Katie Hopkins—a name that often needs no further introduction, a name that provokes intense reactions of anger, disgust, and incredulous exclamations of ‘GET THAT WOMAN OFF MY T
Katie Hopkins—a name that often needs no further introduction, a name that provokes intense reactions of anger, disgust, and incredulous exclamations of ‘GET THAT WOMAN OFF MY TV!’
Just saying that you agree with something Hopkins has said is enough to see you with your head on the chopping block. Hell, when I tweeted her saying that I agreed with her about something, my Twitter feed exploded with an army of anti-Hopkins keyboard warriors trying to silence me.
I was called an idiot, I was threatened, I was told that I was thick and didn’t deserve an opinion – I can’t remember the number of people that attacked me, but it was a lot!
Now, of course the Twitter warriors didn’t bother me. I have a much thicker skin than that. However, with calls for Hopkins to be banned off television full stop, I find myself wondering—what is it about this woman that has got the nation so riled up? And more to the point, why do we need to go to the extreme of banning her from our television screens?
Certainly, with extremists such as Omar Bakri Mohammed being allowed to spread their bile over the airwaves, it seems a little odd that Hopkins is the one being silenced.
So what exactly has Hopkins even said?
You can judge a child based on their name
I am not a parent. It is not for me to judge anybody on their parenting skills. However, I do have opinions on what is and isn’t suitable for children. For example, I don’t think that swearing around a child is appropriate. Likewise, violent video games, scary films, whatever. If Hopkins’ observations of the Tyler’s of this world have, in her experiences, been accurate and those children are uncouth yobs who misbehave, then who are we to criticise?
I admit that it seems a little harsh, but we cannot deny that Hopkins has a point. We do judge people based on their first names. If you disagree then think about Camilla, Hugo, William and Octavia. Now consider Chantelle, Chardonnay, Jim and Dave. Which group of people is likely to be of a higher class?
Snobby? Yes. Judgemental? Of course. BUT TRUE. WE MAKE ASSUMPTIONS LIKE THIS EVERY DAY. If someone’s called Angel, she’s probably a stripper. Francis is probably a CEO.
Controversial maybe, but Hopkins is just telling it how it is.
We need to tell fat children that they are fat
Katie isn’t saying this to be cruel. She makes valid points about obese two year olds, plus size school uniforms and the cost of obesity to the NHS. She says that if you really love your child, then it is your duty to ensure that they are healthy and in shape, and I fail to see what is unreasonable about that.
If you mollycoddle your child and allow them to gain more and more weight, then you are not only setting them up for bullying, but also for major health problems later down the line.
Adults should not take time off work for their child’s birthday
Why is Hopkins being painted as a monster for not taking the day off work for something like this!? My parents never took the day off work for my birthdays. We would wait until I got home from school and then I’d have my presents and a family meal or whatever else we’d planned.
If I was having a big party we’d wait until the weekend. Working hard to provide for your child and celebrating the birthday a few days later does not amount to child abuse.
Immigration
Apparently 70 per cent of Brits are worried about people migrating to the UK. 70 per cent. However, when Katie tried to give a voice to that 70 per cent on Channel 5′s Big Immigration Row, she was demonised as usual and her points were met with boos and hisses due to the fact that the studio audience was about 90 per cent pro-immigrant, in contrast with the 70 per cent who responded to the poll.
Even when Katie is giving a voice to ‘the people’ and arguing for what the majority believe, she is still seen as a dragon woman. I just don’t get it.
Katie Hopkins would not hire somebody with tattoos
Okay. I have tattoos. 8 in total. Two of them are prominent (one on my wrist and one on my forearm). I do not believe that I should be jobless or judged based on this. I am totally pro body art in all its forms.
However, many, many people disagree. Many older people, or upper middle class people would refuse to hire somebody with visible tattoos. It isn’t a particularly new or shocking view.
Up until relatively recently, tattoos were something that only sailors or people in prison had. While I personally do not believe that people should be marginalised for having tatts, I also do not see why Hopkins’ views about them caused such a stir.
I’m not going to list every single thing that Hopkins has ever spoken about. To my knowledge, these five are the most popular and the ones that have caused such a fuss.
So why are they getting her banned from television? If you don’t like her, the answer is simple.
Don’t listen to her. Don’t read her columns. Don’t watch shows that she appears on. It’s not difficult. You can’t ban somebody just because you don’t like them. What kind of sissy society would we be if we did things like that?
More to the point, what sort of fascist society would we be if we curbed an individual’s right to free speech and silenced them every time they said something that we did not agree with.
Hopkins may be, in some people’s view, bigoted, but she is not racist or sexist or anything else that you genuinely aren’t allowed to be on television. Sure, she likes to insult people but so does Ricky Gervais.
I get offended at the way that Gervais talks about religious people but do I campaign for him to be banned from my television screen? No! I just don’t watch him.
More to the point, I am sure Hopkins is asked to appear on shows because she likes to insult people. It gets viewers, which is the point of television, really.
At the end of the day, if we curb Hopkins’ right to an opinion then we must be prepared to live in a society that does the same to us. We insult Putin’s Russia for imprisoning Pussy Riot and the like, yet effectively want to do exactly the same.
We need to grow up.
What do you think? Should Katie Hopkins be banned from TV? Have your say in the comments section below.
