This week on Taking The Myth, Stephen Knight(@GSpellchecker) and Iram Ramzanof sedaa.org (@Iram_Ramzan) discuss the big topics.
0:00 Intro 0:59 Reporting from the Covid related protests in London 5:22 Vaccines becoming part of the culture war 10:53 Alleged lockdown Tory drinks ‘parties’. 19:19 Harry Miller legal victory over ‘transphobic tweets’ and ‘non-crime hate incidents’. 25:37 The gender debate and the impact on free speech 32:18 Edward Colston statue toppling court verdict 43:34 Maajid Nawaz gets fired from LBC Radio 51:23 How can you tell if people are playing to their audience rather than being objective? 55:06 Handling a sudden increase in audience size 1:00:00 Angela Rayner playing the ‘working-class northerner’ card. 1:13:00 Texas synagogue hostage taker was from Blackburn, UK
This week on The Knight Tube, Stephen Knight (@Gspellchecker) welcomes Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens (@AMHitchens). Alexander is a Lecturer in terrorism at King’s College London and the author of ‘Incitement: Anwar al-Awlaki’s Western Jihad’. They discuss radicalisation, terrorism, and the influence of al-Awlaki on modern Islamic extremism. 0:00 Start 0:35 About Alexander 1:51 The approach and style choice when writing about Anwar Al-Awlaki 5:35 Who was Anwar Al-Awlaki? 11:09 Foreign policy versus religious ideology? 19:08 Is the doctrine of Islam a special case when it comes to extremism? 26:33 Should Islamist and Jihadi sermons remain on platforms such as YouTube? What role do digital platforms play in radicalisation? 34:27 The government response to the killing of UK politician David Amess at the hands of a suspected Jihadist. 39:39 Are counter-terror organisations better prepared than our politicians? 45:58 The public opposition to linking Islam with violent extremism 52:05 The ‘reactionary wave’: Similarities between salafi-Jihadists and white supremacists.
This week on The Knight Tube, Stephen Knight (@Gspellchecker) welcomes James Esses (@JamesEsses). James was a trainee psychotherapist and children’s counsellor until he was expelled for publicly expressing his opinions on gender ideology and transitioning. James is now taking legal action against his former place of study on grounds of discrimination.
0:00 Start 0:17 About James and his background 1:41 What is Childline? 3:26 Where was James studying before being expelled? 4:41 When did James first start taking an interest in the issue of gender dysphoria? 6:59 What is ‘gender dysphoria’ 8:07 Gender dysphoria vs. social contagion 13:02 Parents with ‘trans babies’. 16:51 How do we separate the bigots from the genuine concerns? 20:25 James’s online petition to the UK government. 24:56 ‘Conversion therapy’ in the context of transgenderism 27:33 ‘Watchful waiting’: Do most people with gender dysphoria ‘desist’ if given time? 28:43 Getting expelled from his psychotherapy course. 30:59 Has academia been captured by gender ideology? 34:38 Taking legal action 38:02 Updates on the legal action 39:46 James’s relationship with his employer 41:26 Any precedents that provide hope for successful legal action? 43:47 Legal action as a last resort
Over the years I’ve been on the ground at many street protests and events with the goal of documenting opinions and fairly reporting a flavour of the messaging. Like many, I have been deeply frustrated to then read via mainstream sources that these same events were either ‘far-right’ or ‘racist’.
There’s something incredibly classist (and lazy) about journalists judging thousands of ordinary people as bigots from the distance and safety of their keyboard. I’ve pushed back against these narratives because they simply did not map on to the observed reality. This did me no favours of course, as I’d simply be accused of ‘defending racists’. But I didn’t care, because pushing back against misinformation and documenting truth is all I need.
My test of what a gathering is about relies on what you can see and hear most. Which themes and opinions dominate. Basically, if an impartial observer was to turn a corner and stumble across a protest, what would their ears and eyes reasonably inform them it was about?
This brings me to the protest I covered outside Parliament in London UK on Saturday the 18th of December. The protests were organised with the intention of challenging the government’s plans on vaccine mandates and potential further restrictions. As a staunch liberal, this is all perfectly valid and important stuff to be engaged in. If you can’t peacefully protest state restrictions, then what can you protest?
The problem however, is that there are some deeply troubling components to this sort of protest. And the truth is, there was not a single direction you could glance without seeing or hearing anti-vaccine misinformation, Holocaust comparisons, or antisemitic conspiracies about Rothschild controlled governments. Some of this made ‘the great reset’ banners seem quaint.
Furthermore, these extremists seemed perfectly at home, waving their placards and shouting through their megaphones without so much as a “steady on” from other presumably more reasonable protestors.
You can watch my coverage below:
If an impartial stranger was to come across this protest on Saturday, they would almost have no choice but to conclude it was organised to peddle conspiracies and spread vaccine misinformation. That’s the difference between previous protests I’ve defended and this one. The cries of ‘anti-vaxxer’ and ‘conspiracy theorist’ would be much easier to defend against were it not for a shocking surplus of anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.
It is certainly unfair to generalise all those present as being equally untethered from reality. Of course there were people present with genuine and reasonable grievences. I’d also be happy (and relieved) to accept the plausible view that the cranks and conspiracy theorists present did not represent the majority of those that gathered. But if that isn’t even close to being apparent from your own protest, where would it be?
Stephen Knight is host of The #GSPodcast. You can listen to The Godless Spellchecker Podcast here, and support it by becoming a patron here.
This week on Taking The Myth, Stephen Knight(@GSpellchecker) and Iram Ramzanof sedaa.org (@Iram_Ramzan) discuss the big topics.
0:00 Intro 0:24 Omicron and the NHS 4:17 Is it even possible to vaccinate the planet to a sufficient degree? 5:30 Jeremy Sleath wins unfair dismissal case after being fired for anti-Islam Facebook post 12:56 New Zealand Professor Garth Cooper faces disciplinary action for refusing to teach Māori creation myths in Science class. 16:47 The weird worship of Jacinda Ardern 17:41 Rod Liddle’s Durham university controversy and the cowardice of leaders in Academia 26:26 J.K.Rowling and Scotland to log rapes as committed by women if the male perpetrator identifies as a woman. 35:09 The erasure of the word ‘woman’. 40:25 Remembering Christopher Hitchens 45:05 Jussie Smollett found guilty of a hate crime hoax 52:09 Audience Question: Is the BBC downplaying religion in reporting on extremism? 53:36: Audience Question: Why do people love some animals but are ok with eating others? 57:16 Audience Question: Any Aslan contenders for the end of 2021? 01:00:11 Christmas plans 01:02:21 Christmas movie choices
This week on The Knight Tube, Stephen Knight (@Gspellchecker) welcomes physics teacher and journalist Debbie Heyton (@DebbieHayton). Debbie transitioned in her 40s and talks about why she opposes the popular narrative on transgenderism and gender ideology.
0:09 Start of interview 0:17 About Debbie Hayton 2:00 Debbie’s transition 4:43 Affirmation versus treatment. Is transitioning always the solution? 7:19 Are transgender rights the new gay rights struggle? 12:51 Why has defining sex become taboo? How do we define it? 18:17 LGBT & Stonewall: Should gay and trans issues be contained under the same umbrella? 24:26 Are Stonewall damaging the conversation on trans rights? 29:04 The diversity of thought within the transgender population. 30:38 What are your political leanings? 34:22 Misgendering and the importance of pronouns 40:24 Statistics on trans suicide and murder 46:35 Are trans people being presented as dangerous by default? 54:48 Is support for Self-ID a big problem for Labour’s election chances?