If you haven’t read Jan Moir’s hideous column in today’s Daily Mail, please take a moment to do so:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death–.html
You wouldn’t want to be one of those people who are righteously indignant about it having not read it, as she claims, and not being in possession of all the facts.
First things first; Jan Moir has every right to say whatever she likes, no matter how much others may disagree with her. That’s the price we pay for our freedom of speech. Likewise, I have every right to say that Jan Moir harbours views and opinions that should outrage every right thinking person, and that she chose to say what she did shows her up to be a bigoted, callous and utterly despicable person. She is a Twat Wagon, pure and simple.
But aside from her comments, I’ve been irked and bothered by some of the shrugging dismissals of it all that I’ve read/heard today. They take one of two themes. The first is, “Well, it’s the Daily Mail, what do you expect, they’re playing to their base, and why are you reading it anyway?”
This is akin to saying “Bullies bully, let them get on with it.” Bigotry is bigotry, and should be challenged and highlighted at every opportunity. That the Daily Mail does it all the time is exactly the point, and the more we let it pass with nary a comment, the more insipid it becomes. I don’t care which straw it was that broke the camel’s back, I just hope it stays broken.
I don’t buy the paper, I never have, but millions do every week, which is precisely why it needs to be kept an eye on. If one in ten readers decides the paper has gone too far and stops buying it, that would be a huge victory.
The second tranche goes along the lines, “By talking about it you’re playing into their hands. All publicity is good publicity.” I have no sympathy for this attitude; simply because doing nothing lets the bigotry thrive.
At one stage today, the paper edited the article on their website and stripped it off all image based advertising. That’s not for nothing. The outrage poured upon it must have made advertisers nervous, and nothing hurts the paper more than a dent in revenue, especially in this economic climate.
Ultimately, they’re hocking what sells, and if they go too far too often, and enough people keep highlighting the heinous invective, thus negatively affecting sales, the hateful spite might subside.
