BY ANGELA DANIELS
Tyson Fury, 27, the new heavy weight boxing champion, with a reputation for being uncouth in his language is now steeped in hot water for throwing caution to the wind and being really controversial by taking Human Rights from the wrong end. He has been quoted as saying that a woman’s best place is in the kitchen and on her back, and also criticised homosexuality and abortion.
Fury has so infuriated tens of thousands of people, to the extent that around 110,000 complaints against him for hate crime have reached the police who are now investigating the matter. Fury probably did not expect this height of outrage against him. Perhaps he couldn’t care less if he did, and one would wonder if he has not deliberately courted this public outcry by shocking the country to get the attention he’s receiving. He was originally offered the opportunity by Oliver Holt of the Daily Mail, and he grabbed it with both hands. He has even succeeded in compelling those who would probably normally not be caught talking like him to berate him so unprofessionally with words such as, ‘dick head’. Fury has played his drum and thousands are dancing to the tune.
All said and done, disgraceful as his words might have been, the furore bears an intellectual peek at the behaviour of a man who is hardly intellectual, by any stretch of the imagination. He has inadvertently exercised his own rights of freedom of expression. This is crucial in democracy. The right to freedom of expression, includes freedom to hold opinions. ‘The right to free expression would be meaningless if it only protected certain types of expression- so (subject to certain limitations), the right will protect both popular and unpopular expression, including speech that might shock others. Fury has chosen by his expressed opinion to denigrate certain groups of people and is suffering – if he’s suffering the outcome of his careless abandon.
In a way, he has become the companion ‘in crime’ with American Donald Trump, billionaire Republican Presidential candidate who has sustained even right now, a campaign of shocking and extremely divisive and dangerous statements that are beyond mere expression of opinion. Among Trump’s excesses are his reference to Mexicans as drug dealers and rapists, suggesting he would build high walls to keep them away from America, and only today, his campaign is to keep Muslims from coming to the country. Trump even ridiculed disability. The FBI are not investigating him, yet he’s sweeping more and more supporters along and presumably heading for the White House.
Fury will box again and many would wish him flogged thoroughly to pulp, and so pay to see him personally in the ring but if he wins again, all the force and publicity would have made him laugh more to the bank. He must now know the seriousness of his comments in the eyes of the general public and it is up to him to decide his future steps. However, his words and opinion, as has been emphasised by the BBC, has no bearing on his inclusion on the BBC sports personality of the year shortlist. Except we suggest that the BBC redefine the criteria of being in such a list.
