Although I couldn’t resist the headline, I have no intention of adding to the many hit pieces on Andrew Bridgen.
But nor can I completely condone his recent tweet.
Prior to the events of this week, Bridgen had been brave to raise the extremely important issue of vaccine harms in Parliament.
One always assumes politicians are behaving in a largely calculated manner most of the time. But Bridgen’s recent speech on the matter was so brave and borderline reckless that one wonders if he has simply always been acting solely according to his conscience, and this is just the first time it happens to have landed him in this much trouble.
Or, as I suggested in another piece, maybe he has recently taken a hefty dose of red pills. All the signs are there: awareness of vaccine damages, appearing on James Delingpole’s podcast… actually that’s all you need.
Unfortunately the same instinct, whether naivety or righteous zeal, caused him to post his regrettable tweet.
Now let’s be clear: in no way was the tweet anti-Semitic. I have this on good authority from my most anti-Semitism-aware friend, who even believes the term ‘Globalism‘ is anti-Semitic, yet conceded Bridgen’s tweet was not. Crass, perhaps. Racist, no.
Nor was Bridgen intending to trivialise the Holocaust. He employed it as an analogy precisely because of its horrific properties. And by calling the global vaccine side-effects scandal the “biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust” (or, at least, endorsing a cardiologist who made this point) he is seemingly presenting the vaccines as the next worst event.
Still, the details almost don’t matter, because he has already lost.
And by making the ill-advised analogy, my fear is he has ended up undermining the serious cause he was rightly highlighting.
He has given the Guardian the ammunition to bizarrely link him to Andrew Tate, and call for more online censorship off the back of it, and allowed Rishi Sunak, and that ludicrous popinjay Matt Hancock to call him anti-Semitic.
This allows them to crush Covid dissent, bin Bridgen, and move on.
It could be compared to Enoch Powell’s famous “Rivers of Blood” speech, in that it raised a very serious issue that concerns huge numbers of people, but did it in a sufficiently lurid way as to set the argument back catastrophically.
Just as the debate on immigration was buried to the detriment of the country, will the legitimate issue of vaccine harms now be similarly silenced?
It certainly looks that way in the short term, and it reminds us all of the discipline needed when one is on the despised (yet correct) fringe of accepted opinion. Dissident discipline, one might call it.
Lacking this vigilance, Bridgen handed his party the perfect excuse to dump him.
Chief Whip Simon Hart’s statement clearly reflects that. His claim that “Andrew Bridgen has crossed a line, causing great offence in the process”, suggests that the Party’s main concern was raising the issue of vaccine safety, with the Holocaust reference being an offensive aside. The next part confirms this reading:
As a nation we should be very proud of what has been achieved through the vaccine programme. The vaccine is the best defence against Covid that we have. Misinformation about the vaccine causes harm and costs lives. I am therefore removing the whip from Andrew Bridgen with immediate effect, pending a formal investigation.
The idea we should be proud of the vaccine programme is simply an opinion, albeit one that appears to be rigorously enforced. I personally remain impressed by the logistics of the rollout, which could not have been achieved within the EU, but would not go anywhere near the actual product.
Hart goes on to discredit himself with standard Regime terms like ‘misinformation’, and the contemporary authoritarian’s favourite claim: that exposing potential wrongdoing is causing ‘harm’.
I believe Bridgen will be proved right on vaccines in the long term, but his reputation may sadly remain tarnished by the clumsy comparison he made.
In future, let’s maintain our dissident discipline, and not give our glib oppressors any open goals.
Discussion
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Andrew Bridgen’s speech is a major step forward in prising open the COVID Pandora’s Box and outing the Truth.
My thoughts exactly. Disappointed in Nick’s take on this. Bridgen raised vaccine issues in parliament – zero reaction from MSM. Bridgen makes perfectly reasonable comparison with government coercion and propaganda over experimental ‘vaccines’ and the Holocaust, and MSM is all over it. Go figure. We cannot hide. We must not abide by their rules; to do so is playing right into their hands.
Indeed
He has lost… and clearly the speech regulators have won when self-censorship is advocated by people who should realise the consequences of that and know better.
Streisand Effect. The storm over Andrew Bridgen has created far more publicity of the issue than would otherwise have happened if the Offence Scumbags hadn’t jumped all over his Tweet.
‘It could be compared to Enoch Powell’s famous “Rivers of Blood” speech, in that it raised a very serious issue that concerns huge numbers of people, but did it in a sufficiently lurid way as to set the argument back catastrophically.’
I recall Ted Heath saying when banishing EP that his words (‘Like the centurion, I seem to see the Tiber flowing with much blood’) were exacerbatory. Others feared he was attempting a self-fulfilling prophecy. The fact is that he had found a way to get himself thrown into the wilderness, where he could languish and glower at Heath; and he was always going to do that. He did the same thing in 1959, making Macmillan kick him out, as part of the ‘small local difficulties’ of that time.
