Dan Levene can be legitimately accused of many things:
He can be accused of bandwagoning on a very important cause in the interests of self-promotion.
He can be accused of engaging with his fellow fans in a manner which is wholly counterproductive to convincing them that they're doing something wrong, but which will be very effective at promoting him personally.
He can be accused of displaying a level of self-righteousness which is unappealing when one is incapable of expressing it in a manner appropriate for a self-appointed moral leader.
He can be accused of committing the
exact same sins which he is now condemning as a 'disgrace'.
Here's the thing though... he is completely right about the 'Pikey' chant. Call it racist, bigoted, whatever - it is a pejorative slur aimed at a particular group of people. It is wrong and we should stop it.
People who think it's a joke or has no effect, people who will use a personal dislike of the speaker to justify ignoring the message are absolutely part of the problem. If these kinds of attitudes are allowed to fester without any retaliation, it means that an unpleasant enough ruling body can
take advantage of that to dehumanise entire groups of people, and can do so completely unchallenged.
Making fun of West Ham is great fun. I think we are imaginative enough to find a less harmful way of doing it.
