soccer

J.League says it won't punish student who sent racist tweets to Patric

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Finally some sense. I have heard way too many stories of people losing their jobs over things they posted on the internet. Words people. They are just words. Its an educational opportunity. Using it as vengeance opportunity only shows that everyone else is just as mentally warped as the speaker.

It seems the man apologized and there is good reason to believe he learned some valuable lessons.

-10 ( +11 / -21 )

Japan’s top soccer league will not punish a teenage student who has apologized for sending racist messages to Gamba Osaka striker Patric because the incident happened outside a stadium.

Out of interest, are there any realistic punishments that the soccer league could mete out?

3 ( +7 / -4 )

He should have been punished. What are they going to do when this racist dribble starts ebbing during the olympics? If its not nipped in the bud now, it'll continue and increase. The student should take responsibility for his actions.

4 ( +13 / -9 )

Whilst the j league could have banned him from grounds there's very little else they could have done. However in most countries it's illegal to send racist tweets and the police could and should have prosecuted him.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

It says the league won't punish him, but perhaps Urawa can ban him from attending their matches.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Of course the value of the freedom of speech is only something people bring up when they support the message.

However in most countries it's illegal to send racist tweets

Nearly 200 countries in the world and you are telling us most have laws banning racist tweets??

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Japan’s top soccer league will not punish a teenage student who has apologized for sending racist messages to Gamba Osaka striker Patric because the incident happened outside a stadium.

Punishment should be meted out by this boys parents. There are plenty of forms of punishment, and being made to take responsibility for one's actions is foremost in teaching young people about life.

Gamba is making a mistake here, if this was against a Japanese player (star) I am rather confident they would be out for blood.

Use this to set an example for everyone that behavior like this will NOT be tolerated.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

WTF has the vice principal to do with this?

Japanese culture. His behavior shamed the school.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

How could they punish them? I think I will send J league a stupid tweet

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Japan’s top soccer league will not punish a teenage student who has apologized for sending racist messages to Gamba Osaka striker Patric because the incident happened outside a stadium.

So, does that mean anyone can do anything outside of a stadium and the soccer league will not take action against them?? That seems to be the implication.

I understand the individual was a high school student and may have apologised. However, the league still has the ability to take action, such as banning him from all J-League games for a period of time. And it should have, with his age and apparent remorse as mitigating factors in the length of the ban.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I'd say they are going above and beyond in terms of the apology; it's amazing that the school is apologizing on top of the boy's guardian. However, simply because it happened outside the stadium does not mean they can do nothing, and the J.League doing nothing to punish the kid doesn't fall in line with their "We do not tolerate racism" stuff they are preaching. They could, and should, ban him from any groups related to the sport that are official, and bar him from entering stadiums, indefinitely. If they don't tolerate racism, this would be the thing to do.

Beyond that, as I said, I think they're going above and beyond with the apologies.

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

@Aly Rustom

"He should have been punished"

Punished how ? The only thing J league can do is to ban him from coming to J league games in the future, not really a punishment.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Japanese culture. His behavior shamed the school.

Yes, as a VP it's pretty embarassing to have your school's name dragged through the mud by idiot students. The Vice Principal is noble but misguided: all his apology does is deflect blame and responsiblity away from the boy himself, instead focusing attention towards the school, and by extension, the other students, too. This is wrong.

The school should have said nothing and dealt with the little scrote privately behind closed doors.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

" This is the first time I’ve faced racial discrimination and I never dreamt of being on the receiving end in this country." Hmm... hasn't been here very long, then, has he?

Racism and disgusting and ignorant, and I'm glad that this incident is being dealt with and getting the negative attention it deserves. There are also far too many incidents of racism that Japan has unfortunately swept under the carpet, and that's a big shame in itself. However, I think we also need to take the person's age into account. With most teenagers, a strict lesson that leaves them a little shaken is usually the best course, not persecuting them by the law. While bringing the Vice Principal into it does seem weird based on my home culture, I think that in Japan it works as a strong lesson to the student - the peer pressure that goes along with understanding how your mistakes make everyone around you look bad can be a very effective method.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Urawa appears to have a nascent problem and this is an opportunity missed for J.League. There should be a ban for the student and in my opinion a punishment for the club, such as a fine or a community punishment such as working to publicise the damage racism causes.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Heda_Madness - "However in most countries it's ILLEGAL to send racist tweets and the POLICE could and should have prosecuted"

But this is Japan, and Japan DOES NOT HAVE racial discrimination laws!! ;-)

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Although what he said was vile and loathsome, I believe in free speech, I really believe in it. There's nothing noble or brave about wanting to protect opinions you agree with. Unpopular speech is what needs protecting in a free society. So even though this kid is obviously a racist a*****e, he didn't do anything illegal, just morally gross.

