Guardian journalist Owen Jones has revealed the vile homophobic abuse he suffers every day at the hands of Conservative Party supporters.
Jones said he was making the intimidation public to expose the double standards of the right-wing media and the Tories. He posted a selection of abusive messages he gets every day on Twitter. They include homophobic slurs such as “gay c*nt” and “fag”:
All of these are Tory supporters (I've checked each account), and this is indicative of the abuse I get every single day. pic.twitter.com/OTUflQc2MF
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) July 12, 2017
He claimed he had checked their accounts and they all come from supporters of the Conservative Party. He also revealed that he had been threatened in the street during the general election campaign. But no media outlets have demanded that Conservative PM Theresa May distance herself from the actions of the online Tory trolls.
Tory trolls
This is in marked contrast to the coverage of the supposed abuses by alleged Jeremy Corbyn supporters. The Daily Mail reported on 12 June that May had called on Corbyn to condemn “bullying and harassment”:
And it’s not just The Daily Mail. ITV reported on 12 June that Corbyn had failed to explicitly condemn attacks made by his supporters. Even though he has repeatedly condemned personal attacks:
I completely condemn abuse of MPs of any kind. No abuse is carried out in my name. There is no place for this in society or in our politics.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 30, 2016
Weaponising abuse
Jones said all political abuse should be taken seriously. But he accused the right-wing media of “weaponising the issue” by only talking about Corbyn supporters. He said actions of a tiny minority of Twitter users were being used to smear the left as a whole:
All abuse should be taken seriously. That's not what is happening. Instead it's being selectively weaponised for political purposes.
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) July 12, 2017
It seems that May and her friends in the media are not interested in dealing with the scourge of racist, homophobic and sexist abuse. They just want to discredit and undermine the left. Perhaps that is because Corbyn’s Labour poses a real threat to the rich and powerful for the first time in decades.
Get Involved
– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.
Featured image via screengrab
