A Conservative Commentator Has Used The Attack On Eddie Betts To Hang More Shit On Adam Goodes

Oh shit guys. Pay attention. Rowan Dean has something to say about racism. The conservative journalist has used an appearance on, where else, The Bolt Report, to once again get stuck into Adam Goodes, while also having a right old whinge about “the grievance industry” that keeps rudely insisting that racist abuse is somehow about race.

Dean was reacting to the recent story about the woman who threw a banana at indigenous footballer Eddie Betts, an act that was widely condemned for its obvious racist overtones. Betts has since very generously forgiven the woman and asked that the public do the same.

Of course rather than just celebrate Betts’ remarkable magnanimity, or maybe even use it as an opportunity to rationally discuss the issue of racism in Australia, Dean instead felt it was necessary to draw comparisons between Betts’ response and that of Adam Goodes, who faced years of racist abuse and booing on the football field, and had the gall – the gall – to speak out about it.

What followed was the most infuriating three minutes of television since Bolt had Mark Latham on the night before.

Assuming that didn’t make you take a hammer to your screen (congrats on your restraint), let’s break Dean’s remarks down chronologically.

In response to Bolt’s question about the difference between Betts and Goodes, Dean starts by heaping compliments on Betts. “What a great guy, what a nice, genuine, honest guy” Dean says, thus proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he isn’t a racist. “He spoke from the heart, there was no spin, there was no nonsense,” continues the journalist, adding that Betts is “a decent, proper Australian.”  The implication here, of course, is that Goodes is somehow not.

Dean also praises the way in which Betts publicly forgave his attacker. For the record, Goodes did the exact same thing after a 13-year-old girl called him an ape, and then did it again when Collingwood president Eddie McGuire made a King Kong joke about him. For whatever reason, Dean forgets to mention that.

Dean then pivots to the subject of 18C and the racial discrimination act, because of course he does. “Racism is only powerful if people allow it to be powerful,” explains the middle aged white man.

Finally, Dean attacks the “grievance industry,” which he contends is what made Adam Goodes speak out in the first place. It’s this last point that might actually be the most offensive one of all. Goodes wasn’t actually upset about racism, it seems. He was just strong-armed and manipulated by a massive lefty conspiracy.

Fuck. Right. Off.

Believe it or not, it’s actually possible for both Betts and Goodes to have come at this the right way. That Betts has apparently been able to move past what happened is great. It’s definitely not an excuse to attack another indigenous person for saying, quite rightly, that he’s not going to stand by and be abused.