Austadiums Forum

brian taylor's gaffe isn't the best to happen recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... Xe2uSzFbG8

Simmo79 wrote:brian taylor's gaffe isn't the best to happen recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... Xe2uSzFbG8

Yeah, but BT wins for timing his gaffe to be the same weekend Thorpie finally comes out of the closet.

I'm happy for Thorpe. His sense of his own sexuality is so warped by fame and his fear of losing his livelihood that he still has only ever had it off with women, and he's not even into them. It's been such a rough path that it's great that he can finally get some inner peace.

The fact that he's fought it/kept it under wraps for 16 years (since he broke into the spotlight as a 14 year old) shows that homophobia is a still a very real and very powerful thing.

There are sections of the gay community that are shitty at him for not coming out sooner, but he may not have wanted the fact that he's gay to define him. It would have, and will do from now on, mostly because as a society we still haven't yet got to a point where if someone isn't straight we can still leave their sexuality out of the discussion. It couldn't even be left out of the discussion when people simply 'suspected' he was gay. f***ing hopeless, we are.

His livelihood was based upon being the fastest swimmer. His personal struggles are as hard as he made them. Good on him, but seriously, nnnnext...

yob wrote:His livelihood was based upon being the fastest swimmer. His personal struggles are as hard as he made them. Good on him, but seriously, nnnnext...

You don't reckon he would've struggled with sponsorships as a younger man? His image would have been compromised.

dibo wrote:The fact that he's fought it/kept it under wraps for 16 years (since he broke into the spotlight as a 14 year old) shows that homophobia is a still a very real and very powerful thing.

Here's another theory - he kept it secret because he's a pussy. I am sick of having the woes of humanity sh*t shoveled on my door step every time a depressed gay person decides that it be so.

The true mark of our development of as a society is when we don't feel the need to "come out." The narcissistic act of insisting that your dick be my business. Actually, I like to wake up to a coffee and some knedliky and strive every day for my mornings to be dick free.

Then get reporters to stop writing breathless speculation and asking questions of sportspeople about their sexualities, and get fans to stop talking about it. It's none of anybody's business. But as long as people ask and as long as fans and others yell out things like 'faggot' and 'poofter' at sportspeople, you're guaranteed to get dick with your breakfast for some time yet.

You'll likely be on your own with those thoughts, Yob. Though there's a handful of older gentlemen on BigFooty who'd agree with you, if they haven't been banned yet.

Simmo79 wrote:You'll likely be on your own with those thoughts, Yob.

On the internet maybe - the home of progressive bullying.

The problem with progressive politics is everyone else is necessarily an ass hole. It is a foundation of this faith that we are immutably total assholes who must be punished. Even to the extent that the sum of all parts could be that a person agrees with the underlying values, however they don't conform to the progressive brand, and therefore they're still an ass hole.

My opinion of Thorpie hasn't changed. Always was, always will be a champion. Sexuality is irrelevant. Yes, it's terrible the emotional pressure he found himself under for so long, and no decent human being wants a person to endure that. But it is a very clear step to suggest that "we" all "caused" this because we're such ass holes, when it's equally plausible that he was scared.

On some level it's nice that people care about people's human dignity enough to want to intervene. But it's another level - not necessarily above or below - to believe that dignity is best respected by acting not to intervene. And if having a system of values leads one to have disdain for the people around them then frankly I think you're doing it wrong. I prefer my values to tell me more about what we're capable of, not being another sad chapter in the tale of our corruption.

There was some speculation on Offsiders yesterday that Thorpe's management advised him to deny due to his extremely lucrative sponsorship deals in less progressive parts of the world. While being gay would almost certainly have not cost him a cent in Australia, the same could not be said for some other countries.

Terrible management if true.

Boba Fett wrote:There was some speculation on Offsiders yesterday that Thorpe's management advised him to deny due to his extremely lucrative sponsorship deals in less progressive parts of the world. While being gay would almost certainly have not cost him a cent in Australia, the same could not be said for some other countries.

Terrible management if true.

Was being rounded up in a drug induced psychosis on a city street damaging to his endorsements, or only his big bad gayness?

It appears the only people who give a sh*t about who Thorpe wants to shag are in the media. Everyone i've spoken to about it couldn't give a rats ass.

No Womans Day readers in that lot though. Maybe they care.

I wish these types of articles included a proper summary of the findings. The amount of information is way under what is needed to decide whether the deal is worth it to Tasmania. Repucom does good work but what were they asked to do and what did they actually find?

http://www.themercury.com.au/sport/afl/ ... 6988982542

The future of North Melbourne games in Hobart is very shaky. The RACT will not be continuing with its sponsorship and Hobart Council did not approve the continuation of its contribution to the deal leaving the TT Line as the only current sponsor still thinking about renewing their deal.

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/242015 ... res/?cs=95