By this logic you cannot say something about for example your black car, in Spanish, on twitter. Because of the word for color black. Do you realize how ridiculous this justification sounds?
Don't read the color description on black crayons that are posted in Spanish. I actually saw a post somewhere a few months back calling this out as racist. Primarily because they're dumber than an apple.
I'm just dumbfounded that this is is being twisted and turned into some malarkey that ends up hurting the actual cause. You need public will to make societal changes. Polarizing the debate and removing nuance is doing the exact opposite.
When Cavani is convicted of racism, which he will be since he's charged - He will A) Forever be in the FA's record as having used incencitive and racist language that can hurt people, and having been subsequently punished for it. B) Increase the likelihood that some people will view the next complaint with less stringent eyes.
A punishment is both a deterrent and a reaction to a breach of rules of conduct.
1) Is this going to be a deterrent? Cavani doesn't speak English, and hasn't had any reason to in his professional career. He doesn't have a reasonable expectation to know that friendly terminology locally, is deemed insensitive here.
Of course it won't be a deterrent. Racists are narrow minded bigots who get off on their own world view. But by punishing it, football sends a clear message that it has no room here.
Was Cavani being racist? Well no. Simply because someone perceives something as offensive, does not make it so. It may be that rule of the land applies, but nuance and reasonable sense needs to have a place in the discussion and hearing.
Did someone perceive Cavani as racist? I'm going to doubt this. Simply because I believe that people have the ability to know what is meant as offensive, and what is not.
Does someone want Cavani punished for using a bad word? Well yes definitely. Some people do faithfully believe that blanket bans and harsh reactions to anything and everything that can be perceived relating to skincolor is the only way forward.
Did Cavani have a reasonable expectation to KNOW that the wording could be perceived as racially insensitive? Considering by his own statement he was given a greeting of affection to a friend - This answer seem a very strong No.
I know that the "Ignoranec is not an excuse" argument is going to be thrown in as a way to dispute all claims to a discussion, but who exactly says that that argument is true here? The legal framework doesn't make a difference if you say, punch someone while black out drunk. You still punched someone even if you didn't know it. Or: You drive on the right side of the road as a visiting European, you can still be punished for endangering traffic even if you didnt know. There is also a term called
mitigating circumstances that allows for interpretation of the incident and nuance to be applied to a case verdict. It is used in both criminal cases and civil law. The usage has a variety of applications, but mostly it draws from how severe a incident was, was there any victims, severity of damage, that sort of thing.
And that ties back to my comment of:
Because someone IS offended. Doesn't mean it IS offensive.
It seems reasonably fair to expect Cavani not to repeat this particular affection after having been informed about pereception in the UK to people speaking Spanish and the "weight" of the word in relation to a persons skincolor. In Uruguay, "negrito" is just a affectionate nickname for people who have a darker skincolor than the rest. It doesn't translate to "negro" or the n word. And that really is the big difference. The words don't mean the same.
When Cavani is found guilty by the FA, nothing will have been accomplished except for alienating some people from the debate, while simultaneously firing up under the notion that there is no reasonable discussion to be had for nuance and language barriers.
This piece by John Cleese on political correctness is always a good read when people start looking for one too many excuses, not to not be offended, but to have CONSEQUENCES for having been offended:
"I'm offended every day. For example, the British newspapers every day offend me with their laziness, their nastiness, and their inaccuracy, but I'm not going to expect someone to stop that happening; I just simply speak out about it.
Sometimes when people are offended they want — you can just come in and say, "right, stop that" to whoever it is offending them. And, of course, as a former chairman of the BBC one said, "There are some people who I would wish to offend."
And I think there's truth in that too. So the idea that you have to be protected from any kind of uncomfortable emotion is what I absolutely do not subscribe to.
And a fellow who I helped write two books about psychology and psychiatry was a renowned psychiatrist in London called Robin Skynner said something very interesting to me. He said, "If people can't control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people's behavior." And when you're around super-sensitive people, you cannot relax and be spontaneous because you have no idea what's going to upset them next.
And that's why I’ve been warned recently, don’t go to most university campuses because the political correctness has been taken from being a good idea — which is, let’s not be mean particularly to people who are not able to look after themselves very well, that’s a good idea — to the point where any kind of criticism of any individual or group can be labelled cruel.
And the whole point about humor, the whole point about comedy — and believe you me, I’ve thought about it — is that all comedy is critical. Even if you make a very inclusive joke — like, "How do you make God laugh? Tell him your plans" — that’s about the human condition, it’s not excluding anyone, it’s saying we all have all these plans that probably won’t come and isn’t it funny that we still believe they’re going to happen. So that’s a very inclusive joke, but it’s still critical.
All humor is critical. If we start saying, "oh, we mustn’t criticize or offend them," then humor is gone, and with humor goes a sense of proportion, and then, as far as I’m concerned, you’re living in 1984."