Is "tinge" offensive?

When the Labour-defecting MP Angela Smith made her weird and racist comments about British Asians being "funny tinge" on the big day these splitters had been plotting for months, this racist gaffe was obviously going to attract a lot of ridicule.

The mess was made even worse when Smith and her fellow splitter MPs decided that there should be no disciplinary process, and agreed the line that she only spouted racist remarks because she was "very tired" (is it just me or is 'I was only racist because I was tired' an extraordinary excuse that implies racism is an inherent attribute that is always there, but only leaks out under conditions like tiredness, stress, or drunkenness?).

For context this is a bunch of MPs who spent months bitterly attacking Labour's internal processes for dealing with bigotry, who then immediately give one of their own MPs a total free pass on a bizarre outburst of 1970s-style racism, revealing the fact that they have absolutely no disciplinary procedures at all for dealing with racism in the ranks!

This shockingly lax attitude to dealing with racism is hardly surprising from a group who all either abstained on, or actually voted in favour of Theresa may's racist "Hostile Environment" legislation that created the Windrush Scandal, and resulted in black Britons being deported to their deaths overseas.

This bizarre and hypocritical "funny tinge" episode was always going to provoke derision, and the word "tinge" has subsequently been used to ridicule the Independent Group.

Nicknames, satire, and political shorthand have always been a fundamental part of UK political discourse, but ever since "tinge" became a thing there have been an awful lot of people turning up in comments threads to cry that calling Independent Group "tinge" is unfair, improper, offensive, and even Trumpian!

Amazingly these are people who will willingly and uncritically accept the explanation that Angela Smith slurred British Asians as "funny tinges" because she was "very tired" but then get hyper-offended at other people using the term "tinge" to refer to the group of MPs who continue to side with Smith, and who fully accept her outrageous 'I was only racist because I was tired' excuse!

In this warped worldview it's apparently perfectly fine to refer to the "tinge" of British Asians' skin as being "funny", but then unspeakably offensive to use the word "tinge" as satirical shorthand for the group the woman who did this belongs to!

The same thing happens when you use the political shorthand "parliamentary squatters" to describe the fact these MPs have refused to call by-elections in their constituencies because they're a bunch of democracy-fearing cowards who know they'd lose their seats if they actually put their divisive and egotistical actions to the vote.

The reason pro-austerity centrists are getting so upset about the use of satirical shorthand like "tinge" and "squatter" to describe the Independent Group actually has nothing to do with these words being offensive in their own right, it's that these people know that satire and shorthand are very effective ways of influencing public opinion.

If nicknames and descriptions like "tinge" and "squatter" are allowed to stick, people will be continually reminded about this group's shockingly lax attitude to racism in their ranks and the fact that they're so terrified of democracy that they're treating the constituencies that elected them with contempt.

So they react with outrage, and attempt to impose a form of political correctness to police political satire (meta political correctness if you like) because they desperately want to stamp out the kind of political satire that satirises the opaquely funded, self-serving, Tory-facilitating, pro-austerity centrism they approve of.

These people are not upset because the words "tinge" and "squatter" are offensive, they're upset because they're effective.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

Why I'm giving up on Jeremy Corbyn

Have you read the newspapers recently? It turns out that we may have missed a trick and that Jeremy Corbyn isn't quite the guy his supporters have been trying to fool us into believing he is.

I've tried to remain loyal to Jeremy Corbyn, but it's totally impossible given the way he's been stooging for Putin's Russia. I mean how could anyone trust a man who has been pushing for Magnitisky economic sanctions against Russian oligarchs and Putin cronies since way before the Skripal poisoning. If  Corbyn had any integrity at all then surely he'd take £800,000+ in donations from these oligarchs and Putin cronies and then obstruct Magnitsky powers at every turn like Theresa May has been doing?

It also turns out that back in the 1980s Jeremy Corbyn was a spy for the communists in Czechoslovakia! Some people have tried to cast doubt on the source of the claims and point out that there is no documentary proof of the claims whatever in the Czech archives, but who could possibly doubt the testimony of a man who personally founded Live Aid as a communist plot to overthrow the West?

