HOT NUUZ: British media has painted a false image of Luis Suarez

We pride ourselves in the UK for being the most tolerant, liberal and open society in the world. Our deep belief in these values is equally matched by our strong intolerance of discrimination of any kind and a sense of right and wrong. At least that’s what we tell ourselves.

The problem is that we frequently preach the importance of these values whilst simultaneously ignoring a common failing amongst those of believe they are righteous: hypocrisy. Whilst we demand the end to the Syrian tyranny, our prime minister is promoting our arms industry in Saudi Arabia.

The first casualty of all of this is the most sacred value of all, the truth. It doesn’t matter what actually happened, or what are the facts, or even what is the evidence. What matters is what is perceived. And this is driven by our establishments on a regular basis.

We believe that organic food is better for us when all the evidence is that this is false. We are convinced that moisturisers fight the signs of ageing when there is little evidence to support this. And the general perception is that Luis Suarez is a horrible racist when there is no evidence to support this.

Yes, that’s right. There is no evidence to support Luis Suarez being racist. In fact, he was not even found guilty by the FA of racism. He was found guilty of misconduct. He was found guilty of using words that were insulting to Evra.

Another fact that is conveniently forgotten is that the FA accept that in his own culture, the words Suarez admitted to using is not considered racist.

Lord Ouseley, the chairman of Kick It Out, probably the most recognised anti-racism campaign group in the UK, said: “All players playing in our jurisdiction know what standards are expected. No-one is saying he’s a racist – he’s probably a very nice guy. He’s alleged to have made abusive comments and that’s the basis on which [the case] was considered.” The FA have admitted that there was a recognisable cultural difference in this case that made it very complex.

Our media and authorities had an opportunity to explore these dilemmas. Prominent black footballers supported Suarez including his team mate Glenn Johnson and John Barnes highlighted this and spoke very eloquently at the time of the verdict as well as this week on the Today programme on Radio 4 about what he regards as a witch-hunt against Suarez.

What matters, is not whether you believe Suarez is a racist or not, that is your opinion. What is important is that our football authority, who was happy to accept ignorance as an excuse in the past, prosecuted this man, and punished him extremely heavily for what they accept was a cultural clash.

Meanwhile, our media chose not to report the interesting ethical or cultural issues, that could have been debated in a mature and intelligent manner. Instead the important voices were muted, and we had the lynch mob mentality trumpeted from every corner so everyone believes this man is a racist. The fact that not one single witness was found that could support Evra’s claim, either on the pitch or in the stands, the fact that Evra himself admits that the word Suarez used was in Spanish and not the highly offensive ‘n’ word that is used in English. These facts are conveniently ignored.

There is no doubt that Suarez was not going to win any popularity contests before this episode. But this should not cloud your judgment of him. Neither should the fact that Evra has falsely accused others of racism in the past. He could still have been telling the truth.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, our balanced media chooses not to draw any attention to John Terry, who has such a large body of evidence against him that his case for being a racist is going to a criminal court.

Does anyone hear him being described as a racist by a single journalist? Do you hear anyone saying that he is a disgrace to Chelsea? Do you hear Chelsea derided for standing by him in the same way Liverpool are? And do you think for one minute the punishment he will receive, will match, what was received by Suarez?

To avoid the non-handshake, they did away with handshakes for the Chelsea-QPR game, curious the same was not done for the game on the weekend. Interesting that the FA’s punishment of Terry was to strip him of the captaincy, there will be no investigation of him whilst the court case conveniently allows him to play in the Euros this summer.

While we let our media dictate the agenda and the FA promote hypocrisy, we will never get to the truth. These are the same journalists that are trying to convince you that Harry Redknapp is a better manager than Fabio Capello.

In our quest to end racism we must not trample over other values we hold dear. The presumption of innocence, the burden of proof, and the damage we can cause by false accusation. Our legal system is littered with injustices cause by failure to follow the evidence and the facts sometimes with tragic consequences.

Imagine for a minute how you would feel if you were punished and publicly derided for something that you weren’t found guilty of or proven to have done. Would you shake the hand so readily of the person you thought responsible?

I will finish with an anecdote related this week by John Barnes, a man above all that knows racism in football. He suffered it more than once. He spoke of a friendly game held in Marseille last weekend with ex-Real Madrid players taking part init. There was a photo shoot and Claude Makelele was in the shower, and they were waiting for him. His previous Real team mates called him to come and take part, addressing him as ‘negrito’. He came as called without a word and apologised for not being there. Racism is universally derided and universally applied. You cannot be racist in one country and not in another. This is true of any crime.

It begs the question, if a black player from the Spanish league had been playing for Manchester United that day, would any of this have happened?