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Why is it Okay to be Offensive if You’re Left-Wing?

by Toby Young
22 December 2022 12:08 PM

Ross Clark has written a brilliant piece for the Daily Mail pointing out the double standards of the people currently demanding Jeremy Clarkson be fired from all his jobs for ‘hate speech’. We never hear a squeak out of Chris Packham, Ayesha Hazarika, Carol Vorderman et al when people on the left say equally nasty things about people they don’t like.

The backlash against Clarkson has also highlighted the monumental and ceaseless hypocrisy of the Left.

For while its commentators, politicians and Twitter warriors erupt into outrage at a columnist in a Conservative newspaper, the truth is that the Left has its own despicable record of making horrible remarks, some of which might be said to verge on incitement to violence.

I am not in any way trying to excuse Clarkson — just pointing out that many of the voices now demanding his head will have been conspicuously silent over even viler comments from the Left.

When they cause offence, they rarely seem to pay a price or even apologise. Different standards seem to apply.

As evidence, here the Mail presents just a small selection of egregious remarks made by Left-wing figures in recent years — and examines what happened afterwards…

ACID REMARKS ABOUT FARAGE

During Britain’s last round of European Parliament elections in 2019, Nigel Farage, then leader of the Brexit Party, had a milkshake thrown over him.

A few days later, comedian Jo Brand said on the Radio 4 programme Heresy: “Why bother with a milkshake when you could get some battery acid.” She followed up her remark by saying: “That’s just me. I’m not going to do it. It’s purely a fantasy, but I think milkshakes are pathetic, I honestly do, sorry.”

In spite of acid attacks being a very serious problem, and the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox three years earlier, the BBC refused to apologise for broadcasting Brand’s comments, saying they were made on a “deliberately provocative” show.

A ‘BAD END’ FOR BORIS

This week, children’s author Sir Philip Pullman described Clarkson’s column as “poison”. Yet in 2019, when the debate over the Brexit Withdrawal Bill was reaching its heated climax, Sir Philip weighed in by tweeting: “When I hear the name ‘‘Boris Johnson’’, for some reason the words ‘rope’ and ‘nearest lamp-post’ come to mind as well.”

When he was criticised for what he said he had intended as a joke, far from apologising, he merely switched his proposed method of execution — throwing in for good measure some language parents wouldn’t want in their children’s bedtime stories.

“For goodness’ sake,” he wrote. “Of course I wasn’t advocating hanging the b*****d. But rulers who try to do away with democratic parliaments come to bad ends. As I pointed out on Twitter some time ago, the axe and the block are still in working order.”

In an interview with the ^ shortly afterwards, he was still revelling in his ‘joke’, saying “the upshot of it was that I gained 2,000 Twitter followers”.

GOVE “LOOKS LIKE A FOETUS” TAUNT

In a 2013 edition of BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz, chaired by Sandi Toksvig, one of the guests referred to Michael Gove, then education secretary, as having “a face like a foetus in a jar”. Not to be outdone, another guest on the show replied that Gove had “a face that makes even the most pacifist of people reach for the shovel”.

Cue laughter all round.

SICK JIBE OVER GRAVELY ILL PM

In an edition of Channel 4’s late-night comedy show The Last Leg in May 2020, just days after Boris Johnson had narrowly escaped death from COVID-19, actress Miriam Margolyes attacked the Government’s handling of the pandemic before adding: “I mean, I had difficulty not wanting Boris Johnson to die. Then I thought, that will reflect badly on me and I don’t want to be the sort of person that wants people to die.”

Since she is a confirmed member of the ‘outspoken’ liberal Left, her comments have not prevented her being invited onto Channel 4 shows since.

BOVINE ATTACK ON PRITI PATEL

The Guardian is never slow to call out racism, whether real or imagined. But in March 2020 that did not stop the paper publishing a drawing by its in-house cartoonist, Steve Bell, depicting then Home Secretary Priti Patel as a bull. Sitting alongside Boris Johnson (also as a bull) in the Commons, she had cloven hooves for hands, a ring through her nose, horns and a demonic expression.

Patel, as the paper’s editors surely knew, is a Hindu and it was deeply offensive to portray her in this way. Yet it declined to remove the cartoon or apologise, merely stating that “politicians of all parties are quite often caricatured as animals”.

Ross has plenty more examples

Worth reading in full.

Stop Press: I thought I’d identified the most over-the-top reaction to Clarkson’s Sun column by a hysterical lefty when I wrote about the affair a couple of days ago. But in a classic ‘hold my beer’ moment, Dr Louise Raw has launched a crowdfunder to finance a legal action against Clarkson.

