Yid

In which I break down why the FA banning the word Yid is stupid.

Framed:

It’s almost as if Tottenham have been framed for a crime they didn’t commit. A crime they were subject to, in fact. Blaming the murdered person for being killed. Laughable.

The objective of this is to alleviate anti-semitism in the stands. That is fair but Tottenham are the subjects of the anti-semitism. Banning the defense-mechanism that Spurs developed themselves, while the FA were frollicking about in their offices doing a grande-total of nix, is nonsensical. The FA are blaming Spurs fans for being associated with a club who is associated with Judaism. Quite a tenuous link, as you can see. The decision itself is stupid and somewhat morose, as it shows how backward and asinine the FA are.

Offensive

Really? It’s offensive to a group of fans who have inherited, made it their own, made chants about the word & the legends of their club using the word & who have fought ardently to defend it’s usage. Really?

There is an argument out there if it’s offensive to just one person, it shouldn’t be used. Idiot is a word derived from idiōtēs, which is a person who ‘lacks professional skill.’ The word idiot is offensive to millions of people, yet it’s a word of total normalcy. There isn’t a stigma around the word idiot, yet it’s offensive to millions of people.

It has never been done before because to ban every word that offensive to just one person is completely asinine.

Intent

One thing that the FA has failed to consider is intent. They have shoe-horned saying; “Jermain Defoe is a yid” (for example) and “f****** yids, I hope they die” (again, for example) under the same osposis. But they’re not the same. Saying the word black or chinese or caucasian or jewish isn’t inherently racist or derogatory. Saying “people are white,” isn’t racist in the slightest.

Tottenham chose the word for a reason. One of them was because they were being subjected to anti-semitism and derogatory use of the word. It was a defense mechanism. There was another reason. The nicknames of football clubs are almost synonymously based on something from the background of the club. West Ham are called the Hammers because there was a large Blacksmith guild located there. Stoke are called the Potters, because there are strong links to pottery in Stoke-on-Trent. Real Madrid are Los Blancos because they’ve had white shirts forever. the same motif goes for Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and many more teams. Tottenham are called the Yids because they have a strong Jewish following. We’re no different than any other teams.

Every club needs a nickname, and this is based on part of the clubs background. Potters for Stoke, Blacksmiths for West Ham, white jerseys for Real Madrid and Judaism for Tottenham. We’re no different than anyone else.

Yet the FA have decided that we chose the nickname Yids to spite Jewish people.

We didn’t.

One could argue it was chosen for us.