Andrew Bolt: Adam Goodes’ defenders desperate to despise Australia as racist
Why are Adam Goodes’ defenders so desperate to portray Australia as a racist country, as if their own self-image depended on it? Don’t forget that the nasty booing actually has a natural explanation, writes Andrew Bolt.
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Why are so many supporters of Adam Goodes so desperate to despise Australia and its people?
I have a personal reason for asking, after Channel 10 last week screened an angry documentary on how AFL crowds booed the former Sydney Swans captain.
See, that documentary also attacked me for criticising Goodes, who identifies as Aboriginal, for publicly humiliating a 13-year-old girl as the “face” of “Australian racism”.
The girl called the big and bearded Goodes an “ape” at a game, which was rude.
But she was then named, shamed and detained by security and police as a racist, which was cruel, given her age and tearful apology.
Later, I’d also criticised Goodes rushing up to rival fans in an “Aboriginal war dance”, waving an imaginary spear.
It was provocative, I warned. And, indeed, it provoked more boos.
But last week’s documentary has triggered an explosion of hypocrisy from commentators not just high on their sense of moral superiority, but low in faith in their fellow Australians.
Take Martin Flanagan, the windy writer, who raged: “Andrew Bolt is a virus in the Australian body politic that makes us sick. When has he ever written a column celebrating Australian culture …?”
ROBBO: 'RACISM AT ITS WORST' — THE GOODES DOCO
Leave aside Flanagan’s ignorance about my pieces celebrating our history, culture and tolerance. What struck me most was his hypocrisy, shared by many moralists like him.
I am accused of not celebrating Australian culture because I refuse to believe Goodes proves our culture is racist. How crazy is that?
As I said, Goodes’ defenders seem desperate to despise Australia as racist, as if their own self-image or cause depended on it.
That nasty booing, which I criticised, actually has a natural explanation: it was a reaction to bullying and provocation, plus Goodes’ staging for free kicks as he got older. And the more that commentators damned the mob, the more it said “stuff you”.
To argue that the booing was driven instead by mass racism turns the obvious into the inexplicable.
Consider: If the many thousands who booed Goodes are all racists, why do they not boo any other Aboriginal player? Or African?
Indeed, why was Goodes himself not booed in the first dozen years of his career?
Is it really just a coincidence that he was booed when he picked on a 13-year-old girl, issued a race-based war challenge and staged for frees?
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