Still fresh with pride from the Matildas’ inspirational World Cup campaign, Australians woke up last Wednesday morning to the news that captain and star striker Samantha Kerr had been charged for allegedly making a racially aggravated remark against a police officer in the UK. The news was met with widespread dismay – not just because a national icon had been accused of engaging in such conduct, but because she now faced the very real threat of prosecution.

24 hours later, Kerr’s hero status had been restored. Many breathed a sigh of relief, many cheered. Kerr’s club threw its full support behind her and one Australian Senator even tweeted that Kerr should have statues built in her honour. Absurdly, the most effusive celebrations came from the same school of thought that believes discriminatory speech should be punishable with jail time.

What triggered such a dramatic U-turn in the court of public opinion? The fact that the alleged victim of Kerr’s abuse turned out to be white.

The Sam Kerr saga is, above all, a cautionary tale against the evils of identity politics: a game of constantly-changing rules designed by a jury of pseudo-moralists who claim to champion the principles of justice and equality – but instead pick winners and losers on the basis of race, religion, gender, and sexuality. That is why, in the eyes of the left, a crime worthy of prosecution on Wednesday became the stuff of legend on Thursday.

As usual, the left was wrong on both Wednesday and Thursday.

There was, of course, a glib explanation on offer. It turns out that ‘racism equals power plus prejudice’. In other words, it only counts as racism if the perpetrator holds a dominant position over the victim.

Don’t be fooled by the buzzwords: this logic is colossally flawed.

First and foremost, racism is not context-dependent. The only way to achieve equality is to treat people equally. It takes just one look at the history books to realise that applying different standards to different racial groups has always been a recipe for disaster.

Second, even if you accept the ‘power plus prejudice’ theory, it is clear that Sam Kerr – a multimillionaire athlete, daughter of a former Aussie Rules star, and the face of Australian football – lives on a higher footing than a London police officer. It makes little sense to evaluate power dynamics based on race while ignoring fame, fortune, and family name.

Finally, even if you accept the ‘power plus prejudice’ theory and believe that power dynamics should be evaluated based on race, there is no evidence to suggest that people of Indian heritage – such as Sam Kerr and the author of this article – are marginalised in the West. According to 2016 census statistics, Indian-born residents of Australia earned higher incomes, held higher education qualifications, and had a higher labour force participation rate than the average Australian, despite having a much lower median age.

Put simply, the narrative fails even when taken at its best.

Later in the week, football commentator-cum-activist Craig Foster, not usually known for being the voice of reason, stated that, ‘…interpersonal racism against a white person … is still racism.’ However, the capricious Foster relapsed just days later, declaring:

‘I mistakenly thought that comments that referenced any colour and were discriminatory, demanding or hostile were a form of racism. I apologise to Sam for this mistake.’

Foster made explicit that which was obvious: the dogma of identity politics is selectively forgiving and selectively punitive. The dogma of identity politics is an assault on the very ideals that Australia should proudly champion.

Sam Kerr is and always will be universally adored. Nobody will hold a grudge against her – and rightly so. The events of the past week should, however, serve as a warning that the values we have long held near and dear are being slowly replaced by ideologies that seek to divide us. And if we let those ideologies infect our culture, it is only a matter of time before they infect our policies.

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