation, how can Hansen's comments be compared to the Terry's and Suarez's alleged comments?
Granted, it probably wasn't the best of time to drop a clanger like that and especially in front of millions of people watching Match of the Day, but please, leave the guy alone.
Moral of the story: Don't give the public ammo to shoot you down. You will be destroyed.
