Mail Cancel Culture Hypocrisy

The claims from the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press that they, along with their hangers-on, are somehow fighting a lone yet valiant battle against the myth that is Cancel Culture, and for freedom of speech, has been, is, and will continue to be the most grotesque rewriting of reality. Today’s edition of the Mail takes that to a new level, and adds a little incitement.

You f***ing looking at me, c***?!?!?

This is achieved by, as so often with the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker, talking well, but lying badly. But first, the hypocrisy: after now former ITV host Phillip Schofield was confronted by the Mail, which was about to expose his affair with a much younger man, the paper, along with the Murdoch Sun and others, gleefully put the boot in on him.

They viciously and deliberately joined in cancelling Schofield, who has now been ditched by ITV, ditched by his agent, and is therefore fair game for a press pack that does not care about the wellbeing of its targets. Then the Mail declared itself to be “Fighting Cancel Culture” and “Standing Up For Free Speech”. As so often, only the free speech the Mail approves is fought for.

Such as that of businessman John Allan, of whom most of the Mail’s readers will not have heard, and about whom they won’t care. He has stepped down as chairman of retailer Tesco following a series of allegations made about his conduct. The Mail cares deeply about his plight, or rather, it pretends to do, but only as long as he remains useful to their campaign of hatred.

There is no witch hunt

Yes, hatred, not of Allen, but of those who the Mail wants to get at through use of his story. Also, the Mail can’t be sexist, as it got a woman to interview the businessman. So who are the targets? The Rotten Lefties™ in the media, who in reality are in a tiny minority compared to those out there on the right, and those supposedly Radical Feminists™ who do not know their place.

Also claiming to be in support of free speech while whipping up a little more hatred is the supremely selective Guy Adams, whose target is Trans rights activists. Don’t Trans people have the same rights as everyone else? And if the Mail believes they should not, perhaps it could say so. Meanwhile, Adams has the Oxford Union in his sights, because they are hosting a debate.

And, so what? Isn’t that the kind of thing the Oxford Union does? Ah, but Adams wants Mail readers to know that “People may be staying away from the Union out of fear”. And they may not. Have another go. “Students ‘are plotting to throw milkshakes at those queuing’”. Someone has made a claim that cannot be stood up. “Guy Adams Investigates”. But only selectively.

But these are mere Hors d’Oeuvres for a much more pungent Entrée, that being an exercise in straightforward incitement backed up by a series of flat-out lies from the pen of talentless and unfunny churnalist Richard Littlejohn. Alongside a graphic depicting a blooded dagger, readers are told “NOTHING LESS THAN A COUP IS TAKING PLACE IN BRITAIN”. It is?

No, it isn’t: that’s just another Dicky Windbag lie. He gets away with this as complaints can be batted off with the excuse that it’s “just an opinion column” and readers should not expect what they read to be factually correct. Which is most fortunate, because the claim of “the rolling coup currently taking place against this Conservative Government” is also a flat-out lie.

It’s yet another attempt to blame someone else for the ineptitude of the Tories under a series of Prime Ministers. Littlejohn tells us “The ultra-woke civil service [he wouldn’t know what ‘woke’ means] and renegade Tories still loyal to the EU [he won’t be naming one - that would be defamation] are working to destroy an elected Government”. Which is another flat-out lie.

There is more. “Aided and abetted by the unions and Left-wing media [lying again - he’s just inventing more demons]. Even worse, this malign New Establishment [there is no such thing. More lying] is clearly winning”. No. Just no. The only winning being done is the Tories succeeding in making themselves look even worse. This is malicious invention.

That anyone employed in the civil service might be best advised watching their back from now on was emphasised by the claim “Civil servants strain every sinew to obstruct ministers”. Which they don’t. Enough. Richard Littlejohn, it should never be forgotten, is so loyal to the UK that he has lived in a gated compound in Vero Beach, Florida for some years now.

There is no witch-hunt. But there is the grotesque spectacle of a major national newspaper indulging in whipping up the mob against yet more people unable to defend themselves from the wackos who pass copy like this round far-right message boards. As Stop Funding Hate noted, “the Daily Mail is *by far* the most shared publication within far-right Telegram channels”.

Do we have to have a body count before this stops? Hello Paul Dacre.

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