Thread: In advance of tomorrow night’s @rtelatelateshow with Peter Casey, I'm chonrologocially reporting some other appearances on Irish media of other international purveyors of lies and cruelty
let's start in four years ago. Katie Hopkins was on #LateLateShow on January 31, 2014
note how it starts - light entertainment tone, children, parenting - but controversial
This went so well that she was invited back in the autumn #LateLateShow, September 19, 2014
look how the ante has been upped for more attention. Now it’s a 'controversial experiment’ on fat-shaming
And again early the following year for the Valentine's day special. Note the tagline. It's as if this is an MMA event
#LateLateShow, February 13, 2015
#LateLateShow, February 13, 2015
It’s cruelty and brutality hyped for ratings yet again on @RTELateLateShow
Later that year the #LateLate also treated us to the far-right Brexiteer and UKIP leader Nigel Farage, on October 9, 2015
* rte.ie/archives/2016/…
* rte.ie/archives/2016/…
Notably, it's not just RTE here, and not just British far-right provocateurs we should be thinking about.
Ann Coulter was interviewed on TV3’s Agenda by @davidmcw on October 16, 2016 facebook.com/davidmcw/video…
Ann Coulter was interviewed on TV3’s Agenda by @davidmcw on October 16, 2016 facebook.com/davidmcw/video…
Coulter was also interviewed on @TodayFM on November 8, 2016.
Key point here is in one of @cooper_m's replies. The assumption is that audiences will reject the message of hate, rather than be encouraged to hate by it
Even though she is British, the internationalisation of hate can be seen by the fact that RTE had Hopkins back on the #LateLate to discuss Trump's victory in the US presidential election. November 11, 2016. Now we’ve escalated to 'A robust exchange'
(NB revealing to scroll up the page on, note how the discourse gets edgier and the Twitter content gets more intense and visual) twitter.com/search?f=tweet…
(Brief interlude. Lots more hate to come!)
Early in 2017, a veritable handgrenade went off on the pages of the Irish Time with Nick Pell’s ‘glossary’ on January 6 irishtimes.com/opinion/the-al…
This earned him widespread broadcast interviews, including on @lstwrd on January 6, 2017 todayfm.com/Nicholas-Pell-…
and on The Claire Byrne Show, RTÉ 1, January 9, 2017
and about four articles in response on @IrishTimes. Lots of coverage for hate!
NB first entry in that glossary is the 'alt light', described as the more mainstream form of the alt-right, with Gavin McInnes cited as an example.
Recently several accounts associated with McInnes have just been banned from Facebook, cited for spreading hate speech online and offline, in the wake of the Proud Boys violence, which gives you some indication of how these things evolve theverge.com/2018/10/30/180…
Meanwhile Hopkins continued to find outlets willing to broadcast her message in Ireland: October 3 2017
And being perceived to 'win' the Brexit referendum, Farage was rewarded with a spot at Web Summit on November 8, 2017
Early in 2018 RTE tried to go tough with an interview of Sean Spicer on the #latelate on January 12
Another sign of public opinion possibly swinging against these post-truth actors can be seen when the TCD Hist was criticised for offering Farage its Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse award.
The award was rescinded but he was still invited to speak
February 2, 2018 universitytimes.ie/2018/01/nigel-…
February 2, 2018 universitytimes.ie/2018/01/nigel-…
on the same trip, Farage got plenty of airtime on #Marian...
February 3, 2018
February 3, 2018
... which was good publicity for the Irexit conference thejournal.ie/farage-rds-383…
Later in the year, public outcry greeted the @WebSummit invitation for Marine Le Pen
Initially, @paddycosgrave doubled down on the decision to invite the fascist medium.com/@WebSummitHQ/w…
But the invitation was withdrawn irishtimes.com/news/ireland/i…
Also in August 2018, Sean Spicer returned on a book tour, beginning with an event at the @IIEA
Spicer went on #TodaySOR on August 21
and Newstalk on The Pat Kenny Show
Spicer even got an interview in Hotpress hotpress.com/culture/full-h…
And finally we come up to date with yet another #latelate, when Farage appeared on October 11 when the show made its ‘historic’ appearance in London rte.ie/player/ie/show…
So when Peter Casey appears on tomorrow night’s @RTELateLateShow, it’s merely the final local step in several years of international softening up. The aim is cruelty, and the point is to get you used to it. To think it is normal and acceptable #latelate
Many more thoughts on this but they’ll have to wait til tomorrow.
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