In contrast, there’s the predictably and reliably flippant opinion (or pretend-opinion) of the always flippant and callous Brendan O’Neill.
I know we’re all supposed to be spitting blood over Katie Hopkins’ Sun column about African migrants. In fact, anyone who isn’t currently testing the durability of their computer keyboard by bashing out Hopkins-mauling tweets risks having their moral decency called into question.
There you go – predictable and callous. The important thing is to register disdain for people who object to a high-circulation newspaper’s publication of a piece calling African migrants cockroaches. Nicely done, Brendan; your priorities are an inspiration to us all.
And yet, I find myself far more infuriated by the Hopkins haters, especially those who want her sacked, than by Hopkins herself.
Well then your thinking is fucked. However annoying self-righteous people can be, it’s fucked thinking to get more infuriated by them than by unabashed racism crossed with xenophobia.
But the ideas she expressed, and the language she used, are rare — that’s why we found them so shocking. In contrast, the response of her detractors, their demand that Something Must Be Done — the ‘something’ ideally being Hopkins’ sacking — are all too common in this censorious century. Hopkins gave vent to a thankfully now rare form of intolerance. Her haters are expressing a more mainstream, and thus more dangerous, form of intolerance: intolerance of offensiveness, of extreme views, of anything that isn’t in tune with the political hymn sheet all good people are expected to warble from these days.
That’s all I can stand to read. If you want more, it’s here.
It’s not often that the Stupid vs. Evil debate is so starkly defined. Either O’Neill is fucking stupid, or he’s fucking evil.
No, Mr. O’Neill. These ideas are not rare. This language is not rare. Stop being either stupid or evil.
Right. Her language is the language of genocide, her critics’ language is the language of despising people who dehumanize others. Much much scarier.
It’s a common train of thought. The only unusual thing is expressing it. Way back in 2007, this was on MSNBC on the subject of hordes of brownish people invading from the south and pproviding cover for terrorists:
I got a change.org petition request calling on the Sun to cancel Hopkins contract about 2 hours after the story broke. The petition already had approx 200,000 signatures (just short of 300,000 now).
The Sun was all over the overwhelming support for Clarkeson but seems to have completely missed the Hopkins petition.
PatrickG @1
These choices are not mutually exclusive.