Has anyone ever, towards the end of a heated argument, urged you to go fuck yourself? It’s a relatively common experience – or maybe I get into arguments with too many salty-tongued people. But while it’s a fairly vigorous insult, I’d suggest it’s never been taken seriously.
Why not? Because In physical terms it would take a level of contortion that few mortals could manage. At the same time, I get the message: this guy doesn’t like me and wants me to piss off (another difficult command to obey).
I think if we’re serious about trying to establish what Kneecap were getting at in the. current outrage hurricane, an awareness of the frequent go-fuck-yourself might help people to understand what the rap group were saying.
They said “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP”.
The first injunction has its roots in old cowboy movies featuring stony-faced heroes like John Wayne and Randolph Scott. In those old cowboy movies, the assertion “The only good Injun is a dead Injun” was common. But the comment usually came from the lips of some hardened tobacco-chewing old-timer, and while those movies had their share of Injun killing, nobody on the screen or in the cinema believed the words of the tobacco-chewer would light the touch-paper of indigenous slaughter.
The second injunction “Kill your local MP” I hear as a variation on the advice frequently put forward online to ‘Consult your local MP’ or ‘Approach your local MP’ or ‘Talk to your local MP’. Of course Kneecap said (no, they didn’t ‘urge’) “Kill your local MP”, but anyone who claimed the sentence as an incitement to MP slaughter would need to get their sense of irony checked for terminal malfunction.
A number of people are currently gasping and clutching their pearls – the BBC’s Talkback had two such in the studio today and a few more on the phones so they’d get the famous and elusive BBC balance. Oddly, the slaughter of babies, women and men in Gaza was barely mentioned. Which is indeed surprising, since that was the central thrust of Kneecap’s remarks. I mean, FFS…
Well said, Jude.
Grma, Siubhan…
Calling for the murder of MPs, whether Tory or not, is never a bright move. Kneecap are always going to get it in the neck from the British media simply for being Irish and proud of it. If you want to be accepted there, you have to say nothing controversial (I mean true of course.) So, the “troubles” we’re caused by uppity Fenians and their Protestant neighbours. The Brits were only keeping the peace. Bring Gaza into the mix and you are really looking for trouble.
Very good Jude
Agree with Another Jude that it’s never a good idea to call for anybody to be killed but this is all about context.
Are MPs lives worth more than those of DJs or Hippies?
Why were The Smiths not called to task for singing ‘Hang the DJ’ in the song Panic? Or Primal Scream for singing ‘Kill All Hippies’ in the song of the same name?
Probably because nobody had an agenda to maybe distract from mass slaughter and other crimes against humanity of around 75,000 people.
That’s a bigger issue here for me.
But hey, hold on, what’s that a few wee lads from Belfast are saying there?