Bridgen’s tweet is in no way comparable. Where is the exacerbation, the malign prophecy? And what is the setback? No one familiar with the data can think less of the concerns Bridgen is raising about the cvd19 jabs because of what he tweeted. He is pointing out facts, speaking for many eminently qualified people who are silenced.
And the holocaust analogy is not inappropriate. Hitler had plans to exterminate the entire… Read more »
They are comparable in that they both touched on subjects that have been rendered taboo by the left.
If you think a particular action will lead to bad outcomes, how is pointing that out “exacerbatory”? How would you point it out without being “exacerbatory”?
Fair points.
Clearly Andrew Bridgen referencing the cardiologist referencing the holocaust was not anti- semitic. It has unfortunately though taken the focus away from his well argued demand to suspend the covid vaccine roll-out until proper consideration has been given to the possible harmful side effects. The debate has become tangled-up in what is anti-semitism. Given that any criticism of Israeli Government policy is now deemed anti-semitic it is best to avoid any reference to the holocaust. A better more contemporary reference would be its the biggest crime against humanity since the adoption of net zero but that would simply shift the debate to net zero. So I think Nick is correct!! Dissident discipline is the way forward!!
If you allow the enemy to dictate what language you use, you’re going to lose.
Time Pool satirises the “disciplined dissenters” in the RINO group of the US Uniparty who respond to accusations of, let’s say, Debate Hijacker, Anti-Vaxxer, Anti Semite, Fascist, Racist, etc. by saying “just slow down there!” and doing absolutely nothing. That works.
I only have the data up to October/November 2022…but here are some of the highlights…..!!
The MHRA in the UK states that 2,330 deaths and 1,533,654 injuries have now been reported by 470,023 people following a Covid-19
(We know these are vastly under reported.)
Following a Covid-19 Injection The deaths of 15 children have now been reported. Over 4,511 reports of death or injury to a child now reported in the UK.
following a Covid-19 Injection 183 cases of myocarditis/pericarditis now reported in children under 18.
In the USA, 167 Reports of the death of a child (6 months -17 years, plus 2 children under 6 months of age) and 543 cases of a child being permanently disabled following a Covid-19 Injection….
Governments and their institutions have become serial-killers…..
Worldwide….millions injured, thousands dead…..
Sons, daughters, mums, dads, sisters, brothers…as far as I am concerned IT IS a holocaust….
I’m absolutely behind Andrew, and many jabbed people I know are as well…..the press have made themselves irrelevant to ordinary people with half a brain..anyone who reads the MSM comments can see the massive disparity between the propaganda being printed, and the reality of what people think….there is a huge groundswell of… Read more »
Yes, very well said, huge crime, disgracing mankind, as the holocaust did, an appropriate analogy.
The knee jerk reaction to the H word is the virtue signallers equivalent to a spinal reflex. The context in which the H word is used is irrelevant. It’s only important to decry the utterer of the H word to save yourself from condemnation by association. Just as you swiftly withdraw your finger if you touch a flame.
Initially I was with you. Why even use the word that is going to trigger a response?
but now I am also thinking that by using this word he has gained more publicity, more MSM engagement than if he hadn’t. Will this help show more people that these vaccines are not completely safe and effective.
Time will tell.
I’m surprised by the hackles that this article seems to have raised. I interpreted the author’s viewpoint to be fully supportive of Bridgen’s position, while regretting that he handed the opposition such an easy way to discredit and shut him out. The basis on which he was discredited may be (objectively is) absurd, but that’s the reality of the current environment, and Bridgen’s voice was more powerful from within than it will be from the outside, which is what the author of this article, and I, regret.
Do you think he wouldn’t have been ruthlessly attacked if he’d used cuddly analogies?
If anything he has had more attention like this, and exposed the liars more effectively.
He is a bloody hero.
One can look at it this way,
Ask yourself the question: was the reference to the Holocaus factually incorrect or an exaggeration of the current situation? If you decide the answer is “yes” then Bridgen deservss the criticism he is getting. If your answer is “no” then ask yourself why am I objecting to his tweet? Haven’t I just let myself be intimidated by his critics, exactly as they want?
Me too (oops, sorry!). I interpreted the article as you did and I just hope that others on here are correct that this was a deliberate tactic to garner more attention for the vaccine issue.
The article is click bait…
I’ll have to get my sense of humour bypass reversed!
Lol. I guess I’ve had one too – I can see there are attempts at humour (e.g. the pun in the title) but it’s not exactly a rib-tickler.
Ditto.
If you are on an airliner and someone starts using lurid analogies to point out that there is a fire in one of the loos have they ‘lost the argument’ then and everyone should carry on watching the inflight film?
Excellent point to differentiate between the logistical success of the ‘vaccine’ roll out and the failure of their clinical performance
Strange how politicians conflate both aspects to be a success?