Then there's the fact that Corbyn met members of Sinn Féin during the 1980s. Yes his supporters will point out that the Thatcher government was having secret negotiations with the actual IRA terrorists at the time, whilst telling the public "we don't negotiate with terrorists", but who on earth would want a politician who is open and honest about his actions when we could have politicians who do in secret exactly what they repeatedly promise the public that they are not doing?

And what's all this crap about Jeremy Corbyn wanting to return British infrastructure and services to British ownership? Surely everyone knows that our railways, power stations, national grid, water supplies, mail system, NHS, police services, and criminal justice system are obviously best off owned by a bunch of profit-seeking corporations and foreign governments.

What kind of ideologically driven fool would actually believe that British infrastructure and services are best run by Britain for the benefit of the British people?

Isn't it obvious that Jeremy Corbyn is a Stalinist? I mean his manifesto was actually the kind of centre-left democratic socialism that's commonplace across Europe and the developed world, but why look at his actual policies when you could rely on interpretation of his stance by trustworthy sources like the Sun, the Daily Telegraph, the Express, the Daily Mail, and the oh-so-impartial BBC Politics team?

And he's a neo-Nazi too as proven by the Tory minister Sajid Javid who bravely called out Momentum as a neo-fascist organisation from behind parliamentary privilege rules that say politicians can't be sued for defamation for the stuff they say in the houses of parliament. Of course the pro-Corbyn campaign group Momentum are Nazis, because there's nothing anti-Semitic at all about describing an organisation led by a Jewish man as being adherents of the ideology that resulted in the mass genocide of Jewish people is there?

And why is Corbyn such a weakling? When the Tories and their supporters in the mainstream media hurl abuse at him, he never slings abuse and insults back at them.

Surely a strong politician would leap down into the political sewer, sling shit around, and actively fuel the hate, rather than banging on boringly about the need for respectful discourse and honest political debate. 

Another example of his weakness is his refusal to say that he'd use nuclear bombs as attack weapons. I mean what kind of idiot thinks that Britain shouldn't be the nation that's responsible for triggering nuclear Armageddon by using nuclear weapons to attack other nations. I mean surely everyone knows the whole problem with the Cold War is that the United States and the Soviet Union didn't attack each other with nuclear missiles. Had they adopted Theresa May's sensible "first strike" approach to the confrontation I'm sure we all agree the whole thing would have been over so much more quickly.

And aside from being a weakling, there's the fact that he's a terrifyingly powerful bully too.

Remember the way he bullied the Labour right-wingers who plotted against him in 2016 by beating them in a democratic leadership election? 

And remember the time he bullied Owen Smith by competently sticking to the principle of collective responsibility. What he should do is just allow all of his ministers to just make up any shit they like on the hoof like Theresa May does. Surely everyone knows that in modern Britain any kind of competent leadership skills are forbidden, and that unless you allow your ministers to do whatever they like and never correct or discipline them for talking rubbish or defying the party line, you're obviously a Stalinist monster.

And then there's Corbyn's lack of moral flexibility. How dare he criticise Saudi Arabia for being a brutal Islamist tyranny where they crucify and behead people for "crimes" like being gay, rejecting Islam, attending pro-democracy protests, and atheism. 

Surely Corbyn knows that it takes a lot of effort to simultaneously believe that ISIS are a bunch of disgusting terrorists who make Al Qaida look moderate in comparison, whilst continually sucking up to and selling weapons to the Saudi tyrants who arm them, fund them, propagandise for them on social media, and supply them with more fighters than any other nation.

And what about his ridiculous stance of actually opposing Tory austerity? Surely it makes more sense for Labour to meekly imitate right-wing Tory economics, rather than proposing their own ridiculous idea of actually investing in Britain and its people in order to grow the economy. 

Surely everyone knows the natural home of the Labour Party is to hover ever so slightly to the left of the Tory party, no matter how far the Tories keep tracking off towards the extreme-right.

