“Who are the Dees?”: Author’s controversial AFL tweet divides social media
Australian author Jane Caro has divided Twitter for her take on sport’s place in Australian culture.
The Melbourne Demons broke a 57-year bout of premiership losses after winning against the Western Bulldogs over the weekend, and fans and players were overjoyed with the long-awaited win.
Caro wasn’t watching the game and shared her divisive views on Twitter.
“Dear most Aussies, who are the Dees? What is the thing you all care so much about? Actually, no, please (PLEASE) don’t explain. This tweet is just for all those kids like I once was who could not give a toss & felt weird & had to pretend. It’s OK. One day you can just ignore it,” Caro wrote.
The author and journalist continued to share her thoughts in response to comments agreeing and disagreeing with her.
After one person wrote, “you do not know what you’re missing,” she replied: “No. Lovely way to live, frankly. Have you read all of Dickens and Austen and Gaskell? If not, you don’t either. Such is life.”
In another reply, Caro shared: “I don’t like any sport. I don’t even watch the Olympics. I make no judgement as to which is good or bad. All equally incomprehensible to me.”
She went on to say “it can make you feel isolated when you don’t feel what everyone else feels” and that “it’s an interesting ride being an Aussie who does not like sport. I feel your pain”.
Her tweet received a large response from many with their own shared experiences, along with a significant number who opposed her views.
Some argued her attitude was condescending to Australian sports fans, with sports journalist Matt Gottlieb describing her take as the “most sneeringly snobbish thing I’ve seen on social media for a while”.
“I’m gonna turn up to the opera and loudly tell everyone that I don’t care about the opera because it’s important that the people who like opera know that I don’t care about opera,” he tweeted.
Other journalists described Caro as a “wet blanket” and called her out for yucking “someone else’s yum”.
In total, more than 1500 people “liked” Caro’s initial tweet.
Image: Jane Caro, Getty Images