Adebayor chant, just plain wrong! yeah, the threads still going

[Hoddle_Ledge]

Adebayor is from Togo, therefore it is assumed his Dad comes from Togo. Elephants come from Togo.

Peter Crouch comes from Cheshire, therefore it is assumed his Dad comes from Cheshire. Cheese comes from Cheshire.

If I sang a song about Peter Crouch's Dad making cheese would that be racist?

The line about his Mum is irrelevant as we all know that this is factually correct. See below

 

[Stoof]

it's the fact people chose Elephants becasue it's an animal in Africa... and it doesn't matter really if technically elephants are washed by white zoo keepers or by themselves with thier big noses. What matters is perception and if the majority perceive it to be a racist thing then it has become a racist thing.

Personally i'm not comfortable with this song. Better to be safe than sorry.

What bit is racist, though? You haven't answered the question, you just DailyMailed on about how washing an elephant is racist because people think it is. That's not an explanation.

What is racist about it?

 

[sloth]

But Yid Army is different. right?:shrug:

Yes, I think it is. But I've had this argument before, so i apologise but i don't want to get sucked into it again.

As for the Adebayour (sp?) thing, I think Triks has got it right, better to be over-cautious sometimes than the other way around.

Besides which there's enough people saying they're uncomfortable with it (whether racist or not), that on here at least, it probably shouldn't be celebrated.

 

[gregga]

:duh:

My point being that whilst some people say its just a bit of fun and probably mean it that way, others may find it very offensive.

People saying that mido looks likes richard reid - not racist.
People hint that people from muslim countries are terrorists - racist.

With regard to the Adebayor chant - would people argue about its offensiveness if he came from an arab country and people were calling him a cameljockey or a towelhead? After all, some people in those countries do ride camels and wear turbans, but it doesn't change the fact that they're pejorative terms.

As I said above, as a chant I think its rubbish and we have much funnier and better sounding chants to sing, and at pride park on saturday I couldn't understand why everyone loved singing it so much.

 

[Michey]

Adebayor, Adebayoooor
His Dad washes elephants and his mother's a whore...

Truly pathetic and LOW class

 

[Pleat_Out]

What matters is perception and if the majority perceive it to be a racist thing then it has become a racist thing

Can you not see how that is wide open to abuse? You could say 'hello, isn't it a nice day?' to someone and they'll be claiming racism and what can you do because it is the up to them?

I think we should settle for fact that virtually no one anymore dares say they are racist. Even the BNP say they're not racist. Some racist abuse is just unimportant and there is nothing much that can be done about it. I'm white and went up to Villa to see us play last season and parked up about a mile from the ground in a residential area. I'd heard about these segregated areas up north but I didn't realise how bad it was.

As I walking to the ground, a load of young Asian teenagers and maybe younger, started giving me a whole of 'white this' and 'white that' abuse. Presumably they themselves probably get a load of shit from white people in the 'white areas' and this sort of thing is probably just normal for them. I just ignored them and walked on. I mean really, what can be done about that? I know what they were shouting was probably technically a crime but it is virtually impossible to enforce. It is the same with football chants. This chant is unpleasent but, just like with the Campbell HIV one, you can't help but admire the lyrical skill to cram so much filth into such a short verse. This is what makes football what it is.

 

[JollyHappy]

Nothing racist about it at all. It's taking the piss out of a guy who comes from Togo.

How about dambusters for Lehaman. Is that racist?

 

[TheBigMatch]

can only black guys wash elephants then,

if so somebody better tell that guy in bristol zoo back in the 80's cos he was white

Eek Adebayor came out of Bristol???

All the same, I think Spurs fans can do better than elephants and whores. Wouldn't like to hear it at Wembley. Something that includes a reference to the 5-1 beating of l'arse and whatever our winning score is against Chelsea, would do nicely.

 

[Mattspur]

Yes, I think it is. But I've had this argument before, so i apologise but i don't want to get sucked into it again.

As for the Adebayour (sp?) thing, I think Triks has got it right, better to be over-cautious sometimes than the other way around.

Besides which there's enough people saying they're uncomfortable with it (whether racist or not), that on here at least, it probably shouldn't be celebrated.

well why don't we come together in a show of solidarity to all the black players in the prem and start a new chant. After all the main problems with racism in football seem to be directed at black players. lets move the club forward with the times because as they say, if you're not moving forward you're going backwards. We could just replace the yid word in our chants with an equaly offencive word to describe a black person, but they won't mind as we're doing it for them after all.

Yeah, I wonder how long that chant would last.:bang:

 

[Stoof]

With regard to the Adebayor chant - would people argue about its offensiveness if he came from an arab country and people were calling him a cameljockey or a towelhead?

Do you think they are the same as saying "your Dad washes elephants"?

To pick that apart, I'd say they were invented "terms" deliberately meant to cause offence.

What's the difference between singing "sign on, sign on with a pen in your hand" - surely that's Regionalist if we have to find a name for it.

And what about our own fans calling our own player Ting Tong, Noodles, Ping Po etc. etc. I'd have a moan about that first.

As I said above, as a chant I think its rubbish and we have much funnier and better sounding chants to sing, and at pride park on saturday I couldn't understand why everyone loved singing it so much.

You're more than entitled to find different things amusing and welcome to your opinion, I don't dare question that - however, I think it's a good debunk of the song they sing about him - it's unexpected and that's what makes it funny for me.

 

[sloth]

As I walking to the ground, a load of young Asian teenagers and maybe younger, started giving me a whole of 'white this' and 'white that' abuse. Presumably they themselves probably get a load of shit from white people in the 'white areas' and this sort of thing is probably just normal for them. I just ignored them and walked on. I mean really, what can be done about that?

