Saturday 11 July 2020

OWEN'S CANCEL HYPOCRISY

Little Owen has got his knickers in a twist over cancel culture this week.  He appeared to be triggered by a series of articles in The Times condemning the totalitarian practice.  In a Twitter thread of five tweets he rants and raves with no discernible central argument.  In dozens more tweets over the following days (and an appearance on Sky News) it becomes clear that his beef is with the framing of cancel culture being a left-wing phenomenon.  In other words he is on the defensive.


No-one is claiming that cancel culture is exclusively a leftist beast, but the vile hate campaigns of woke Twitter overwhelmingly come from the left.  Earlier this week the British actress Jodie Comer was targeted over a rumour that she was dating an American Trump supporter.  One of the hashtags that trended was #jodiecomerisoverparty - in other words we have cancelled Jodie and we are having a party.  As Owen alludes to in his above tweet, it's unlikely that the actress will be dropped from the next series of Killing Eve, but what will probably happen is that she will never return to Twitter again.  This is the same online bullying that potentially contributed to the suicide of the TV presenter Caroline Flack.  There's no doubt that some of the same woke morons who brutally troll the likes of Jodie Comer used the hashtag #BeKind after Flack tragically ended her life.

It's also worth noting that while there were isolated calls for the Karl Marx memorial to be removed from Highgate Cemetery, the overwhelming majority of calls for statues to be removed are coming from the hard left.  Who fell Colston?  Who attacked Churchill and the Cenotaph?  Which councils are removing statues, changing place names and erasing our history?  This is cancel culture too, in fact it's an attempt to literally cancel an entire culture.

So Little Owen is, of course, way off the mark.  All he is concerned with is defending the left and demonising the right.  In recent days he has persistently used the physical assault on him that took place last year as an example of far right cancel culture.  However, if someone on the right took an example like for instance the wave of milkshake attacks on Brexiteers last year, you can be certain that Owen would accuse them of 'gaslighting'.  That's exactly what happened to Priti Patel recently when she discussed her own experiences of racism.  The left declared she was 'gaslighting' real concerns of racism.  Only the left can be victims in their own eyes and if violence befalls anyone else then they deserved it because they are 'racists', 'fascists', 'trans-phobes' - in other words less than human.

This is a clip from Owen's appearance on Sky News on Saturday in which conservative commentator Toby Young calls out his rampant hypocrisy.  As Young berates him he shakes his head vigorously like a petulant child.


Another of those responding to Little Owen's latest crusade was Andrew Neil.  The pair have been involved in a spat going back years.  On Friday Neil declared that Owen had "tried - and failed - to cancel my BBC career several times".  This put Owen into a frenzy and the wee lad dedicated half a dozen tweets to attacking Neil calling him a liar amid various accusations.  Neil didn't bother responding - unlike Owen he's a grown up.

Ironically, the tweet that had driven the touchy so and so up the wall contained the following screenshot of a tweet Owen posted only last month...


So this is not cancel culture Owen?  Trying to get someone sacked from their job because they said your pal Ash Sarkar 'reaped what she sowed'?  Owen is also famous for cancelling anyone who criticises him on Twitter.  If you're not blocked by hypocrite Owen you must be a lefty!