kinkylola wrote:honestly I think a lot of the problem comes from the fact that here we have a very talented black man, who has an attitude and displays it carelessly on the pitch. He has designs above his station, and when that happens we see old school british racism pop out it's ugly head. If he was white and petulant ... or even just not black and petulant, he would get no where near the derision he receives, not only from opposing sides, but from his own teams' fans. cristiano ronaldo was as much of a cock and every bit as petulant, he was shamed and laughed at ... but not derided by his own fans. He never received this amount of vitriolic bile that spews from some people's mouths.
It's quite discomforting to witness.
I also agree with this. I think it's a bit strong to call it racist, because the word racist usually implies some degree of intent. And in Balotelli's case, I believe that people react to his skin color in a more subconscious way. Quite a few people have the mentality that because Balotelli is paid 100,000 pound/wk that he is obligated to show his appreciation and behave in a civil manner. That is to say because of the size of his paycheck, he should fit into the socially acceptable role for a successful black man.
Racism and stereotypes are driven by a fear of the unknown; fear that another group of people may be superior to yourself (more appealing to sexual partners, more physically dominant). Combine this underlying fear about the superiority of a foreigner with a confirmation by society that he in fact is superior (makes more money that you do, as money is a huge part of an individual's perceived 'value' in society), and you can start to see people act out on their own insecurities. People do this mainly by attacking the parts of the foreigner where they believe it still possible to prove their own superiority. In Balotelli's case this is his character. We know he will fuck more beautiful women that us, make more money than us, have to work less than us, be celebrated by other people in society more than us, but hey, he's a cunt. We cling to the one piece that we feel can mitigate the threat of the foreigner.
As said above, there is a reason that people like Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, and John Terry are not attacked by everyone (even their own supporters) on a constant basis, every time they slightly act up. Sure they all have been criticized as some point, but over time it usually gets written off as 'a bad mistake', not an inherent character flaw. You know, he's a good ol' boy at heart. I don't mean to get political, but even with a black man being elected in the white house, you can see racism on a daily basis. Mainly, it's people being offended that Obama doesn't follow the narrative for a successful black man (enjoy what you've been given, don't cause trouble).
In reality, Balotelli doesn't owe us anything besides to score goals and see out his contract. Anything else is up for him to do what he wants.