One of the most disgusting things about Jeremy Corbyn is his insistence on attending big rallies and meeting members of the public as if he genuinely likes it. Surely we all know that it's so much better when our political leaders shuttle between one "safe space" and another, hide from any form of scrutiny and debate, and prefer to wander around empty factories or give press conferences in front of a shed full of cows.

What kind of person would want their political leaders to be willing to talk to and empathise with ordinary members of the public?

Doesn't Corbyn even care that the "lower orders" are common people with vulgar language and impertinent questions who could be riddled with diseases too?

Who cares that Corbyn achieved the biggest increase in the Labour vote since 1945 by doing two things that were considered politically impossible (bringing out the youth vote and appealing to non-voters) in order to counteract the newly combined force of the Tory vote and the Ukip vote?

Who cares that Corbyn's policies have attracted hundreds of thousands of new energised Labour members and millions of young voters?
 

What kind of idiot thinks politics is about reaching out to people with policies they actually like, rather than scamming as much as possible in expenses, imposing policies that benefit the very wealthy at the expense of everyone else in society, and lying so much and so often that it becomes second nature to coat everything you say in a veneer of dishonesty?

One of the worst things about Corbyn's supporters (Corbynites as I like to call them) is the way they actually defend the man when the mainstream media call him out for being a Czech spy, a Russian stooge, a communist, a fascist, an inadequate bower, a disrespectful dancer, a weakling, and a bully.

How dare they question the judgement of their superiors and actually defend the man that we're all supposed to spit bile at on command like a pack of salivating Pavlov's dogs?

Why won't they just do as they're told and never question their superiors eh? This impertinent refusal to bow to authority and mindlessly accept what they're told is disgusting cult-like behaviour.

Anyone who turns to reliable sources like the S*n, Daily Mail and the BBC Politics team couldn't possibly conclude anything other than the fact that Jeremy Corbyn is an absolute monster, and that voting Tory is the only way to stop this incredibly weak and cowardly powerful fascist-communist bully from inflicting the absolute nightmare of workers earning enough to provide for their families, publicly owned railways and postal services, and a nation where health care and education are treated as rights, rather than profitable commodities to be traded by the rich.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

A message about Saudi Arabia from your Tory lords and masters

When you see lovely Theresa sucking up to the Saudis and flogging them weapons, remember that they're the lovely fanatical Islamist tyrants, and that it's ISIS (who are, of course, in no way funded, armed and trained by Saudis) who are the nasty fanatical Islamist tyrants.

It's not like the leaked Clinton emails prove that the west have known all about Saudi Arabia arming ISIS since at least 2014. No. No. No!

It's not like the Saudis themselves admit that there are thousands of Saudis fighting for and training Islamist terrorist organisations in places like Syria, Libya and Iraq. No. No. No!

It's not like Saudi Arabia have a long history of destabilising the Muslim world by pushing their violent and barbaric Wahabist interpretation of Islam in their petrodollar funded madrasas. No. No. No!

No!

Just No!

Saudi Arabia are our wonderful friends, and they're perfectly within their rights to behead people for renouncing Islam or being homosexual, to repress women, to literally crucify and behead teenagers for attending a pro-democracy march, and use British manufactured weapons to commit horrific war crimes in Yemen.

Just don't worry your pretty little head about Saudi Arabia.
Now look at this picture of Jeremy Corbyn meeting the leader of the Sinn Féin political party during the peace process in Northern Ireland and let the hate flow through you.


That is all.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

So how much breakfast can you get for 6.8 pence

One of the most farcical things in the almost completely uncosted Tory manifesto is their plan to provide school children with breakfast at just 6.8 pence per child, per day.

The Labour Party carefully costed their manifesto to explain where the money would be coming from for each of their spending pledges. The Lib-Dems produced costings for their manifesto too. But the Tories believe they're so high and mighty that they don't have to explain to us mere mortals where they're getting the cash to pay for over 50 of their manifesto policies. They think that just mouthing empty propaganda tropes like "strong and stable leadership" and "judge us on our record" is plenty enough to fob us lower orders off with.

