CJ resigns?

[Gerard Killoran]

I think he'll be promoting Chess holidays - just like the one he's researching at the moment.

[David Robertson]

Tried looking in the steam room? Actually I wouldn't if I were you

What, exactly, is this supposed to mean?

[Paul McKeown]

What, exactly, is this supposed to mean?

Quite. In this case a clear homophobic snide. For the terminally thick: it's not that I am seeking to defend de Mooi, au contraire, I can't stand the tw*t. But from Killoran's tone elsewhere, one would have thought him a bit more evolved than this.

[Martin Regan]

Gerard Killoran wrote:
Martin, the First Law of Holes states 'When you are in one, stop digging'.

Gerard

I think you'll find that the First Law of Holes is always trumped by the General Theory of Common Sense: When an ugly and long controversy has been kicked off by an accusation of homophobia - do not post anything which, rightly or wrongly, carries a hint of homophobia.

And then follow the First Law of Holes

[Nick Thomas]

It just looks like a light hearted comment which has nothing to do with homosexuality to me and would work just as well (or badly) if CJ were heterosexual. Martins point is well taken though.

[Gerard Killoran]

Nothing homophobic was intended and I apologise if that was the way it came across. My fault. The meaning I had in mind was only that such an action would not be welcomed by CJ as he was obviously trying to get away from the chess and certain people who administer it.

I would also advise anyone to avoid a steam room with me in. For their sake, not mine.

[Carl Hibbard]

Limited access so Jack will have to make a call on how appropriate these comments are?

[Paul McKeown]

Apologise for the deep end, Gerard. Guess no need for Jack to do anything.

[David Robertson]

Oh, no. Please don't underestimate me. I did have the context that CJ had tweeted about a steam room. It was precisely this context that gave rise to my concern.

All underhand, snide references of a sexist, racist, anti-semitic or homophobic nature are context-dependent. They depend entirely for their potency on the credulous and gullible characteristics of the audience to which they are addressed. It is precisely their ambiguity as statements that enlists the compliant ("sounds OK to me"; "just a joke, darling"), and allows the author the escape route of denial ("oh, I never meant it like that"; "oh, you're being too sensitive").

In this case, context is everything. CJ mentions a steam room. Had Killoran simply said: "I'd look for him in the steam room" and left it there, there would have been no 'joke', and no cause for complaint. But he didn't leave it there. He reached for the innuendo, an innuendo apparent to all but the most compliant of homophobes: "actually I wouldn't if I were you". It is this quite gratuitous comment that lends the substance of homophobia to the exchange.

The subsequent 'apology' barely mitigates the original sleazy comment. I could argue it indeed compounds the offence. It is certainly typical of those who use quasi-ambiguity of meaning to slide out of accountability for what they say. Moreover, the homophobic smearing of CJ is part of a piece with Killoran's snide, unnecessary and utterly unprincipled attacks on Nigel Short, attacks that have perforce needed to be suspended by news that Nigel is in fact a very good FIDE delegate.

Should the original (Killoran) post be chopped? I'd say not. Let it stand. And let the subsequent debate inform people's understanding of the issues involved.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Should the original (Killoran) post be chopped? I'd say not. Let it stand. And let the subsequent debate inform people's understanding of the issues involved.

I agree with this, and will let the entire exchange stand.

[Gerard Killoran]

David, I do have a first name. Did you go to a Public School?

The image I had in mind was CJ in the steam room with a towel round his waist relaxing, only to see a couple of arbiters come through the door. His sexuality had nothing to do with it. In fact I see the ECF being represented by an openly gay man as the most positive thing to come out of his presidency. If only he hadn't involved the ECF in unnecessary and damaging conflicts I would have supported him staying in office.

As for my 'snide, unnecessary and utterly unprincipled attacks on Nigel Short', you have given the game away, leaving you open to charges of using the issue of homophobia for political ends. I wonder who is being snide, unnecessary and utterly unprincipled' here? Substitute the word 'on' with 'by' in the phrase above and you would be nearer the truth. Just check out Nigel Short's posts on this forum, his use of rape as a metaphor in chess, his obituary of Tony Miles... need I go on?

Perhaps I should follow the advice of George Bernard Shaw, 'I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it'.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Maybe, though the exchange is going to be allowed to stand, the subsequent discussion could come to a slow and dignified halt, rather than degenerating into a derailed train wreck of a thread? Either go back to the original topic of the thread (has the resignation been formally confirmed?) or jump thread and talk about the recently concluded Olympiad?

[Roger de Coverly]

Most 'real' people have no problem with such jokes. Those with no sense of humour, or with axes to grind, or who are sociologists trying to manipulate the population, are not typical of 'real' people.

The problem is, that as predicted by Orwell in the novel "1984" written in 1948, you can control how people think by making thoughts disapproved by controlling politicians criminal.

In Communist states, chess was attractive because good moves would win, regardless of whether they fitted the governing ideology.

[Bill Porter]

at 5:16 pm on Sat 8th Sep, 2012
"Steve Giddins has just tweeted that CJ has resigned (unconfirmed) and also refers to this on his blog."

It's official:
September 10th, 2012 ECF President resigns

[John Upham]

The Board should like to

What impression does this phrase convey? I'm not quite sure...