Head of the CPS Alison Saunders has signalled a crackdown on social media hate crime, telling Guardian readers “Left unchallenged, even low-level offending can subsequently fuel the kind of dangerous hostility that has been plastered across our media in recent days. That is why countering it is a priority for the CPS … Whether shouted in their face on the street, daubed on their wall or tweeted into their living room, the impact of hateful abuse on a victim can be equally devastating”. Who could she be meaning?
Viewers may want to look away now
That was not hard to deduce, after pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins, back from being feted by the more delusional part of the US right-wing, decided to indulge in a little borderline incitement against her favourite target, followers of The Prophet, as well as suggesting we start another war on her say-so.
Governments were cracking down on van hire operations, which does not seem such a bad thing, given the white van attacks in places like London and Barcelona used hired vehicles - as did the Westminster Bridge attacker. But Ms Hopkins wants her devoted followers to know that this is just namby-pamby, wishy-washy poo.
Hatey Katie sneers in their silly faces! “Now Mohammed, are you hiring this van for the purpose of running over innocent women & children in the street to please your god. Yes or no”. Gosh, that was so impressive, well, to her anyway, that she instantly promoted it to Pinned Tweet status. And there was more. “NEW: govt approved HURTZ van hire authorisation”. Hirers could tick “shady business” or “Jihad” as reasons for hiring.
Laugh? I thought I’d never start. Also on her mock form was “Christian - former religion of Western Europe”. Because some people don’t understand that Western Europe does not have an official religion. But she does need to avoid getting sued (again), and so let everyone know “Respectfully @Hertz and @PilotPenUK have nothing to do with my satire. They either sold me a pen, or let me wear the headset of Jedi power”.
Incitement against Muslims is now satire! All those 60s pioneers of the genre missed out big time. Still, she wanted us to know that this Government crackdown was rubbish, and so had her mock hire form done properly, with the observation “A very British response to watching our women & children slaughtered by jihadi maniacs in hired vans”. No men were killed in Barcelona? And what is her preferred solution to the problem she has identified?
As if you need to ask. “We used to send young men to fight for our country. Now our babies die because we don’t”. And where does Ms Hopkins propose they go and fight? On what pretext? Can’t she get it in to her head that the last time we did that, the consequence was ISIS, which is most likely behind the current wave of vehicle attacks? How much bloodshed does she want others to indulge in to satisfy her bigotry?
Still, good to see that the CPS had someone in mind when those guidelines on hate speech were being drawn up. Fortunately, when it comes to combating terrorism, others are in charge of the situation. And Katie Hopkins is not. Just rejoice at that news.
Whilst I agree that Hatie should be called out on some of the stupid things she says, but I can't help the feeling that post like this are just feeding the troll she has become.
ReplyDeleteThis is, after all, a woman who thrives on publicity. Don't give her that then what skill set does she actually have other than self-promotion?
Wouldn't it be best to ignore her until such time as she not so much crosses the line but takes a dump on it, then report it?
PS: Tim perhaps, if are going to continue to cover her, time to update your stock photo to something more akin to the scary apperance she now has.
“We used to send young men to fight for our country. Now our babies die because we don’t”.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that woman think our "young men" did/are doing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya? Plait sawdust? Play golf?
And when our "young men" bombed and strafed their way through their "missions" and in so doing killed hundreds of thousands of innocent children (including babies), women and men, and thus created millions of helpless refugees and destroyed the infrastructures and societies of whole countries, was she similarly outraged?......If so, there is no trace of it.
The "young men" who deliberately drive into and kill innocent civilians, or who blow themselves up and take others with them, have plainly lost their human reasoning and have to be dealt with accordingly. Even killed if necessary. But there are reasons why they have been driven to homicidal insanity. They are listed in the previous paragraph. We all know it.
The fact is this is an avoidable tragedy which will never be forgotten by the affected nations and societies. It follows all the other mayhem in the dog days of European empires, and now in the closing days of the American Empire.
And the conscience-free lunatic propaganda of people like Hopkins make it almost impossible to cut the psychotic loop. Which is why there is no end in sight.
Have we already forgotten the lessons of the blood soaked 20th century?