{"id":103122,"date":"2025-09-07T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=103122"},"modified":"2025-09-03T19:50:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:50:30","slug":"from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-50\/","title":{"rendered":"From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHILDREN retaliated, chanting: \u201cSticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me!\u201d Patently, times have changed and the use of barbative language has become de rigueur \u2014 most notably in sport.<\/p>\n

Euphemistically categorised as \u2018slagging\u2019 it was thought clever \u2014 the coarser, the better. It was a deliberate means of distracting the opponent. \u201cAll\u2019s fair in love and sport\u201d was the pathetic explanation. The banter was summarily dismissed as harmless and not meant to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

The etymology of faggot is Middle English \u2014 in the sense of a bundle of sticks for fuel, sometimes used for the burning of witches and heretics: from Old French fagot<\/em>; Italian fagotto<\/em>; based on Greek phakelos <\/em>\u2014 bundle. Its semantic evolution in North America is imprecise; however, in the period 1914-30 faggot became an ugly, pejorative epithet to describe a homosexual.<\/p>\n

Shakespeare writes in Romeo and Juliet: “That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” While the Montagues are traditionally the enemy of her family, Juliet contends Romeo\u2019s name, Montague, is unimportant; ultimately it is the person who matters. Her na\u00efve logic culminates in a double youth suicide! The pen is mightier than the sword. Words have the power to excoriate. \u2018FAGGOT\u2019 is outlawed in today\u2019s broad society, and its application in verbal discourse is problematic. Classified grossly offensive it is consciously brandished as a psychological weapon. It has the power to provoke a consequence which is impossible to quantify. Only those living under a stone would be oblivious. Reacting to the recent homophobic taunt with an unacceptable retaliatory volley of racist invective targeting size, skin tone, and parental matrimonial status at birth, would generate a gargantuan, metaphorical tsunami of censure.<\/p>\n

Even allowing for stunted emotional intelligence, it is difficult to accept experienced, elite sportsmen misunderstand the force of the word, \u2018faggot\u2019. The epithet is not a slip-of the tongue \u2014 a word which slides effortlessly into civilised conversation. It is a pejorative applied with unambiguous exactitude, and designed to create maximum emotional damage. The offending AFL player is not a victim. He created the furore, knowingly.<\/p>\n

Cognisant of racial sensibilities, the brand names of cheese, liquorice, and flour, were discarded. It is hubristic to expect an inviolable steel-ring of protection while hurling homophobic slurs. By deduction, the epithet infers homosexuality, or lesbianism, is in their limited judgment an undesirable state-of-being; also, it posits, however wanting their scholastic acumen and universal perspective, they cannot envision a more degrading insult.<\/p>\n

It would be remiss to dismiss the epithet as unintended without recalling homosexuality was classified criminal in Australia until 1997. Accident of birth notwithstanding \u2014 and homosexuality is not a lifestyle choice \u2014 they were, theoretically, illegal. Some were \u2018detained\u2019 because they were judged to \u201clook like a faggot\u201d. Generations lived in despair, hiding, and misery. It destroyed families; thwarted careers; and resulted in targeted murder and suicide.<\/p>\n

Talent comes with responsibility. Celebrity is a parasite which lives in any carcass and exacerbated by a discernible absence of firing neurons; an insidious syndrome guaranteed to foster unhealthy self-aggrandisement; and a delusional notion of invincibility. It emboldens our ugly and ignorant traits. Homophobia is a \u2018wicked\u2019 challenge. Offending linguists beware: they who play at silly games often win silly prizes!<\/p>\n

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald radio 3BA \u2014 Monday 10.40am. Contact: roland@rolandroc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHILDREN retaliated, chanting: \u201cSticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me!\u201d Patently, times have changed and the use of barbative language has become de rigueur \u2014 most notably in sport. Euphemistically categorised as \u2018slagging\u2019 it was thought clever \u2014 the coarser, the better. It was a deliberate means of distracting […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":103123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-103122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roland Rocchiccioli reflects on the damaging impact of homophobic slurs in sport and the responsibility talent must uphold.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-50\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli - 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