Alex Jones of Infowars has been banned by the tech companies
from most social media platforms. Tommy
Robinson, ( whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) the former leader of the
EDL and a self-proclaimed campaigner for free speech and against Islamification of Britain (accused by many of simple agitation against Muslims), has
been released from prison following his appeal heard before the Lord Chief
Justice of England.
What both these political activists have in common is their
repeated accusations that the establishment has a Left wing agenda. These claims have landed them in very hot
water. Of course, it is possible to get
bogged down in the legal argument about Tommy Robinson. It is true that he is only released on bail
and that he will have to face court again with regard to the contempt of court
accusation. Nonetheless it was found
that his imprisonment was wrong and that the court acted in haste and
disproportionately in sentencing him to a custodial sentence for contempt.
Many figures from Right and Left, including Nigel Farage,
have suggested that Tommy Robinson went too far in broadcasting outside the
court room where men (of Muslim background, which is significant to Tommy Robinson’s
argument that the establishment turns a blind eye to Muslim crime) were being
tried for the crime of grooming under-age indigenous girls for sex. Tommy Robinson states he was careful only to
read from a published BBC article still in the public domain on his live feed,
but many have suggested he was jeopardising the prosecution of the accused.
Alex Jones is also a controversial figure, in particular
with his comments on the Sandyhook massacre, for which the parents of the
children murdered are suing him. In his
vociferous defence of the right to bear arms he suggested that the massacre
might have been a hoax to support a campaign against guns. Nonetheless, the social media platforms are
relying on the vague concept of “hate speech” to remove him from their
platforms.
Of course it is important to understand the exact reasons
why Alex Jones has been de-platformed and why Tommy Robinson was imprisoned,
but looked at from a broader perspective it seems something very concerning is
taking place. It is something the public
in general perceive, despite what they are told by the BBC or CNN – that because
these men are on the Right they have been dealt with more harshly by the
system. In that sense what these two men
say about the establishment, which might have looked like conspiracy theories
before, is now looking more credible.
In the light of the over-reaction to Boris Johnson’s article
in which he argued against banning
the full-face-veil, yet is being attacked for Islamophobia for colourful
comments, it seems a pattern is emerging.
The tension seems at first to be about free speech versus causing offence,
but looked at more closely it is actually about protecting certain favoured
groups from offence. Whether it be
transgender people, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, women or in this case
Muslims, there is a special protection given to certain groups in accordance
with a specific ideology that dominates the thinking of the Western
universities from which our politicians and leaders emerge. This is what many right-wing internet
personalities describe as Cultural Marxism, by which the old Marxist analysis
of the rich bourgeoisie having power over their victims the proletariat is
replaced by a broader narrative of power and oppression. Like the Marxists, these new ideologues do
not look at people as individuals, but whether they belong to an oppressor or
victim class. For this reason there are
no restrictions on causing offence to those in the oppressor class, which is
why the general public is right to feel that there is one rule for them and
another for us, so to speak.
This is a dangerous and destructive ideology that prevents
integration and encourages feelings of resentment and entitlement. Psychologically, as Dr. Jordan Peterson has
made clear, one does far better in life if one takes responsibility for
oneself, rather than sinks ever deeper into the resentment and disempowerment
caused by such an ideology ( if you are a member of one of the groups
classified as oppressed). However, for
the privileged elite who believe in this cultural-Marxist analysis, it has the
great advantage of making them feel good and virtuous without the economic and
other costs of a real Marxist revolution.
Yet, the recent events relating to Tommy Robinson and Alex
Jones suggest this is slightly more sinister (and we do not have to agree with their conspiracy theories to be worried). When you reduce your analysis of a society to
a crude binary battle between oppressor and victim, in which all nuance,
individual virtue and ideals are ignored, then that justifies the use of power
against your political enemies, who are seen as the enemies of progress and by
definition evil oppressors.
Therefore, we need to start to take seriously the
possibility that due process and fairness will cease to matter to the powerful Cultural-Marxist
Left because they are so sure they are on the side of right and progress. For that reason, rules and laws may be used
simply as tools to silence those perceived as reactionaries.
Because this ideology has solidified its view of who is in
the oppressor and victim group, adherents are not able to comprehend the
possibility that those who were once oppressors could be left behind. This is why so little has been done about
white working-class schoolboys falling behind in education. It is also why the establishment cannot
understand why someone like Tommy Robinson has achieved such a following. Neither can they imagine that mass
immigration could ever be negative on the poor, because any criticism of mass
migration is an attack on a group classified as a victim group.
What all this means is that the apparent conspiracy theories
advocated by Jones and Robinson are not necessarily crazy at all. While their specific claims might be questionable, they have been shut down by the powerful. It was their advocacy of such theories that
led to their draconian treatment to a large extent. They are right to suspect freedom of speech
is being shut down, as evidenced by the hysterical reaction to Boris Johnson’s
article on the niqab. These are all
consequences of the Manichean and simplistic yet sanctimonious belief-system
dominant in our establishment. Alex
Jones and Tommy Robinson, whether you agree with them or not, are really
victims of this new oxymoronic phenomenon of liberal totalitarianism.
