This was supposed to be a snide article, ripping the piss out of the people who sent in letters of complaint to RTÉ in an effort to get Katie Hopkins banned from the Late Late Show. However, on reflection, I'm not so sure.
RTÉ's viewing figures of 740,800 for Hopkins' interview certainly shows that, on a pure numbers level, their decision to have Hopkins on was vindicated. However it's obviously a lot more complicated than that.
During the tirade of Twitter outrage at the announcement of her appearance, my kneejerk response was 'Well if you don't like her then don't watch it. Simples.' I was of the thinking that she's clearly trolling us and anyone with a grain of common sense would see her as nothing more than a vessel for us to shout/laugh at angrily in some sort sort of self-righteous cleansing process after what was a difficult week.
However the thing about common sense is that it's not all that common. We need look no further than the US election to see what happens when such vitriolic tripe is given too much air time. But just because I think it's vitriolic tripe does that give me the right to not let others make up their own mind? Should we been taking Hopkins down by banning her or by engaging with her and her type and tearing them apart in the type of debate an arena like the Late Late Show allows? However, in order for anything to come from such a discussion, reason is needed and clearly reason is not something that is possessed by every person on this planet.
Can you express fear and outrage at the prospect of Donald Trump trying to quell media outlets who opposed him while at the same time campaigning to ban someone of a chat show because you don't agree with their views? 'When their views are clearly disgraceful, then yes,' I hear you exclaim.
Just a reminder, don't forget to keep emailing complaints to RTE today re: Katie Hopkins. #LateLate
— Gertrude Perkins (@flaysomewench) November 12, 2016
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Licence fee should not be used to book Katie Hopkins again, lets see a full show dedicated to our homelessness problem instead #latelate
— M🅰️rty McTweets (@martymctweets) November 12, 2016
Watched the ambush #LateLate interview with vile woman Katie Hopkins. Hard to decide which side was more vile. Tubridy / Collette by a nose
— Charlie Melia (@charleymelia) November 12, 2016
In truth, this article is one of the most poorly written pieces of tripe I've ever managed to vomit onto a page. There is no coherent arguement. No takeaway. No 'What we've learned.' That's mostly because I don't know what to think any more. Every reasoned thought quickly gets interrupted with another, contradictory musing. Now life, like the world around it, seems a complete muddle. The huge viewing figures for Hopkins' interview certainly proves something alright, I'm just not sure what exactly.
