Which we already know she isn't good at. 
So, if she's bad on her feet... that could explain a lot.
Recapping my original point, and then giving up so I don't get grumpy: words have different meanings in different parts of the world. Just because she's an international athlete who travels doesn't mean that she's been exposed to every bad word under the sun and thus automatically knows every word that will offend people. And how often do people insult someone and then say which definition they're using?
I don't mean to get you grump, Rebekah, I just don't think a bit of self-examination is that bad of a thing.
But, to your point, faggot is a common slur/insult and is frequently used in sport. Athletes call each other that all the time, and can be DQ'd from competitions for it, under bad sportsman rules. It's a common insult, and one that rarely needs translation.
When she travels it's for a specific purpose: sport. She won't necessarily learn new things about language when she's doing that. Maybe she has or should have been given training on sensitive issues. Whatever.
I wouldn't expect her to learn the local language when she's just there for a competition, but an insult like this, or like nigger, or kafir, or any of a host of other well known insults... it stretches credibility that she wouldn't know it. Especially considering her reaction to it.
The point I have been trying to make is that she didn't necessarily have that meaning of the word in her mind. Maybe she'd come across it a few times before, but in my scenario the homosexual meaning will not be the one uppermost in her brain. When you're saying/typing something in such an instant form of communication the full breadth of meaning won't be there. It's quick, it's off the cuff, and so the meaning accessed is the simplest one.
Which is possible, but that's not what she's saying. She is owning up to the offensive meaning, but claiming it's out of character for her. We cannot create a motive or a reasoning for her to excuse away her actions when she is owning up to them.
I think saying that "she needs to do some soul-searching and decide what she really thinks about gay people" comes from your very understandable sensitivity to that word. And I think it's unnecessary in the (hypothetical but fairly likely) scenario I posed.
In your hypothetical, it wouldn't be necessary for her to do any soul searching, no. It wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't be necessary. The problem is, though, your hypothetical does not address the reality we know. The woman came out and said her actions were out of character, that they didn't represent her, that she is not one to give offence like that. Your hypothetical sets aside her own comments and explanation for her actions.
That's what I'm saying, and that's where I'll leave it.
OK... I'll try to stop too.
I was Phelix on wotmania, I will always be Phelix in the "real" world, and now I am Phelix on RAFO.
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.- Churchill
*MySmiley*
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true and also fierce you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her.- Churchill
*MySmiley*
Interesting way to bring people together 
- 08/09/2010 04:36:19 PM
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- 08/09/2010 04:36:19 PM
1632 Views
1. That girl is an idiot who needs to do some soul searching...
- 08/09/2010 07:07:47 PM
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? not that her comment was excusable...
- 08/09/2010 07:45:59 PM
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It's not a cardinal sin against humanity...
- 08/09/2010 07:55:55 PM
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or it just means...
- 08/09/2010 08:18:57 PM
1050 Views
Societal problems don't go away from the group level. 
- 08/09/2010 08:25:21 PM
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- 08/09/2010 08:25:21 PM
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You have an odd definition of homophobe (or at least that's what your last paragraph implies).
- 08/09/2010 10:04:52 PM
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I was trying to use her words...
- 08/09/2010 10:17:32 PM
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Ah, okay. Her apology does seem rather clumsy, agreed there.
- 08/09/2010 11:05:34 PM
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Glad to clear up that confusion.
- 08/09/2010 11:11:35 PM
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- 08/09/2010 11:11:35 PM
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I don't think you should read too much in the exact wording of her apology.
- 08/09/2010 11:24:21 PM
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You should watch that Southpark episode where they change the meaning of the word faggot.
- 08/09/2010 09:24:16 PM
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I've seen it, and it was funny.
- 08/09/2010 09:40:43 PM
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Suspect you need to consider the way the word is used in other countries.
- 08/09/2010 09:46:05 PM
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I admit, I don't know many (any) kiwis personally (in person that is)...
- 08/09/2010 09:52:45 PM
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The insult word for homosexuals Downunder tends to be Fruit or Queer.
- 08/09/2010 09:58:04 PM
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OK, I can see that.
- 08/09/2010 10:09:16 PM
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I think it's unfair to people to assume that there's some underlying bad nature...
- 08/09/2010 10:18:29 PM
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I'm not assuming there's an underlying bad nature, I am saying she should look to see if it's there.
- 08/09/2010 10:27:21 PM
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And I'm saying that you're instantly looking on the negative side of things instead of
- 08/09/2010 10:46:11 PM
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I don't think I'm looking at the negative side of things, merely saying that she needs to look.
- 08/09/2010 11:01:11 PM
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Or, she was replying to interview questions and thinking on her feet.
- 08/09/2010 11:10:26 PM
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This is my first encounter with her.
- 08/09/2010 11:24:42 PM
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- 08/09/2010 11:24:42 PM
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She said she needs to learn to think before she tweets lol
- 08/09/2010 08:14:38 PM
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Yes, but that's just a surface change.
- 08/09/2010 08:20:59 PM
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- 08/09/2010 08:20:59 PM
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