One of the very few costed policies in the entire Swiss cheese of a manifesto they put together was a £60 million pledge for free school breakfasts, but the most rudimentary analysis reveals that figure is woefully inadequate.

So how much food could you get?

The guys at the Evening Chronicle up in Newcastle worked out that the 6.8p the Tories have allocated for school breakfasts would be enough to provide each child with the wonderful choice of:

• Half a boiled egg

• One slice of toast with 12 baked beans

• 37.5 cornflakes in 100ml of milk

Imagining these paltry portions is amusing, but not quite as amusing as thinking about the poor office boy up in Geordieland who must have been tasked with counting how many baked beans there are in a can, and how many cornflakes there are in a packet!

The problem

The problem is obvious. You can't just use the entire 6.8p budget on food. There are overheads to consider too. 

The kids need to be supervised, the boiled eggs need to be cooked, the toast needs to be toasted, the dishes need to be washed.

Just a consideration of the supervision cost reveals a huge problem. 6.8p per child would work out at one minimum wage worker per 110 children. And this would mean blasting the entire breakfast budget on supervision.

Anyone who has worked with kids will know that one adult for over a hundred kids is a ridiculous scenario.

So even allowing for a criminally low level of supervision, Tory "breakfast" would consist of over a hundred kids sitting for an hour with no food whatever supervised by a single minimum wage employee.

The solution

The solution is obvious though.

In Tory Britain where we view experts with the contempt they deserve, we understand that we don't need pesky red tape like supervision requirements for our children. 

Only interfering "do-gooder" leftie scum would insist on wasting money on political correctness gone mad like child supervision.

The solution is simple. At the beginning of breakfast club all the raw supplies just get dumped in the middle of the floor and the children are left to fight it out amongst themselves.

This approach would do wonders at promoting the competitive spirit that lies at the heart of the capitalist ideology.

The strongest, fittest and most vicious get the reward of a hearty breakfast of whatever they can grab, whilst malingerers like the weak, disabled and conscientious rightly get nothing.

The Tory politicians of the future will thrive as they savagely beat the other children out of the way in order to gorge themselves on the raw supplies, while the weak who can't engage in the daily breakfast battle, and the do-gooder sissies who refuse to, end up with the empty stomachs they deserve.

What better way to ensure that the fittest survive and thrive in Tory Britain than social Darwinianism for breakfast?

Why should taxpayers spend our valuable pennies feeding those who are too weak to feed themselves?

Hooray for social Darwinianism!

Hooray for Tory Brexit Britain!

Hooray for Theresa May!

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

Why will nobody appreciate the generosity of the Tories?

Isn't our glorious leader so wonderful, kind and generous?

Nasty people have unfairly maligned lovely Theresa's Dementia Tax as "cruel" and "malicious" because it's supposedly a way of asset stripping elderly people who are unfortunate enough to develop age related illnesses like dementia, Parkinson's disease or severe arthritis, but no!

They've got it all wrong.

Dementia Tax is obviously a magnificent act of kindness.

Think about it. Our wonderful benevolent nanny-dominatrix is actually going to ALLOW people to continue living in their houses until after they die. Only then will the necessary Tory asset stripping take place.

I'm sure there were a lot of people in the Theresa May's team demanding that these elderly people get turfed out of their houses as soon as they begin needing social care services, but Saint Theresa is so kind, and so generous, and so benevolent that she strongly decided to take mercy and allow people to actually continue living in their own homes as they're dying!

Only after they're dead will the government swoop in to extract the equity so they can use it to fund the ever-so-necessary tax cuts for corporations and the super-rich.

What's more, Saint Theresa has also kindly decreed that the children of elderly people with terminal degenerative diseases are now free to take a whole year off work with no pay to help care for their dying parents.

Just think about it properly. If your parents get ill, you can now work for free for a whole year caring for them as the government gradually confiscates the equity in their house, so you end up with practically no inheritance. Won't that be a treat?

