Suzanne Harrington: The UK's treatment of Graham Linehan and Kneecap is a study in contrasts
Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court, London, during his trial over an alleged harassment of a transgender woman.
‘Ello ‘ello ‘ello, what’s all this then? A prominent member of the British government says that UK police should focus on “streets not tweets”.
Minister of Hypocrisy Wes Streeting sounds quite pleased with himself. How sensible his declaration makes him sound, and maybe a teeny bit funny too. Streets, tweets. Ha ha.
He is referring, of course, to our very own Graham Linehan, who these days is neither sensible nor funny, despite once co-creating one of our greatest cultural icons, Father Ted.
These days, we regard Linehan the way one does a distant relative of whom we were once quite fond, but who is now best known for being naked in Tesco or joining the Westboro Baptist Church.
As you know, Linehan — whose extreme hatred of trans people and his inability to STFU about his extreme hatred of trans people has so far cost him his career, family, and every last shred of credibility — was arrested at Heathrow for urging, via social media, people to violently physically attack trans people.
Not really, interjects the Minister of British Double Standards, who, along with his streets-not-tweets quip, says that nobody becomes a police officer in order to arrest middle-aged men for tweeting, and that British free speech laws need to be reviewed.
The Prime Minister, once upon a time a human rights lawyer, adds how the UK has “a long history of free speech…. I’m very proud of that and will always defend it”.
Unless, of course, you oppose genocide, in which case he’ll call you a terrorist and have you arrested.
By the time you read this, Linehan will have appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court, the very same court where his fellow citizen Liam Og O’Hannaidh was recently tried for ‘terrorism’.
Unlike Linehan, in court charged with harassing a trans teenager and smashing their phone (this was before he urged his online followers to physically attack trans people), Mo Chara’s ‘terrorist’ charge involved touching a flag thrown on stage at a gig.
So there we have it. One Irish person is charged with ‘terrorism’ in a UK court for speaking out against violence, while another Irish person is being held up as a victim of unfree speech for speaking out in favour of violence.
Confused? You’re meant to be. Remember — police are there for streets, not tweets, unless you’re a member of the Avon & Somerset police, whose duties include the micro-analysis of Kneecap’s Glastonbury footage, or you’re a member of London’s Metropolitan Police, required to micro-analyse Kneecap’s London concert footage. Their ‘crime’? Criticising the perpetrators and supporters of genocide, including the UK government.
In contrast, calls to commit actual hate-crime — like Graham Linehan urging his half a million Twitter followers to “punch [trans people] in the balls” — are met with Streeting’s streets-not-tweets response.
Free speech is important, says the British government, unless you’re saying something we don’t want to hear. Then you’re a terrorist. “The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it,”
George Orwell could have said five minutes ago. Streets-not-tweets? How about policing wrongs-not-songs? Attacks-not-tracks?
I’d list more, but I can’t think of anything that rhymes with genocide apologists supporting transphobes.