Indeed. I’m sure the roll out of thalidomide was also a logistical success.
Ironic that there was a river of blood in Euston yesterday with a drive by shooting.
But Nick. Tens of millions agree with Bridgen. Trump was right and Bridgen will be proven right.
The treatment Bridge received says a lot more about the Conservative party/Parliament than Bridgen himself. If MPs cannot understand the very clear semantics that Bridgen used, then how can we trust them with any other deliberation, including the online harms bill?
I’m sure Hancock et al understand perfectly well. The outrage is faux. They are scared.
Indeed, this is no time to be milquetoast, lest we be the new Neville Chamberlains.
Indeed. The tone of Nick Dixon’s article sounds too milquetoast and Neville Chamberlain.
Many people thought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was going too far back in his day as well, and that he should perhaps tone it down a notch or two. And Gandhi, and so on. Just saying.
Indeed. Insisting on playing nice while the other side is clearly NOT, is like having one hand tied behind your back. Mealy-mouthed and namby-pamby language will only get you so far, and not very. Time to take the gloves off, and throw down the gauntlet!
Pots and kettles. Some of the language used by the Lockdown fanatics has been beyond the pale. “Killing granny”, “look him in the eye” etc. And now these delicate flowers expect us to mind our Ps and Qs? Forget it.
I’m inclined to think that the Twitter post was deliberate bait for the outrage mob. When forensically analysed he’s clearly without sin; but without the provoked condemnation his stance on the vaccines would continue to be shadow banned by the MSM. It’s the best publicity he could have hoped for in order to raise the profile of the problem, and I reckon he has concluded that if he has to take the fall to get it out there then he’s willing to make that sacrifice.
I was a Remainer who used to see Bridgen as the epitome of the the worst of the Tory party; I’ve completely reversed my position and take my hat off to him.
Precisely. The government have shot themselves in the foot using these tactics. What I’d like to see is more MPs speaking up in Andrew’s defense. What are they going to do? Suspend them all? It’s times like this when you can see plain as day who has an intact moral compass and is a decent human being and who is a lying, cowardly schmuck. Andrew is doing a stellar job of inadvertently sorting the wheat from the chaff, and there doesn’t appear to be much wheat around.
The MPs wont’s publicly support him as they are more bothered about being deselected for the next election by their party. No longer serve as MPs ‘without fear or favour’
We may find out that the Holocaust was practice for this.
The problem is you only have to slip up once.
The opposition is sitting waiting for that moment — and when it comes they’ll attack with everything they’ve got. It doesn’t matter what it is, if there’s any leverage they’ll use it to the max to destroy you.
It is only a matter of time for anyone who opposes the government at the moment — all we can hope is that when the truth comes out we can offer some redress to those who were destroyed because they tried to warn of a terrible medical risk.
Slip? Who “slipped” and how?
Whoever speaks against the covid narrative will be attacked, regardless of what they say and how they say it.
Hear hear. And it looks like Hancock has come up smelling of roses after his ”slip up”, to name just one. As you say, it’s purely to do with opposing the narrative, pointing out inconvenient truths and not toeing the line and has bugger all to do with WW2 or Jews. He’s showing up the real reason he’s being dragged through the mud and the true colours of all of these malicious clowns that run the country good and proper.
He wasn’t clumsy or indiscreet. No apologies for him should be made. He has been slandered pure and simple. He has not done anything wrong.
”The idea we should be proud of the Anschluss is simply an opinion, albeit one that appears to be rigorously enforced. I personally remain impressed by the logistics of the blitzkrieg, which could not have been achieved within the Weimar Republic, but would not go anywhere near the actual enlistment”.
Good for you Nick, stick to your principles and don’t get “careless” with your opinions.
Nick, the ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech is remembered to this day, and the fact that you mentioned it proves that. What other speech of the time is?
If Nick Dixon can’t see that Handcock and Sunak, the media and the corrupt medical and corporate establishment have deliberately used the anti-Semite card as a way to try and discredit Andrew Bridgen to shut down any discussion about the mRNA injections and the harm they are causing, then he’s blind. This is going to back fire on them spectacularly. No matter how much these people try to back away from the harm they have inflicted on society through their ill conceived pandemic policies, they will eventually be exposed and held accountable. The narrative is starting to crumble and this only helps it crumble more quickly.
That’s not how I read the article. Nick Dixon can see this perfectly well and is simply lamenting the fact that Bridgen scored an own goal by posting the Holocaust tweet, thereby allowing the entire MSM the opportunity to divert attention from the issue he was raising.
Own goal? Your opinion, not a fact.
Equally arguable it has got him more attention.
Anyone questioning the narrative, however they do it, will be smeared, ignored, shut down, vilified etc.
Bridgen is a bloody hero and how he’s been treated has exposed to a wider audience more clearly how corrupt the pro-vaxxers are.
The time for being mealy-mouthed is over.