I'm sure you'd be thanking Theresa May every day as you lived with no income for a year while the asset value of your inheritance was gradually eroded away every time a social care worker paid a visit, so that the Tories can redistribute that wealth to their super-rich chums.

Just admit it. Your parents are low hanging fruit that are ripe for the picking. You don't need them to leave you an inheritance so you can get a foot on the ridiculously inflated property ladder. Don't be silly.

No. That money is much better off in the bank accounts of billionaires and corporate executives, because we all know that if you make the rich even richer then trickle-down economics says that we'll all be loads better off in the long-run.

Yes ... You're getting it now.

You're beginning to appreciate the magnificent generosity of our merciful Tory overlords. 

Let us marvel at their benevolence. Let us praise their generosity. And above all let us hate Jeremy Corbyn for his deceptive vision of a society where the corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share of tax so that social care services are properly funded.

What a sick deluded fantasy.

Won't anybody think of the poor Billionaires?



FOOTNOTE: OK, so I guess you recognised this as satire at some point, but this isn't actually so far removed from the glowing reviews of Dementia Tax that appeared on the front pages of the Express and Daily Mail on the day it was announced. Had any other party announced such a barbaric policy we know that the tabloid hacks would have gone into full-scale outrage mode, but because it was their beloved Tories they actually tried to sell Dementia Tax to their readers as a wonderful thing!

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

Why Brexit is going to be a massive success

I have to admit that I've been a bit of an unpatriotic grumble guts about the whole Brexit thing, but now that Article 50 has finally been triggered I've had a change of heart. There's no point in complaining any more, so let's all cheer up and make the best of it.

Of course some people might say that Brexit is going to be the most complex and risky diplomatic negotiation since at least the end of the Second World War. But then I don't think anyone could imagine a better team to steer us through these choppy diplomatic waters than Theresa May, David Davis, the disgraced Liam Fox and Boris Johnson.

The remaining 27 nations of the EU may have a population of 445 million people to pick from, but I think we can all agree they'll be hard pressed to come up with a finer negotiating team than Theresa May and the three Brexiteers.

Pessimistic Remainers (or "remoaners" as I like to call them LOL) are still a big problem with their endless complaining. How on earth can anyone maintain a calming sense of mindless optimism with people blabbering on about  facts, and treaties, and problems, and evidence, and negotiations, and statistics and bloody diplomatic issues all the time?

As Brexit supporters I think it's our patriotic duty to drown the whinging of these negative nellies with as many insults and threats as we can.

They might well think that they have a right to freedom of speech, but if we do our patriotic job of drowning them out under a tide of insults and abuse, then Theresa May can get on with her job of scrapping our human rights and making sure nobody else thinks they've got a right to express their god-damned opinions ever again.

Some pathetic naysayers are also whining that the UK might end up losing Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. but who really cares? They're all places full of disgusting Remainiac traitors anyway so we'll obviously be miles better off without them.

Maybe we should just give Gibraltar to Spain in return for a promise that they'll veto Scotland's membership of the EU when they leave us? That'll teach the Jocks eh? If you can't stop your long-term partner from leaving you, you can at least get some revenge by bribing one of your friends into completely fucking up their lives LOL.

Some people have been whinging that they don't want to be stripped of their precious EU citizenship, but I can't see what they're moaning about. What kind of person would want the right to travel, or work, or study or retire in any of 27 different countries across Europe? If you want to ponce about in Europe you're clearly not a proper patriot anyway, so fuck you.

Even amongst seemingly patriotic Brexiters there are some half-hearted cowards who are still arguing that the UK should form some kind of trade deal with the EU, but I don't think Theresa May should bother. If you're going to do something important then commit yourself properly to it and do it as quickly and destructively as possible, that's what I say.

Let's not mess around for two years with this formal Article 50 divorce procedure nonsense. Let's just quit right now. I mean what possible harm could unilaterally abandoning the international treaties we've signed up to do? I mean how could doing something like that possibly have any kind of negative effect on other countries' willingness to sign up to future wonderful trade deals with us?