Meanwhile Patric handled this like a class act. Bravo.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

@savethegaijin - "I believe in free speech... he didn't do anything illegal"

Well go to America then. In England (and other civilized countries) it would be a crime. Period!!

-5 ( +6 / -11 )

Well go to America then. In England (and other civilized countries) it would be a crime. Period!!

Yes, and one which sits uneasily, too. Some would argue that simply being a bit of a tool shouldn't be a matter for the criminal justice system.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@TheGodfather

I've been to England more times than I can count, and there are just as many racist pigs and hate speech there as anywhere else, and if you've ever been to East London you'd see that it doesn't land them in jail, either. Why on earth would you want to criminalize an opinion? Are we living in Minority Report?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

@TheGodfather

I agree with save the gaijin, its morally disgusting and should be punished but by no means should the kid be made a criminal. He is a teen who is in dire need of a slap on the wrist.

I just came back (to Japan) from a trip home which included a detour in Vegas, I was in a betting lounge and this white dude (who I presume just lost big) was going around like a maniac and yelling the N-word right to black people's faces telling them to GTFO. No one did anything, not even the black people in the lounge.

Do you really think they'd persecute a teen in the states for saying some racist crap on twitter even if it were against the law? Why do you and people like you insist on holding Japan to a much higher moral standard than that is the norm in your own country?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

A Japanese solution. The young man has been chastened, and will hopefully make a full contribution in life.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

You guys have never read Japanese "2 CHAN".

Japanese people use the Internet to spread heir hate over everything (especially foreigners, women or Japanese-Koreans), but as soon as they are asked to give some explanation IRL, they'll cry they didn't mean what they said and apologize by doing a dogeza. Just don't feed trolls, they have no lives.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Now if he had scribbled graffiti regarding the outcaste community here, he would be in really serious trouble. Lucky for him, I guess.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

how about banning the kid from games for a year? or better yet, allowing Patric to use him as target practice for an hour.

but this is what i hate about twitter. people say the dumbest things on it without thinking. i'm not sure if the kid really is a racist, but you can't take a single utterance and expect that to represent his life. the kid made a mistake and is paying for it.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Ah, Japan! This is probably one of the best things about Japan. It doesn't matter if you are black, white or from another Asian country. The prejudices are equally shared against anyone who is not 100% Japanese, which is Chinese anyway, but that's beside the point. And, does anybody still wonder why Japan is so against allowing immigrants and refugees into the country?

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Well, the boy certainly learned his lesson. He could tweet racist crap and get away with it. Next time he'll be more discrete. When he gets older he'll learn its okay to go with groups of right-wing housewives and salarymen to Korean districts and shout foul things through megaphones.

Where did this creepy kid ever learn to be a racist?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

In this day and age, once something like this becomes public the shame alone must be substantial. So long as the general public doesn't share his ill-conceived views on other races. I am sure that he isn't receiving any positive recognition from his school mates, teachers, parents, siblings, neighbours etc...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Totally overblown minor incident. There were over 50.000 Urawa Supporters in the stadium and just one behaved like this. He is a stupid kid, probably a racist like so many in Japan. But it's not forbidden or illegal to behave like this in Japan. "Hate speech" is allowed in this country. He apologized, was maybe forced to do so. Should Urawa punish him? Yes, they should and I believe the will, ban him for life, like they did before.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Aly Rustom: " What are they going to do when this racist dribble starts ebbing during the olympics? If the racist drivel starts ebbing during the Olympics, I for one will be very happy.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Patric may think Japanese are cultured and well mannered but it's mostly a facade. They are as bigoted as any people I have ever met and are just really good at keeping it from being seen.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

@the refugee

Of course the value of the freedom of speech is only something people bring up when they support the message.

Absolute and total nonsense. And rubbish to boot! You can insult my ethnicity all day long and I'll defend your right to do so all day long. Ever heard of the Jewish lawyer who defended the right of Nazi's to march in Skokie? Certainly the university has a right to sanction students on it's property, that's free speech as well. However, it's probably not the best way to handle this. I absolutely oppose prosecuting people legally for their expression unless it rises to the level of incitement. The only limit to free speech I'd support has to do with decibels since people in this country seem to think they've the right to annoy me with abominable noise in public places and even while I'm sitting in my living room.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The 28-year-old striker, who the league said had accepted the apology, was shocked by the abuse.

Funny, I don't read in any of his quotes that he "had accepted the apology". In fact I read:

“I hope the matter will be properly dealt with. To the person who has posted this, you should not do these things as a human being.”

IMO, properly dealing with this would have meant making this kid publicly apologize to Patric in front of the press, along side team and league officials, to show they take this seriously. Instead, in typical Japanese fashion, they do the LEAST they can do. Did anyone bother to read the " as a human being part" of Patric's comment?

