‘Block Donald Trump From UK Entry’ Petition

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Today, actual politicians in the actual House of Commons debated whether or not Donald Trump should be denied entry to The United Kingdom. Some of them were even being all earnest about it, throwing around words like ‘poisonous’ and wagging their finger all assertively and the like. Straight face and everything.

How did this happen you ask? Well, a while back the UK government decided it would discuss propositions, suggestions or general complaints were they presented in a petition containing 100,000 signatories or more.

One such petition titled ‘Block Donald J Trump from UK entry’  has amassed 575,655 signatures. The argument presented in the petition reads:

The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK.
If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the ‘unacceptable behaviour’ criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful.

Firstly, I’d like to thank the signatories for forcing me into a position where I have to argue in Donald Trump’s corner, of all people. A man with utterly obnoxious views, not to mention *insert obligatory hair joke before posting*. Only in America could such a man be a contender for the top job, and yet he’s somehow managed to make a bigger mockery out of the UK political system.

In a colossal failure of irony awareness, a significant portion of the British public feel that the best way to deal with someone’s illiberal ideas is to have them banned from our shores. What a beautiful display of hypocrisy. Perhaps it’s all just a ‘bit of a laugh’. You know, that superior British sense of humour that Americans just don’t get – or something. Well, this guffaw has now mutated into a gigantic time and money wasting exercise. All the more depressing when you consider the petition to tackle Female Genital Mutilation in the UK only amassed 110,561 signatures. Granted, FGM isn’t nearly as funny.

Most importantly, many of my non-uk readers may not be aware that ‘Trump’ is also British slang for ‘Fart’. If anything, I hope Trump is allowed to visit us just for this reason. I for one, am greatly looking forward to the tabloid punnery that will inevitably ensue. I can see it now – a gormless looking Trump, snapped whilst navigating a blustery British landscape, that famous hair all a drift– Headline: ‘A Trump In The Wind’. You can have that.

Common sense will likely prevail of course, and Trump will not be prevented from travelling to the U.K. However, had Donald Trump just come to the UK as he was planning (presumably), I imagine he would have left at some point yet remained what he largely is: a joke.

Unfortunately, thanks to this petition, we, the U.K are a joke too. We’ve let the world know we can’t take an opposing view, however risible. We’re sending a clear message that we think freedom of speech literally is ‘up for debate’. We’ve also played right into Trump’s hands. He now has the attention of our entire nation – without even stepping foot here. Donald Trump should (and definitely could) pay each and every one of those signatories for the media exposure they’ve gifted him.

Stephen Knight is host of The #GSPodcast. You can listen to The Godless Spellchecker Podcast here, and support it by becoming a patron here.

7 comments

  • Amazing that this is a real thing considering all the uproar in favor of Muslim rights among regressive liberals.

  • I have to say I agree and disagree at the same time. The idea of banning someone from a country because of dumb but hateful things they said does strike me as being silly. However, at the same time, he is attracting a lot of extremists who, at his rallies, attack otherwise peaceful muslims. Now we can try to call them silly or use satire against people like him yet that doesn’t seem to do much of anything but feed the machine and in the meantime, people continue to be hurt. When it comes down to it, hate speech laws are designed to help the most vulnerable, not the ones not in need of it. Sure there are people who can just ignore it or shrug it off, but what about the people who can’t do it so easily?

    I don’t think this makes the UK look silly at all. People need to know there is a fine line between free speech and consequence-free free speech. Especially people like Trump who flouts his money and acts like a bully when he doesn’t get his way.

  • Apparently the petition to block entry into the UK is because of Trump’s saying Muslims should be blocked from entering the US.
    Also apparently, the petition with the next highest signatures after the Trump one is to block refugees from entering the UK. How ironic is that?

  • The regressive Left: Won’t talk to Trump but want to open dialogue with ISIS via ‘back channels’ according to Corbyn.

    Borderline hate speech by someone from the right of politics is clearly more of an abomination to the Left than beheadings, systematic rape, child rape, burning prisoners alive, drowning prisoners, stonings, punishment beating of women & children, throwing gay men from tall buildings or high cliffs, exploding tiny babies as ‘practice’, training kidnapped children into suicide bombers & ‘beheaders’, false imprisonment, slavery, executing tourists as they lay sunbathing on a beach, exploding an airliner full of innocent men, women & children, detonating a bomb amongst a group of retired tourists, summary execution of music concert go-ers (including wheelchair bound spectators) and attacking people enjoying an evening meal in a restaurant. I hope I’ve not missed anything out?

    What a time to be alive.

  • Well, there is sooo much more to it than that. Yes a fairly ‘one sided perception of information’ has been given, but there are so many other factors to consider here, and boring bias does not and should not come into it. Here is one point here, we have been shown an example of how ridiculous the man Trump is with the ‘ban all Muslims’ statement he made, and yes he has made sooo many other faux pas to say the least. So Britain responded with a Ban Trump petition, what has happened here is only a direct and equal response to his initial statement, it is an excercise, a POINT made! To show the absurdity of what he asks of others. Also there are many cases of people being banned from a country, rich people, people with sway. So it would not be a first, nor will it be the last time a scenario like this has arisen. There are more important things in life, like why the Hell are we destroying ourselves into oblivion instead of trying to change the Manmade template and moving onto something better and that works, Look around you, it’s not working, how Stupid can YOU get!???!

  • I agree with your view of Trump as a risible character with obnoxious views. However you have to admit one thing.
    Having people like Trump and Katie Hopkins saying what they really think however outrageous serves a useful purpose.It unlocks the closed doors around many taboo subjects and opens them for reasonable discussion and debate which has hitherto been silenced, censored and stifled at every opportunity by the PC puppets of the elitist left intelligentsia thought police for so many decades. Thanks to people like them who have the courage to withstand ridicule and vilification at last many others are starting to raise their heads above the parapet and finding that they can express their well thought out views on many important topics in a reasonable, intelligent way without being shouted down and dismissed as ‘You racist, homophobic, mysoginist fascists-end of discussion!’

  • PS.
    and the politicians are also taking note and beginning to realise that simply trotting out the well worn trite little speeches to suit the occasion simply doesnt cut it any more. They are actually going to have to put some original thought and feeling into it and recognise and acknowledge the views of real people in the new, internet/social media driven democracy we now live in.

What do you think? Leave some comments!