Yesterday marked six months since the Grenfell Tower fire, which is now known to have cost the lives of 71 people. Many more were left traumatised and homeless. And, as so often with these events, those who suffered were the little people, the ones just scraping by in an increasingly expensive and exclusive city. To mark the event, a service of remembrance was held at St Paul’s Cathedral in central London.
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Those attending included survivors of the blaze and their families, relatives of those who sadly didn’t make it, as well as faith leaders, representatives from Parliament, and a full turnout of working Royals. The Dean of St Pauls told those assembled “Be united in the face of suffering and sorrow” and spoke of “the unspeakable tragedy, loss and hurt of that June day”. But not everyone observing proceedings was of such generous spirit.
Despite the grief still being raw, and many of those survivors still being homeless six months on, pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins clearly sensed an opportunity to generate More And Bigger Click Counts For Herself Personally Now. And in this, she was at her vicious, intolerant, dishonest and ignorant worst. Smearing the survivors, whipping up the hate mob, and defaming the memory of the dead, these were her priorities.
So it should have been no surprise at all to read “4 in 5 residents from #GrenfellTower are still in hotel accommodation because they are holding out for luxury flats. Dry your tears of sympathy”. This is totally untrue. It is yet another unresearched and malicious smear. But the invention and malice levels were about to be ramped up further.
En route to this destination, Hatey Katie paused briefly to claim “Conservative councillors were refused places at the memorial. The church, #StPaulsCathedral & the Royals should not be endorsing politics in grief. #GrenfellMemorial”. This is also totally untrue. Survivors and their relatives REQUESTED that no Tory Councillors from RBKC attend. They were, after all, the ones who endorsed all the fateful decisions concerning the Tower.
And then comes the pièce de résistance: “The locals from the tower I spoke to said it was not a fridge, but an open hot oil cooker - for breaking Ramadan fast”. This is the most monstrous and malicious lie. No other report of this has been published, because Ms Hopkins (a) did not talk to any locals, so (b) she is just smearing out of prejudice. And after Ms Hopkins drops this poison to her 800,000 plus Twitter followers, she knows some will be gullible enough to believe it. This is hate speech, pure and simple.
And we know who her targets are: once again, it’s all about blaming the Scary Muslims (tm) for the fire. We can deduce this from her dismissive response to those still grieving: “The politics of grief. Grenfell fire: a service at St Paul’s plus Royals. Manchester slaughter: carry on as normal, suck on a tea candle & hug a Muslim”.
Half a century ago, the Katie Hopkins of this world would spend their evenings sat in a corner of the snug down the local pub, sipping a Mackeson and lying maliciously, but only to themselves, ignored by everyone else. Now they can poison lots of other minds, too.
Anyone still out there in the media world prepared to indulge this seriously unhappy and unpleasant person? I have only one question for you: why?
9 comments:
Sooner or later that plainly disturbed woman is going to be charged with a breach of "race hate" legislation.
I suspect that might even be her intention.
She's a very sick, sad individual. Rather like Louise Mensch.
The claim about the cause of the fire doesn't even make sense. It started after midnight, and Ramadan fasting ends at dusk.
Tim
Most of your readers already know what you've pointed out here and Hopkins doesn't care that we know she's a lying, bitter, self-publicising bigot.
What purpose does your criticism here serve except effectively to repeat and disseminate her poison and, as you yourself say, 'generate More And Bigger Click Counts For Herself Personally Now'?
Anonymous @ 13:27.
Nope.
Keep showing her up for what she is. The number of clicks doesn't mean people agree with her lunacy. I'm willing to bet it's more a case of horrified witnesses to a sad spectacle. The clicks will fall as it dawns she's going to get sadder, just as she's been sacked by those who thought she was useful.
Carry on, Tim.
Definitely carry on calling her out. If it wasn't for people like Tim and others constantly flagging up the hate and bile that come out of her mouth she'd probably still have her platforms in the Mainstream media. Only a year ago this vile woman was a columnist on two of the countries best selling papers and had a regular radio presenting spot. Now she's reduced to teaming up with Neo Nazi boat botherers and South African apartheid sympathisers. That's what exposure does.
Liar.
She makes a living from public attention.
Ignore her & she'll dissappear.
Why are you all enabling this hateful shrew? She's out of work, needs a platform to spout her racist, vile ramblings. Please, please, please ignore her, you're only helping her advertise for a new job.
I know it's hard, but just ignore her.
Engaging with her might well assist in her self-publicity. But Tim's post here is not engaging her, it is setting the record straight on her lies and obsessions.
Without articles such as this, all her publicity is self-generated; her spite and self-promotion goes unchallenged.
So she gets a "job" elsewhere. So what?
That tells you more about her "employer", who, knowing what she is, can only be as bad as her if they promote her hatred.
The more they can be clearly identified, the better. Truthful knowledge and information is a real weapon when resisting racism and fascism.
Liars like Hopkins and her employers are terrified of the truth. Which is why they lie so viciously and so often.
But there is more of Us than Them. Which is why they will lose in the end.
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