Rita Panahi: Eddie deserved better than merciless smear campaign

Having race-obsessed ideologues conduct a review into racism is akin to having vegan activists complete a report into a steak restaurant.

The vicious pile-on mob got another scalp.

Eddie McGuire is not a racist but in the end that didn’t matter to the hate mob who were determined to see his demise. They were hellbent on painting his clumsy words about being “proud” Collingwood had learnt from its mistakes in the most disingenuously sinister light possible.

And they kept on kicking McGuire even as he was reduced to tears on Tuesday announcing he was immediately stepping down as Collingwood president.

“We refer to them as white tears,” said Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe on the national broadcaster.

Imagine saying something so brazenly racist while calling others racist, but then again this is a senator who was gifted a seat in the Australian parliament despite saying she doesn’t “identify as being Australian”. Thorpe was among a gaggle of far-left activists who signed an open letter demanding McGuire step down immediately.

“We believe Eddie McGuire has proven himself incapable of leading the Collingwood Football Club through any meaningful transformation. We call on him to step down immediately,” the letter said. “We call on Collingwood’s major sponsors, Nike, CGU Insurance, Emirates Airlines, LaTrobe Financial, and Coles to make clear unequivocal statements rejecting racism.”

That was going to be the next phase of the witch hunt; to put pressure on Collingwood’s sponsors.

That’s how the cancel culture devotees work; attack the individual and if that doesn’t see them submit attack their sources of income.

Eddie McGuire resigned effective immediately as Collingwood Football Club President.

Other signatories of the letter include Benjamin Law who in 2017 was tweeting about “hate f. king all the anti-gay MPs in the parliament” and Celeste Liddle who in 2018 said “I echo Tarneen’s call to ‘burn it down’,” in support of Indigenous activist Tarneen Onus-Williams who had said during an anti-Australia Day protest “F. k Australia, hope it f. king burns to the ground.”

That the identity-politics warriors got their way should worry not just every football club but every organisation that flirts with critical race theory.

Race-obsessed activists — including the two highly divisive academics with histories of attacking other Indigenous leaders who penned Collingwood’s Do Better report — aren’t typically interested in facts or advancing race relations.

You can be certain every single AFL club would have a similar finding of “systematic racism” if it subjected itself to a similar review.

Having such ideologues conduct a review into racism is akin to having vegan activists complete a report into a steak restaurant.

You can predict with certainty what their findings would be. The activist class want total submission to their version of “anti-racism” which is, funnily enough, virulently and shamelessly racist.

Critical race theory is a poison that if adopted further will set back race relations decades; it is inherently divisive, intellectually vacuous and dangerous. It’s a backward philosophy that sees everything through the prism of race and its telltale jargon includes terms such as “systematic racism,” “white fragility,” and “unconscious or implicit bias”.

The 35-page report that has seen Collingwood labelled systematically racist failed to detail a single new incident of racism, nor any evidence of structures or patterns of behaviour that were discriminatory.

The report simply rehashed a few isolated cases from decades ago, including fans booing Carlton great Syd Jackson during the 1970 grand final. The more “recent” incidents from the past 20 years were few and far between and involve Heritier Lumumba, whose allegations were not investigated due to his unwillingness to participate in the process, and Gold Coast Suns’ Joel Wilkinson’s claims Collingwood did not adequately respond when a Pies fan racially vilified him during a 2012 game.

Heritier Lumumba has condemned his old club and Eddie.

The most infamous example is McGuire’s infamous brain fade on Triple M in 2013 when he shockingly said Adam Goodes should be used to promote the King Kong musical.

Anyone who has worked in radio knows the perils of saying something stupid, particularly if you are ill or exhausted. McGuire apologised profusely for the on-air gaffe and has said he was affected by “heavy-duty” prescription drugs when he made the unfunny, offensive remarks.

Either you believe him or you conclude one remark marks him as a racist despite all available evidence to the contrary.

Sadly, it seems many who are given a platform by the media prefer to do the latter.

As the great Thomas Sowell said, “Racism is not dead, but it is on life support — kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as ‘racists’.”

In his 22 years as Collingwood president McGuire not only worked tirelessly to advance the interests of the club but has done enormous work behind the scenes helping the genuinely disadvantaged.

He deserves better than the merciless smear campaign he has been subjected to by those out to settle old scores.

IN SHORT

Dan Andrews’ claim that Victoria has the country’s best hotel quarantine program has not aged well. From Monday NSW will take 3010 overseas arrivals a week while Victoria’s weekly quota will be 1300. We not only need to do better, we need to do more to pull our weight.