As I write this piece I look back at all the posts and media coverage that Caroline Flack’s suicide had very rightly gained. All over the internet and mass media, tributes were being paid and messages of ‘be kind’ are all over the place. It is a very sad story and I could not agree more with the ‘be kind’ hashtag. It doesn’t cost anything to be kind and I don’t see the reason why someone has to take their own life before kindness is encouraged.
I do write for Gscene and I do believe in the freedom of speech.
What I do not believe in is the freedom of horrible and vile people, using their privilege and public platforms to promote hate and bigotry. If anything, throughout the years, we have learned that hate breeds hate which subsequently promotes violence and always ends up horribly bad.
Why does the mass media give space to people to be horrible and promote hate?
Why does someone like Dr Kathleen Stock, a professor of philosophy of the University of Sussex, claiming to be a gender critical feminist, have the right to constantly be in the public eye with her transphobic views, express her bigoted ideas on transgender and non-binary humans?
Why does Julie Bindel, a radical feminist who writes for The Guardian, have a platform to promote her hate speech against the trans and non-binary community?
Would the same space be given to a neo-Nazi journalist to promote their hatred for Jewish people, gays, lesbians and minorities? Or would a man from a patriarchal lobbying group be constantly featured in the papers telling us why he thinks that women should not have the right to vote and should get back in the kitchen and let men rule the world? How about a racist having their own TV series telling us every day that black people are not equal?
My advice for Dr Kathleen Stock, Julie Bindel and any other spreader of bigotry and hate, would be to redirect your time, energy and public platforms to some worthy causes and not simply attack a minority group just because it makes you feel more powerful. Are you claiming to be feminists? Have you already solved the equality issues in this society and have you managed to end the gender pay gap? Have you fought the patriarchal lobbying groups and won the fight?
The answer is a simple no. You are fully aware of the issues that need your attention and what is worth fighting for, but you simply choose to very cowardly attack a minority which will get you more press coverage and make you feel more powerful.
Just like kids in a playground, you don’t stand up to the one that appears to be taller and stronger than you, but instead you choose to bully the one that you perceive to be smaller and weaker just because you are bound to look stronger.
But guess what? You are not.
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