Did you see the Wikipedia quote I provided, or did I fail to see a /s tag?
Though I have no idea what a “familial benign essential tremor” actually is.
1 Like
That is essentially what I was asking. Looking it up, the answer is, no, the condition is not the same as alcoholism, but I can’t see how one could distinguish a familial tremor from an alcohol withdrawal symptom in an alcoholic. I doubt he was a teetotaler before getting the diagnosis. It seems this prescription likely cut his life short.
1 Like
I would assume that his medic knew or had access to the family history in order to make the diagnosis.
I am sure you are correct and the drinking cut his life short (he died at 56) and if he was not an alcoholic when diagnosed with the tremor, it seems certain he was one well before he died, from reading the rest of the Wikipedia entry.
1 Like
Then you should probably explain this part:
He’s being an arse. I don’t believe he is a racist arse. The other guy referring to ‘the Chinese boys’ would, I suspect, have been just as likely to say ‘the Australian boys’ or ‘the Irish boys’
Where you excuse obvious racism as not being racist.
1 Like
Let’s put it this way: if I made that comment in my place of work, with the same reasoning, I would be getting a stern talking-to by HR and might be escorted off the premises with my belongings in a box.
7 Likes
Well, if that gif gives you some satisfaction about having prevailed…
(Though I have no idea who Jan is).
And if an HR function says you are forbidden from describing any group of people as a group because the defining characteristic of the group is that they share a national origin, then I guess you wouldn’t be able to say that ‘the Mexican suppliers’ or ‘the Canadian suppliers’ or ‘the Chinese suppliers’ do a good job.
Using the phrase ‘the Chinese boys’ is not in and of itself racist.
Perhaps you are not at all familiar with the fact that China has produced many excellent snooker players in recent years and that these Chinese ‘boys’ are a well-known and very much respected group of pro snooker players now? Some of whom have won major, prestigious tournaments and also regularly held their own to reach the last 4 or 8 against the best in the world.
You probably did not get to see the complete sentence those words were in, from Neil Robertson, either:
‘When you’re playing one of the Chinese boys, some of them are amateurs, but some are as good as anybody in the top 50 in the world.
I don’t intend to argue the point with your HR people. Or here, any further.
4 Likes
Wikipedia says it might be genetic.
7 Likes
Wow: “In total, he drank between 40 and 50 pints of lager per day.”
On the rare occasions I’ve played pool, I’ve come to the conclusion that I play better with a pint or two in me - probably due to the relaxant effect. However if I’d tried his match regime of 6 pints before a match then one for each frame, I would most likely be lying under the table, not propelling balls upon it.
But it does remind me of this other classic sports documentary:
Smith and Jones doing what they do best. What always cracked me up was the reversal of real televised darts tournaments in the 70’s and 80s, where in between shots the players could be seen downing plenty o’ pints…
4 Likes
So many people in this thread going to bat to defend the motives/character/total-unracistness of a random White guy they will never meet…
Have you ever considered trying to see the way a situation can connect to long patterns of how racism works?
Thinking of racism as a part of society (thanks Critical Race Theory), it seems clearer to me how comments and interactions around race uphold the racist status quo.
The way the dude talks about being aggrieved* by “Chinese boys” is textbook micro-aggression.
White people making excuses for other White people’s White nonsense? A time-honored form of solidarity around Whiteness & racism.
*ERRATUM: I mixed up the two White dudes’ specific expressions of White entitlement. I was thinking of Murphy’s aggrievedness at the loss when I quoted Robertson. I do think, though, that “feeling resentment at having been unfairly treated” is not an inaccurate descriptor for Robertson, who thinks it’s “very dangerous” for a pro like him to have to compete with amateurs.
Substance of the post still stands, no edits made to change what I wrote above. You can go back to original sources if you think it’s really important for some reason to sort out each of their contributions to patterns of racism.
7 Likes
5 Likes
Was he aggrieved?
“some of them are amateurs, but some are as good as anybody in the top 50 in the world”
The loser who made the original complaint was aggrieved that the professional tour body allowed “amateurs” to take part in order to make up the numbers in the tournament. His hissy fit is just that, it is not justified, the amateur in question is a (recently)ex-pro who is trying to return to the professional ranks, so Si Jiahui was under as much, if not more, pressure to perform.
1 Like
I think this issue is important to the conversation. The point put across (Chinese Boys is not a slur) is moot when it is the aggrieved party’s lived experience of being designated by a term they did not choose and do not like. White folks don’t get to choose what offends POC or not. We can only assist in amplifying the message for POC.
11 Likes
Good point, well made.
You probably haven’t even worked out which dude said that. FYI it was not the one who started the whole thing when he lost to an amateur.
If you’d read above, you’d have seen that the person who said those words, actually said
Does that sound aggrieved?
ETA I see @timd beat me to the same point.
Agreed that it is key to discussing the situation.
If Si Jiahui came out and said he had a problem with being called a “Chinese boy,” then he could expect people to accuse him of “playing the race card” and expect consequences or backlash.
Even if he said he didn’t care at all, there’s still the issue of a White person bringing up race/ethnicity to talk about how “very dangerous” it is that these “Chinese boys” play in the league.
Like, that linking of foreignness/nonWhiteness to danger is something White people don’t have to wait for a specific person of color to call out personal offense – enough POC have described this pattern and its effect in bolstering White supremacy that people should recognize and challenge.
5 Likes
3 Likes
Can you point me to where somebody said
because I’m not aware of anyone saying that. If they had then that would indeed betray a very racist attitude.
I totally get where Shaun’s coming from. When you’re playing one of the Chinese boys, some of them are amateurs, but some are as good as anybody in the top 50 in the world.
-Neil Robertson, quoted in The Metro
The danger is insinuated.
4 Likes
