Stand up to Such Absolute Garbage
3By The Spotter
I can’t stand idly by and let this happen. Not on my watch and certainly not while I’m on this site and writing.
I’m talking about the mindless abuse and misogynistic insults directed at professional and multi-award winning women like Debbie Hockley and Dana Johansen. For their ‘crime’ (lol) in having the teremity to dare have an opinion on sport. Oh my god, THE SACRILEGE! THE EFFRONTERY! THE INSOLENCE! How could they? Surely they should just stick to knitting patterns and gossip columns. Their eyes and minds CAN’T POSSIBLY discern or analyse anything that will make sense in the world of sport. But hey, guess what? They can’t grow a willy and deepen their voice, so get over it.
And, oh yes, the combined sporting nous of the collective club of boofbrains, nutters and abusers who spout this pathetic, hurtful, idiotic, braindead crap is, in their own deluded world of fairyland, bound to be better than anything those two highly-respected, highly-achieving, cogent, reasoned and intelligent women could ever come up with in the world of sports opinions and commentary.
Do such morons have the remotest idea of what Debbie Hockley has done for cricket in this country? Take a look (if a part of your mind is in fact open just the smallest bit):
Yes, it’s pretty standard to proffer an opinion on those in the public eye- social media has well and truly seen to that. But to accompany that opinion with a callous and an almost vengeful type of abuse, is just not on. It’s a pity the police don’t issue more cautions for this type of thing really.
It’s incredibly sad that Dana Johansen feels she can’t write opinion columns anymore because the level of abuse she receives just doesn’t make it worthwhile. It’s sad and it’s pathetic behaviour from those responsible.
Can you imagine if a great female writer like ‘Harbour Heather’ received such shocking abuse? There would be some genuine rage from the Sportsfreak community on here, I’m betting.
These people need to be called out. They are faceless, cowardly bullies of the worst order. And the calling out is best if it comes from us men.
talltree@xtra.co.nz (Paul)
Nawww, thanks Paul xx Thankfully I’m yet to cop any such abuse but it’s certainly something I’ve thought about – and a reason why I’d not want to do it full time. Guess I’m just not brave enough. I take my hat off to Dana, Rikki, Kimberlee et al who have persisted regardless, and produce excellent work.
Hey Heather, absolutely no problem. It feels like a completely normal thing to do.
The petition is just silly, but by far the main beef I have is with the abuse. In fact, your very reply sums everything up- you’d consider doing sports writing and giving opinions full-time if you could, but it’s not an option for you due to the potential abuse.
And I can’t even begin to tell you how livid that makes me. The behaviour is reprehensible beyond words. I hope like hell some of these morons aren’t married and have kids. And if they do have kids, what kind of kids might they be, being raised by people like that?
If I were a cop I would be consulting every law known to man in this country to see if I could bring some charge or other against the perpetrators of such garbage. Seriously.
I considered that some of the directed abuse may have originated from a fear of women making their way into a previously and largely, male-dominated preserve.
Even if that is so, there is still no reason for the level of abuse and threats of violence. No way, no how. Non-negotiable. No excuse would be good enough.