They were being racist but it was water off a ducks back for you.

If your mother and father, grandmother and grandfather and so on back through the generations had experienced not just name calling but threats, vandalism, prejudicial treatment by all the authorities as well as the public, if that was your history and you yourself had experienced something of it too, in the play-ground, with the police, on the bus etc. then you might find it more difficult to shrug your shoulders or to be so phlegmatic by it.

Racism is racism whatever it's context, but context should not be ignored because of it.

 

[coldasice199]

My point being that whilst some people say its just a bit of fun and probably mean it that way, others may find it very offensive.

People saying that mido looks likes richard reid - not racist.
People hint that people from muslim countries are terrorists - racist.

With regard to the Adebayor chant - would people argue about its offensiveness if he came from an arab country and people were calling him a cameljockey or a towelhead? After all, some people in those countries do ride camels and wear turbans, but it doesn't change the fact that they're pejorative terms.

As I said above, as a chant I think its rubbish and we have much funnier and better sounding chants to sing, and at pride park on saturday I couldn't understand why everyone loved singing it so much.

I agree. I just think its a bit crap. As for the content, I think we can get caught up way too much about whats said. The elephants thing isnt derogatory is it? I'm half indian and there are tons of elephant carers out there. Is that a bad thing? Were not houling monkey chants at him. The mothers a whore works with his name, so the dad washing elephants is just there to break it up.

Adebayooor
Adebayooor
His dad looks after lions
and his mothers a whore

Whats the difference?

In anycase, I'd rather concentrate on our own players than start singing about Arsenal ones in one of our matches. They don't deserve their name sung by us.

 

[Stoof]

"The wheels on your house go round and round, round and round, round and round." to Southend fans.

"We can see you holding hands" to Brighton fans.

"You go out, you drink 10 pints, get absolutely plastered, you come home, you beat the wife, you dirty Northern bastards, you dirty Northern bastards" to Port Vale last year.

Explain how they're not worse. We've got homophobic, travellerist, Regionalist ... yet not an eye-lid battered.

You're pulling out ethnic/racist cards more inconsistently than Clattenburg and his cards.

 

[worcestersauce]

Adebayor is from Togo, therefore it is assumed his Dad comes from Togo. Elephants come from Togo.

Peter Crouch comes from Cheshire, therefore it is assumed his Dad comes from Cheshire. Cheese comes from Cheshire.

If I sang a song about Peter Crouch's Dad making cheese would that be racist?

The line about his Mum is irrelevant as we all know that this is factually correct. See below

Do they? I'm not sure that there are any Elephants in that part of Africa, are we assuming that Elephants are in Africa, Togo is in Africa so Elephants are in Togo?

That said it's a shit chant and if nothing else should stop for purely aesthetic reasons.

Edit: Stoof the examples you give are not aimed at a single person. Unless it was Freddie Eastwood in which case I guess it was factually correct.

Plus Southend does have it's fair share of travelling tinkers.

 

[gregga]

Do you think they are the same as saying "your Dad washes elephants"?

To pick that apart, I'd say they were invented "terms" deliberately meant to cause offence.

What's the difference between singing "sign on, sign on with a pen in your hand" - surely that's Regionalist if we have to find a name for it.

And what about our own fans calling our own player Ting Tong, Noodles, Ping Po etc. etc. I'd have a moan about that first.



You're more than entitled to find different things amusing and welcome to your opinion, I don't dare question that - however, I think it's a good debunk of the song they sing about him - it's unexpected and that's what makes it funny for me.

You're right about the terms i mentioned being invented to cause offence and so it isn't quite the same. The only point i wanted to make is that it isn't necessarily the content of a racial slur that makes it offensive, more often its the context.

In this case I find it borderline offensive. Others don't, but personally I would rather it wasn't sung as I don't like people giving our club & its fans a bad name.

With regards to the regionalism thing you have a valid point. The main difference I would say is that it takes part in the context of mostly good spirited banter (the whole 'nothern monkey' v 'southern fairy' thing), whilst similar slurs aimed at african people have to be viewed against the background of colonialism, slavery and other kinds of oppression.

I am curious to know what the arsenal chant we based it on is though. Maybe then I would be able to appreciate the chant's humour more.

 

[Stoof]

I am curious to know what the arsenal chant we based it on is though. Maybe then I would be able to appreciate the chant's humour more.

Adebayor
Adebayorrrrrrrrr
Give him the ball
And he will score.

*yawn*

 

[TheBlueRooster]

Adebayooor
Adebayooor
His dad looks after lions
and his mothers a whore

Whats the difference?

What's the difference? His dad now washes elephants & looks after lions. The bastard has two jobs when some have none.

Adebayooor
Adebayooor
His dad has two jobs
and his mother's a whore.

problem solved!

 

[Pleat_Out]

They were being racist but it was water off a ducks back for you

Well yes and I agree with the rest of your point (Although my parents are immigrants and were almost certainly openly racially abused) but my point was that racist abuse is racist abuse and that in some cases you just have to let things take their course.

 

[gregga]

Adebayor
Adebayorrrrrrrrr
Give him the ball
And he will score.

*yawn*

What a dull chant.

Its about par for those soulless gooners though, what useless fans they have.

 

[PeterboroughYids]

Can someone explain how it is racist?

Wasing elephants is'nt racist, Nor is calling someone's mum a whore

just like saying 'spear chucker' its racist IMO

more to the point, its fucking shit!