Merely a case of saying keep your head down sonny and avoid controversies.
I just don't know why people are discounting the possibility that the controversies that Symonds had been part of contributed to what happened at Vadodara ?
As I said Before I don't JUSTIFY what happened. I just feel Symonds was setting himself up to get a big cop out much in the way that I feel Sreesanth will probably get it this summer in Australia.
In both cases, the players concerned could have made things easier for themselves
Whatever happened to the virtue of keeping your trap shut and getting on with the job ? Avoiding trouble where you could ??
So people, particularly people of a readily identifiable minority have no choice but to be seen and not heard if they want to avoid offensive abuse? Sorry mate, no matter how pretty a bow you try to tie around this ridiculous argument, its still rubbish, and to some people probably quite offensive rubbish. Where do you draw the line for not inflaming the mob in order to avoid being lynched? Does the way Ganguly comported himself as captain, or the way Ricky Ponting does now, justify them being racially vilified?
Any member of a minority could make life easier for themselves by just trying to blend in as much as they can, or even better - never leaving their houses and certainly never daring to do something that the majority of people dislike.
If you were saying that Symonds has made himself less popular in India by getting into a slanging match with the Indian team, no-one would have an issue with what you're saying. If he got boos from the crowd because of it, no-one would have an issue. But there is, to the vast majority of people, a clear line between boos and even general insults etc, and using someone's race as a basis to abuse them. It might be, as you say, unfortunately present in some proportion everywhere in the world, but it doesn't mean that its an attitude that reveals the absolute worst characteristics humans can produce, and that it should be treated as abominable. Part of that is that it can never, ever, to any extent, be justified by the behaviour of the victim.
