By Anthony Sheridan
There is no evidence or even a claim that the murdered MP Jo Cox was the subject of abuse on social media. The only mention I am aware of is that she received ‘malicious communication of a sexual nature’ at her parliamentary office. This could have been by phone, letter, email, in person or social media.
But this lack of evidence has not stopped many Irish politicians and mainstream media jumping on the hypocrisy wagon to cynically exploit Ms. Cox’s brutal murder.
One particularly disgraceful example of this exploitation of a murder to promote an obvious agenda occurred on RTEs The Week in Politics.
The panel, as usual, was heavily weighed in favour of the government/establishment.
Representing the establishment view was Dara Murphy Fine Gael and Thomas Byrne Fianna Fail. Journalist Elaine Byrne and the presenter of the show, Aine Lawlor, represented mainstream media.
Against this stacked panel was Mick Barry of AAA/PBP, representing left wing politics and the anti-establishment view.
The bizarre line of questions put to Mr. Barry clearly exposed the biased agenda of RTE and is worth analysing to demonstrate that truth.
Aine Lawlor: Staying with the Irish response to immigration, we have a short clip of the controversial UKIP poster that attracted a lot of attention shortly before Jo Cox was murdered.
Viewers were shown a news clip of a British right wing politician promoting a right wing poster in favour of Brexit shortly before a right wing extremist murdered Jo Cox then, bizarrely; Lawlor put the following question to left wing politician Mick Barry.
Why is the politics of fear travelling particularly, as it seems, with a lot of working class voters, Labour voters, left wing voters in Britain?
Mr. Barry, while in the process of condemning extreme right wing politics in Britain and America, was interrupted by Lawlor.
But you know here in the past turbulent, painful years there were many people on the far Left who did target politicians personally. Do you regret that, I know there’s a lot of anger out there but has there been too much personalised anti politicians campaigning?
So Lawlor moved from discussing extreme right wing politics in the UK and the right wing murder of Jo Cox to asking Barry to express regret for the angry reaction of Irish citizens to the wholesale destruction of their lives by mainstream politicians.
The Fianna Fail politician on the panel, whose party was principally responsible for the catastrophe, was not asked to express any regret for his party’s actions. Neither was the right wing Fine Gael politician whose party ruthlessly continued and added to the suffering of Irish citizens.
This biased strategy of showing a news clip and then demanding a condemnation or an expression of regret has become common practice within RTE current affairs and seems to target only Sinn Fein and left wing politicians.
Clearly puzzled by Lawlor’s line of questioning Barry asked her what she was referring to.
I’m referring to a number of incidents which I think everybody else on the panel would… I’m not going to single out specific incidents because I don’t want to get into the ins and outs.
I’m talking about the way politicians were harassed at their homes, I’m talking about the online abuse that they got, I’m talking about a level of protest that has been endured by politicians here and certain politicians in Britain. You’re condemning it on the far right, I’m simply asking do you regret and deplore it on the far left as well.
Lawlor’s comment ‘I think everybody else on the panel would…’ suggests she was about to declare that everybody else on the panel agrees with her comments and her line of questioning.
The Fianna Fail and Fine Gael politicians were then allowed to join the attack on the so-called far left with little interference from Lawlor and again were not asked to condemn or express regret for the catastrophic damage their respective parties have inflicted on Ireland and its people.
When they finished their hypocritical and largely inaccurate comments Lawlor once again attacked Barry and left wing politics.
You’ve heard the two politicians beside you saying there are issues with some people on the Left and the way they have been harassing politicians – do you deplore that kind of individual harassment?
Keep in mind that the issue under discussion was the activities of UK right wing politicians and the murder of MP Jo Cox by a right wing extremist.
Here are some facts:
Ireland suffered more than any other country in the world as a result of the global economic collapse in 2008. The reason Ireland suffered so much is that, over decades, our corrupt political system created an environment of zero regulation that allowed bankers, property developers, lawyers and other elites to do as they pleased.
The response of the Irish people to the catastrophe visited upon them by corrupt politicians was the most peaceful, most responsible in the world – without exception.
RTE, while always conservative, was once a relatively professional and well balanced broadcaster.
Since 2008, and particularly since a significant percentage of Irish citizens began to rebel against political corruption, the broadcaster has become little more than a mouthpiece for the corrupt political regime.
Copy to:
RTE/Aine Lawlor
Dara Murphy
Thomas Byrne
Elaine Byrne
All political parties