Then there's the unpatriotic scum at the Office for National Statistics who estimate that a "no deal" Brexit would reduce the GDP of the UK by between 6.3% and 9.5% of GDP, but how do they know that eh? Do they expect us to believe they have some kind of crystal ball in their so-called "Office"?

They're only a bunch of so-called experts anyway, and we've had quite enough of bloody interfering experts in Brexit Britain haven't we?

If it's not written on the side of a bus then I refuse to believe it, and even if it is written on the side of a bus I'll only believe it if it conforms to my pre-existing prejudices.

Anyway, even if the treasonous geeks at the Office for National Statistics are right, it doesn't matter really does it? It only works out at an average loss of £4,200 - £6,400 per UK household.

Ah I hear you say, "won't you mind losing all that money"?

Well actually no. You're forgetting that we have a Conservative government and that they will inevitably push the entire financial burden of any economic crisis onto the poor and ordinary in order to protect the wealth of the super-rich.

I'll be alright Jack, just you see. As the patriotic Iain Duncan Smith said, any economic damage from quitting the EU will be "a price worth paying", and we all know that the price is always well worth paying if it's someone else below you on the social ladder who is going to be paying it LOL.

Ah I hear you say again, "but Tom you're just a lowly blogger with a stupidly inefficient Pay As You Feel funding model, you're not super-rich, nowhere bloody near it, so you'll likely get absolutely hammered by the Tories when the Brexit economic chaos really kicks off".

Well technically you're right, but you're forgetting about optimism. If I wish hard enough then I'll soon become a super-rich elitist and then the Tories will look after me while they're loading the economic burden of Brexit onto you pessimistic mopes ha ha ha!

There's nothing you can say to change my mind. Today is a very special day. I've had an epiphany and seen the error of my remoaning ways.

Let April the 1st 2017 be known as the day Another Angry Voice woke up and saw that Brexit isn't a catastrophic act of national self-harm being perpetrated by a dishonest and downright malicious hard-right government on the basis of a slim majority in a rushed, massively under-informed and staggeringly dishonest referendum campaign.

No!

Anyone who believes such nonsense is guilty of treason and should be locked up in the Tower of London, or at least exiled from the glory of Brexit Britain for life.

Now I'm off outside to do my patriotic duty by strapping an upside down back to front union flag between two wheelie bins and maybe later I'll prove my Britishness by yelling drunken abuse at my Polish neighbours.

And if you're a true patriot who knows what's good for you, you'll do the same too.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

OR

The best of #FoxNewsFacts

In early January 2015 Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel ran a bizarre fearmongering interview with a so-called terrorism expert called Steve Emerson, who made a series of increasingly bizarre and misleading statements including the claims that the city of Birmingham is 100% Muslim and that London has special Muslim dress code police who attack people who refuse to wear Islamic attire.

The embedded video below is the specific 30 second segment that triggered the #FoxNewsFacts Twitter storm, but the full five minute clip is actually much more disturbing because this supposed "expert" (who has apparently contributed to at least seven congressional committees) made a load of other fearmongering claims like "Europe is finished" with the presenter fueling the fire by harping on about how European countries like France, Belgium and Germany are "metastasizing" with "caliphates". You can see the full clip here.

#FoxNewsFacts

The reaction to this story on Twitter was absolutely brilliant, with thousands of British people mocking Fox News with made up facts of their own using the hashtag #FoxNewsFacts. 
Here is a selection of my favourites.

