It would've been delightful to have seen Terry's name and career slaughtered with a guilty verdict but when viewed in terms of the likelihood of achieving that verdict it was a ludicrous prosecution to bring and therefore a dreadful waste of taxpayer's money.  The fact it served to grease the wheels of the 24 hour media machine for a while is significant, but only in as much as it highlights again how woefully unobjective, shallow and pointless the vast (VAST) majority of our mainstream journalism has become.  

To have been found guilty of the charge of using, "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress and the offence was racially aggravated in accordance with section 28 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, contrary to Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and section 31(1)(c) and (5) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998", the 'racially aggravated' element of the charge would've had to have been proven beyond reasonable doubt of the Magistrate.  Given that it could be pretty much taken for granted that The Great & The Good would come out with statements of support for one of this country's richest ever footballers in denying that he was 'a racist', and that Ferdinand himself didn't even hear the words being said, then how any reasonable doubt could be eradicated from the case is beyond me.  

Terry is (beyond any reasonable doubt in the eyes of most who've observed him, from a distance, over the years) an obnoxious, vile, offensive, boorish, yada yada yada, white cunt of the very highest order.  But simply being filmed by a Sky camera saying, “fuck off, fuck off, yeah, yeah and you fucking black cunt, fucking knobhead", cannot, should not, and clearly does not, make you a racist in the eyes of the law of this land.  If someone could've proved Terry only thought Ferdinand was a 'fucking cunt' because he is 'black', then we might have had a different outcome.




Last Edited By: smashdad Jul 15 12 11:05 PM. Edited 1 times.