Good news for Irish singer Róisín Murphy, who has now landed “the biggest chart success of her entire career” in the teeth of the usual vindictive, spiteful, demonization that modern liberal left raises up against anyone who dares to cross them.
Murphy found herself caught up in one of the now-familiar social media storms that await all hapless souls who blasphemes against any of the modern commandments – in this case Thou Shalt Not Believe in Biology.
She had posted concerns regarding the use of puberty blockers in treating children who were experiencing gender dysphoria – a perfectly reasonable concern, given that the NHS in Britain has now halted the use of the drugs which can now only be prescribed to children as part of clinical research. The HSE has also ordered a review of the use of puberty blockers in children.
“Puberty blockers are f****d, absolutely desolate, big pharma laughing all the way to the bank. Little mixed-up kids are vulnerable and need to be protected, that’s just true.”
She added “please don’t call me a terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], please don’t keep using that word against women,” Murphy posted on her personal Facebook account.
Cue, as always, widespread hysteria of the kind that is becoming increasingly tiresome. But her record label, Ninja Tune, reportedly caved according to the Toronto Star, who said promotion of the album would be ceased because of her comments. Murphy then issued a grovelling apology, which as John McGuirk pointed out on this platform was a big mistake, not least because the mob refused to accept it.
These people – the ones tweeting things about love and #bekind and tolerance – are also the very people who seem most likely to be spiteful and hateful and intolerant to the nth degree. They don’t want your apology, they want you destroyed and ruined and sacked and cancelled, and they want others to watch this happening and to be afraid.
They must be very upset, then, to see Murphy now achieving the kind of chart success which might have actually been helped in some small part because of the attention and sympathy their actions may have provoked in people who are sick of cancel culture and of its aggressive, pitiless enforcers.
HIT PARADE is OUT NOW! And it’s doing really well!! 😃🙏 If you are a fan get the physical ASAP because it’s selling like hotcakes and it’s bound to become scarce and very collectible… 🖤 pic.twitter.com/NjJHJabvXe
— Róisín Murphy (@roisinmurphy) September 11, 2023
It’s entirely possible that the whole row was irrelevant, and that the album would have sold in spades anyway but what might be significant is the possibility that the power of the liberal left and their ability to cancel people is waning.
Look at one of the world’s most famous authors, JK Rowling, described in countess newspaper articles as being accused of making ‘transphobic’ comments, attacked from all sides by idiotic actors who were made famous by her books, yet her sales increased.
Or the enormous success of the powerful film exposing child sex trafficking, Sound of Freedom, which despite the almost-inexplicable opposition from leftists, has packed theatres worldwide.
Then there’s the spectacularly viral hit, ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’, by Oliver Anthony, a protest song whose sentiments struck a chord with millions and powered the song to No. 1 in the U.S. charts. The left hated the off-grid farmer’s song, and it prompted a slew of criticism from the media who questioned whether he was “blue collar” enough, but it didn’t matter.
The song, and the singer, had soared beyond their reach – though it was interesting to see that Digital Music News observed that Oliver Anthony’s hit was “slow to gain traction with both radio airplay and streaming music playlists”.
“Instead, individuals, YouTube, and social media are driving the popularity of the singer, fueling a viral success story for “Rich Men North of Richmond,” the magazine observed, adding that “Spotify’s curators had only placed the track on a small handful of their curated playlists.”
It’s likely that the same kind of people that wanted to ditch Róisín Murphy’s promotion of her album might have kept Oliver Anthony off playlists and refused him airplay. The good news is that their pettiness made no difference in the end.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” is the most listened to track in the world in the past 24 hours.
This American working-man’s protest song has millions & millions of plays.
Sung by an off-the-grid farmer in the countryside with his dogs.
Follow Oliver Anthony at: @AintGottaDollar pic.twitter.com/xKEgZQXYx4
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 11, 2023
Elsewhere, there are successes against the spite of the left in the courts and in the public square.
Women who have been fighting back against being sacked because they dared to voice support for the immutable truth that there are only two sexes are succeeding in the courts, such as editor Sybil Ruth who received an apology and “substantial damages” after being dropped by consultancy Cornerstones in the wake of a post on Twitter.
In truth, large corporations, and consultancies and record labels, and publishers and PR agencies etc, all either vastly overestimate the power of the liberal left in driving away customers, though they also be staffed by said spiteful lefties for whom revenge is mission, not a business decision.
There is, of course, plenty of this petty but harmful spite to be found in Ireland, where snazzy catchphrases about love being love, or tolerance being the greatest virtue, don’t seem to apply if you dare to have anti-establishment opinions.
Look at the narrow-minded decision recently to exclude singer Dana Rosemary Scallon from an RTÉ Concert Orchestra Eurovision TV celebration, even though she was Ireland’s first winner.
Dana is an outspoken pro-lifer and her supporters were in no doubt that this was the reason she was being excluded. There are many musicians who share her views but are afraid to express an opinion for fear of attracting the attention of the Great Cancelling Mob.
I know of plenty other examples of the left attacking pro-lifers and demanding their advertising campaigns, or their conferences, or their events be cancelled. Similarly, I’ve been told of numerous occasions where the left tried to get people sacked or removed from a course or harmed in some way because they had an anti-establishment view on immigration or transgender issues.
Of course, some of those who have now found themselves on the receiving end of leftist rage, were once part of having others cancelled themselves. It’s a lesson hard learned, but one that endures.
Yet, it seems to me that perhaps the power of the mob might be waning. Paul Murphy TD, tried to target journalist Barbara McCarthy yesterday because she had written a story about pupils ages 8-9 in a Dublin school being told to describe their ‘gender-neutral’ teacher as ‘they’.
Murphy asked Ms McCarthy if “it was true” that her child was in the class in the Educate Together school. He was, rightly, savaged by hundreds of comments on X. If this was a typical leftist attempt to cancel a journalist, it failed, badly.
https://twitter.com/paulmurphy_TD/status/1701223966977728518
McCarthy’s editor also tweeted his support for the journalist – and questioned Murphy’s ethics in “exposing a child to a social media firestorm.”
Tagged someone incorrectly in a deleted tweet so reposting to assure @paulmurphy_TD as editor the paper stands over the ethics in this story and the journalist…still not sure about his in exposing a child to the social media firestorm https://t.co/xb5g9o3LWa
— neilleslie2 (@NeilLeslie2) September 12, 2023
Most consumers, which is what businesses should firstly be concerned with, don’t want people sacked, or harassed, or hung out to dry because they have a different opinion.
The success of Róisin Murphy is indicative that the mob might be losing some of its power – power that they seized without a real basis in the first instance, but which they wielded with great vindictiveness and spite. It would be a positive step for everyone if this invidious form of cancel culture was itself cancelled.