Katie Hopkins and why winning the culture wars matters

Katie and Eric (in case you were wondering)

To my lovely friend xxx and her “IdontlikeKatieHopkins” friends

I should say to begin with, I have appreciated being one of your Facebook friends, at least until you defriended me, and value our shared past, particularly when it comes to sticking up for and working on behalf of the underdog. While we may disagree, probably profoundly, on what I am about to write, I had hoped we wouldn’t defriend each other as a result, which is pertinent to why I am writing and my concern when I witness weakness in disunity.

I hope too that if your friends who have contributed to the recent discussion on your Facebook page around deplatforming Katie Hopkins, if they care to read this, will recognize I am not ducking their bemused reaction to my “Katie Hopkins breath of fresh air” comment; it could even be the start of a fruitful dialogue. I am taking time out from what I was planning today because all this is close to my heart as a watcher of the culture with a strong desire to improve the lot of all, especially the vulnerable and dispossessed.

I am referring to your post which refers to the banning of Katie Hopkins from Twitter, a move which you and many of your friends support, and you are not the only friend to do so. It is a similar scenario to when last week Nigel Farage was sacked from LBC for expressing views unacceptable to those who call the shots. Other friends supported this move too and with both Katie and Nigel I disagree with that reaction and hope they find new, better platforms to share their valuable insights. One of the sadnesses I see in the current “culture wars” is the “divide and rule” mentality. Whereas we should be uniting behind “love thy neighbor” and in our case “love God” too, it seems the hidden hand that wants to enslave us, assuming it exists, is succeeding in disuniting us on lesser issues and getting their way, for that is the only way they are going to succeed.

I did some Google searching. Firstly, on “banning people on Twitter”, to get an idea on the criteria for banning. Admittedly, I didn’t pursue this as much as I needed to support my thesis that Twitter (like Facebook and YouTube) as has often been claimed, have chosen to ban conservative voices but not liberal ones because of “unacceptable” and “don’t fit the narrative” positions (a project for another day perhaps). I noted the word “dehumanizing” kept cropping up. Giving the vilification and character assassination of this lady, like by some who post on your page, on Twitter, I wonder in the interest of fairness why those culprits aren’t banned too?

This brings me to my next search “banning Katie Hopkins on Twitter” and there were a number of hits. Again, I didn’t pursue this as much as I could, I found the Sky News hit “Katie Hopkins permanently banned by Twitter for breaking ‘abuse and hate’ rules” fairly reported what had taken place “Twitter has suspended Hopkins in the past for limited periods of time, but has now opted to banish her from the site for good. It is not clear what led to the company’s latest intervention, but a spokesperson told Sky News: Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us – abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our rules are broken. In this case, the account has been permanently suspended for violations of our Hateful Conduct policy.” Other than hinting it may have been linked to her critical comments of the Black Lives Matter movement, they did not elaborate. This begged the question why a movement, in my view as ideologically and dangerously flawed as BLM, is not above criticism, leading me to think Twitter is merely cowing to the mob, who are in effect the real fascists by trying to shut down free speech.

But I am not an apologist for Katie. Your link to the television interview that might lead one to conclude she won’t allow her children to play with poor Tyler (and believe me – I have been in Tyler’s shoes) was prejudicial and snobbish and a position I disagree with even though I sympathize with her concerns and her playing up to being the pantomime villainess. Like many, I first came across Katie on the popular TV show “The Apprentice”, which she could have won. She was opinionated, able and straight talking then but came across as a bitch and someone I wouldn’t hire. She continued in the semi limelight with her controversial opinions in national newspapers and other media. But should holding and expressing such views cause her to be banned from social media, anymore than her views on fat people (I may have also once qualified) or many other issues that get liberal types worked up? This is bearing in mind there are others who express opinions that not just me find offensive and yet continue. Which brings me to Eric Metaxas.

I don’t know your friends, but in my experience when people who I don’t know make comments like give examples of “why do you think Katie is on the right lines and Twitter isn’t” they are often seeking to score points and are not open minded seekers of truth. That is why I suggest checking out the Eric Metaxas (a guy I have a lot of time for; he give a platform to fellow deplorables, and is knowledgable and fair) interviews and get back to me. I broadly agreed with what Katie said. In the first interview, while we were on the same wavelength on Trump, Brexit and Londonstan, her main point I agreed with was Britain is being culturally taken over gradually by (often Muslim) immigrants who don’t respect the culture and instead try to impose (successfully) their own. In the second interview, she pointed out that the BLM movement have often behaved badly and it is having a net detrimental affect, and said why. Again, I happen to agree.

So here are my winding up points: Katie fears with justification that Britain is well on the road of being taken over by the Black Hats. While I agree, I don’t think we have yet reached the point of no return and the Lord who is in control of these things may yet have mercy and in any case will have the final say. I also think I have a duty to share my concerns, even though my righteously indignant Christian friends and their leftie, liberal friends may consign me to the deplorable (or nutter) camp. Whether they like it or not, I will do what Katie Hopkins does and speak painful, needful truths, albeit (I hope) more winsomely than she. I think, differences aside, there is a lot going on we can’t quite figure out and in the meantime there are many social injustices we ought to unite on, and resist the insidious divide and rule agenda that wants to see us fighting each other.

Kind regards

John Barber