Wow! Over £6,000 has been donated by 150+ donors in support of exploring legal action against harassment in the first 24 hours. Thank you to all those who have contributed! #GoFundMe https://t.co/mfnUcf4VPx #TheSun #JeremyClarkson 1/2

— Dr Louise Raw (@LouiseRawAuthor) December 21, 2022
Tags: Jeremy ClarksonJo BrandMiriam MargolyesNigel FarageSteve Bell

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16 Comments
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago

Because the left control everything

62
0
Boomer Bloke
Boomer Bloke
2 years ago

Dr Louise Raw, who judging by her profile picture clearly isn’t a psychopathic nutter.

50
0
WyrdWoman
WyrdWoman
2 years ago
Reply to  Boomer Bloke

It seems to have been wiped from the interweb and struggling to find a link but RT.com did a piece on Raw in May 2020 headed ” ‘Hate-filled Left on Display’: BBC historian rejoices over ‘rich white men’ dying from pestilence” The only text I can find is:

‘A BBC contributor has lit a powder keg of social media rage after reveling in the fact that wealthy, middle-aged white men died in higher numbers during an epidemic that hit Britain in the 16th Century.’

And what appears to be a Tweet:

‘May 22, 2020 “It actually killed very rich, white middle aged men in greater number than anyone else! Which is obviously terrible,” she replied sarcastically, including a winking smiley face emoji. Her bold remarks about the ills of “class prejudice” provoked a virtual call-to-arms on Twitter.’

Pots and kettles eh, Raw?

43
0
Free Lemming
Free Lemming
2 years ago

To think the people gave the Tory government a huge mandate to stop the march of the left and their agenda. This so-called Tory government then bought as much tinder as they could find and laid it down in the centre of England. Then they gave the left a box of matches and watched as our country was set ablaze.

There only exists the concept of left and right. In reality, there exists only a single political class – the left. The entire political system needs to be razed to the ground.

127
0
Epi
Epi
2 years ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

Hear hear!!

5
0
stewart
stewart
2 years ago

The common denominator in most of those cases is that the attack is on a white male. Saying you would like to see a white male dead or killed is ok.

The exception is Priti Patel being portrayed as a bull, which is pretty tame compared with the other ones.

They wouldn’t have gotten away with wishing death on Patel or any other woman for that matter. That would be misogynistic…

41
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  stewart

The left especially hate successful, articulate white males, true, but they are also happy to say that various brown people are not proper brown people and also happy to vilify women like Rowling. They hate anyone that poses a threat to them. It’s a war.

68
0
TheGreenAcres
TheGreenAcres
2 years ago

Clarkson belongs to the establishment. I think his article was deliberately planted to garner sympathy for MM and to keep up the victim narrative after a bad week in which they where being widely ridiculed for their Netflix disaster.

24
-5
stewart
stewart
2 years ago
Reply to  TheGreenAcres

That was the ultimate effect. Whether he did it purposely or he’s just a useful idiot doesn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things, does it?

9
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago

Left wing and offensive are brothers in arms.

20
0
Epi
Epi
2 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

The definition.

2
0
Lockdown Sceptic
Lockdown Sceptic
2 years ago

“…just days after Boris Johnson had narrowly escaped death from COVID-19..”

Or to be more accurate he was a bit under the weather so they rushed him to hospital to panic people into thinking Covid was deadly, which it clearly wasn’t.

If anyone needs someone to talk to we meet every Sunday.

Stand in the Park Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am
Make friends & keep sane 
From 1st January 2023  
Elms Field (near Everyman Cinema and play area) 
Wokingham RG40 2FE

22
0
Covid-1984
Covid-1984
2 years ago
Reply to  Lockdown Sceptic

Been thinking the very same about Johnson’s flu. Never put on a respirator (most un-used) , never lost consciousness and was watched 24/7 by two critical care nurses. Who else gets that care. Hands up, be honest.

14
0
Covid-1984
Covid-1984
2 years ago

To award Whitty, whose lies single-handedly trashed the UK economy a knighthood is an outrage

26
0
Epi
Epi
2 years ago

The left’s treatment of Margaret Thatcher on her death was absolutely despicable as well.

Last edited 2 years ago by Epi
8
0
psychedelia smith
psychedelia smith
2 years ago

Dr. Louise Raw’s Twitter says only people she has mentioned or who follow her can reply to her. And ironically she’d probably be the first to use accuse anyone who didn’t agree with her of living in an ‘echo chamber’.

Kind of neatly sums up her pathological neo-fascist pomposity. She’ll whip up her fellow Maoists to crowd fund an all out assault on free speech and nobody is is allowed an opinion on it.

Brave.. So brave.

9
0

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