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

As a corrigenda vet. Uses to né seco d class because that is what laço of legal protection mames you.....2nd class!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

It seems the man apologized

He's only sorry because he was caught. Just the tip of the iceberg

3 ( +6 / -3 )

The prejudices are equally shared against anyone who is not 100% Japanese, which is Chinese anyway

While they are both Asians, the genetic markers are different.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Huge huge press for a troll on the Internet. I have yet been to a U.S. forum or comments section that a troll came on spewing racism just to get a reaction. None of that made National news.

Now people are worried about racism during the Olympics in Japan because of a tweet when the next World Cup is being held in a country where entire stadium sections scream racial insults, paint their bodies and have racist banners galore.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Dadude I tend to agree. I'm still not getting the issue here. What is it people want exactly? To put him in jail because we hate what he believes? People write stuff on social media that offends me all the time. Some forums have guidelines that can get them kicked off. That's fine. Some do not. That's also fine. On yahoo and youtube, for example, I expect a bunch of racist, sexist, antisemitic trolls. And I've learned to live with it. On Facebook, maybe less so. I'm OK to know they show themselves somewhere. It's probably better to have some idea of them.

IMO, properly dealing with this would have meant making this kid publicly apologize to Patric in front of the press, along side team and league officials, to show they take this seriously.

How do you propose to do this? Why do you propose to do this? This sounds like insanity to me. If he's a racist, what will it get you by forcing him to pretend he's not and faking an apology? Will that really make you feel better? I tell you, it wouldn't make me feel one bit better. If you can oppose him on social media or change his heart by dialogue, fine. I fear intervention past that. Anyway, these people should have better things to do than focus their time on some sniveling troll. It's worth educating people and teaching and opposing racism. That's it.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japan needs to do more to stamp out racism. This whole "we" and "them" thing has to end

4 ( +7 / -3 )

This is the outcome I expected.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The student, his guardian and the school’s vice principal apologised to Gamba and the player through the J.League, Kyodo News reported.

Not sure why the school has anything to apologize for. This was an individual posting made by the kid not in an official capacity for the school. Nor do I agree with the soccer club needing to do anything. The ramblings of an irate fan who doesn't know any better online should not be their concern. The club just needs to make sure that when people go to the games adequate security measures are in place to prevent anything wrong from happening, and not worry about what trolls on the internet post.

I think it is time Japan starts facing some individual responsibility in some of it's social dealings and not worry about how the actions of an individual may affect the whole image of another company just because someone worked there or lived there, or attended an event there.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

So, does that mean anyone can do anything outside of a stadium and the soccer league will not take action against them?? That seems to be the implication.

Yes that's what it means. The jurisdiction of the soccer league ends at the gates of the stadiums they use. Outside those gates the police would be the ones to contact and the courts would be the ones to decide whether to "take action".

In this day and age, once something like this becomes public the shame alone must be substantial.

Eh? WHAT public shame? The student is a minor and so was not publicly identified. The only ones who know who did it are the ones who followed his tweets - which I suspect wasn't a very large group at all.

I also wonder why the student's vice-principal apologized. Maybe the tweet was sent while at school? Do they still have Saturday classes?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

@F4HA604 - "Why do you and people like you insist on holding Japan to a much higher moral standard than that is the norm in your own country?"

In England this would be a RACIALLY AGGRAVATED PUBLIC ORDER OFFENCE with a maximum sentence of TWO YEARS.

I don't have opinions, I just state facts!! :-)

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manual/racially_aggravated_section_4/

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

You guys have never read Japanese "2 CHAN". Japanese people use the Internet to spread heir hate over everything (especially foreigners, women or Japanese-Koreans), but as soon as they are asked to give some explanation IRL, they'll cry they didn't mean what they said and apologize by doing a dogeza. Just don't feed trolls, they have no lives.

Or maybe most people don't actually buy into political correctness and use the anonymity of the internet to speak their real opinion. Of course if you confront somebody in real life with the implicit threat of making them lose their job/scholarship/etc, they're fall in line with PC.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Ah, Japan! This is probably one of the best things about Japan. It doesn't matter if you are black, white or from another Asian country. The prejudices are equally shared against anyone who is not 100% Japanese, which is Chinese anyway, but that's beside the point.

This I know from experience is false, Japanese are more prone to discriminate against non-Japanese who come from the west vs nearby Asian countries, meaning Taiwan, China, Korea, and Mongolia. The rest are fair game.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

illyas : Tweeting something like "I hate black people they are so disgusting wwwwwwwwww" is NOT speaking your real opinion, it's pure racism with the intention of hurting people. And trolling. Because you have nothing else to do. Here on JT, people are speaking and sharing their opinions using anonymity. I think you don't know what I was talking about, but whatever.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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