Mecca Bingo, probable proof of the Islamic domination of Birmingham according to #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/idByIkkrzQ
— Lewis Bush (@LewisKayBush) January 11, 2015

Terrifying photo of how a typical Muslim from Birmingham guards the city gates against infidels. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/w1TJt93VEi
— Pavilion Opinions (@pavilionopinion) January 11, 2015

British children are able to purchase these little confectionary mosques at any corner shop. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/hDcMYpvT8i
— Jack Tindale (@JackTindale) January 11, 2015

You're only allowed to drive like this if you're a Muslim woman #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/qroQ5wHuj1
— Yasmin Gooner (@Yasmin_Gooner) January 11, 2015

The name "Birmingham" was shortened to "Brum" just so to omit the reference to ham. #FoxNewsFacts
— David Allen Green (@DavidAllenGreen) January 11, 2015

Legislation passed in Islamified Britain forcing the Queen of England to don a traditional headscarf #FoxNewsFacts pic.twitter.com/yT0CTRTpi8
— Sarah M (@sazza_jay) January 11, 2015

If you are a non-muslim and would like to visit Birmingham #illridewithyou #FoxNewsFacts
— Rabeb Othmani (@Rabeb_Othmani) January 11, 2015

Radical cleric Mullah Kintyre demands everyone should bow down to Macca to pray five times each day. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/rkUGhjG2GW
— Peter Thompson (@TheRedRag) January 11, 2015

Birmingham has a chain of fast food restaurants called "Burqa King" #foxnewsfacts
— Tom Copley (@tomcopley) January 11, 2015

Jam jars across Britain are becoming radicalised. #FoxNewsFacts pic.twitter.com/0O4Cfv1DIo
— Parvez Anwar (@pavanwar) January 12, 2015

Dangerous bearded fanatics have a history of running Birmingham's sporting institutions #FoxNewsfacts pic.twitter.com/beKSwZzGAF
— Richard Adams (@RichardA) January 11, 2015

BREAKING! Margaret Thatcher was secret Muslim Jihadist (seen here wearing Hijab): #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/q2iGty9Icx
— Tom Pride (@ThomasPride) January 12, 2015

I couldn't resist having a go myself:

#FoxNewsFacts - @FoxNews terrorism experts get all of their information about the UK by trawling the #BritainFirst Facebook page!
— Another Angry Voice (@Angry_Voice) January 11, 2015

Some people couldn't resist spoiling the party by using the hashtag to present actual facts about Birmingham though!

FYI, the share of population in Birmingham neighbourhoods reporting as Muslim at the last census. #foxnewsfacts pic.twitter.com/N0aTwQx9p1
— Chris Cook (@xtophercook) January 11, 2015

Even after Steve Emerson apologised for having completely made up his claims about Birmingham the ridicule kept coming.

I asked Steven Emerson for a comment on #foxnewsfacts. Guy apologises and is going to make a donation to charity pic.twitter.com/GQeWZ7Fukq
— Chris Stokel-Walker (@stokel) January 11, 2015

The Fox News guy has apologised and called the city of Birmingham 'beautiful'. The guy can't get anything right, can he? #FoxNewsFacts
— James Gleave (@jamesgleave1) January 11, 2015

Conclusion

On the down side it is alarming that inaccurate fearmongering gibberish like that is being presented as "news" in the United States by a channel that is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is a guy who Tweeted that the Charlie Hebdo atrocity was the collective responsibility of all Muslims (Sunni, Shia, Sufi, Ahmadiyya, Ibadi ... who cares? They're all the same right?).

On a more positive note, #FoxNewsFacts is a demonstration that when people make inaccurate or insulting comments about the British, we take the piss, and once we get going there's no stopping us. The fact that #FoxNewsFacts has been trending ever since this fearmongering rubbish was broadcast demonstrates that a significant percentage of Brits now see Murdoch's Fox News channel as a byword for inaccurate and misleading journalism, and little more than a target for satire.

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website that accepts no donations from big business, political parties or governments. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

MORE ARTICLES FROM
 ANOTHER ANGRY VOICE 
         
12 things you should know about Britain First
           
David Cameron's Orwellian word games
                     
Who are the real extremists?
       
The pre-election contract the Tories want you to forget all about
                             
Richard Dawkins and the extreme-right Islamophobes
                                         
12 things you should know about Britain First
                          
The shooting of Malala Yousufzai
                
What is ... a closed ideology echo chamber?
                      

How the TTIP corporate power grab is the biggest current threat to UK sovereignty
                                
Rupert Murdoch and his vast propaganda empire