To think Owen Jones is childish

[sandrabedminster]

Owen Jones storms off sky news

I don't even get what his issue is, he's invited on to discuss the headlines and then runs off as he doesn't like how much attention the biggest story is getting.

[carryam]

And most lesbian and gay people in the west have been attacked by people in the west. It was a homophobic attack.

[ethelb]

Its really odd the way that people are trying to minimise the homophobic element of the attack. It is very upsetting the way in which the presenters discussed homophobia in this hypothetical way.
But tbh, OJ has form. He massively upset huge swathes of the lesbian community with his oh so logical, rational, and yes hypothetical arguments about who they 'should' be having sex with, and tantrumed when people suggested their feelings should be taken into account.
If it wasn't such a serious and devastating issue, you could almost argue he was getting a taste of his own medicine.

[scatterolight]

As far as I could discern from his strange behaviour his problem was that he wants Orlando to be viewed as a purely homophobic attack.

He was in a state of classic Leftist cognitive dissonance because he felt incredible grief and anger but at the same time could not bring himself to blame the problem of Islamist ideology. The reference to the Bataclan really tipped him over the edge as he his brain was going "this has nothing to do with Islam and therefore nothing to do with the Bataclan". He was much happier to accept the reference to the Admiral Duncan pub bombing.

People like Owen Jones are part of the problem. Douglas Murray (also gay) tweeted: "I'm sorry for Owen Jones. I would also feel guilty if I'd spent my life covering for the ideology that just killed 50 LGBT people."

[carryam]

This was a homophobic attack.

[YourPerception]

Seriously do read "I find that offensive" by Claire Fox.

[BertrandRussell]

"at the same time could not bring himself to blame the problem of Islamist ideology"

Apart from when he did, do you mean?

[mamamea]

And it's perfectly reasonable to look at this is an ISLAMIST terrorist attack, rather than a homophobic attack.

IF, ISIS went around the world attacking only gays, then yes, it makes sense to talk about homophobia. But they do not. Past Western targets have included concerts, public transportation and other things.

Owen Jones wants to say 'gay people are at risk because of homophobia', and this is just a manifestation of that, and completely ignore the fact that this is part of a MASSIVE and ongoing campaign by ISIS, which is NOT centered on homosexuals. The hosts were saying 'Western civilization as a whole is under attack'. Which is a reasonable thing to say, and Owen Jones should not stomp off the set because he doesn't want to hear that.

Owen Jones is skilled at deflecting, and he spent the entire ten minutes trying to pre-empt any sort of criticism of Islam by making it a sort of 'homophobia is a major problem in Western societies' argument, and pretending not to understand the point that was being made, namely that if you have an ideology from ISIS, then NO pretext (sexuality or race or whatever) is needed to commit mass murder.

And then he walked out huffing and puffing as if the presenters had said that homophobia wasn't real, just because he didn't want to talk about Islam or ISIS.

[PolaroidsFromTheBeyond]

I am no fan of Owen Jones. In general, I think he is a a misogynistic twit and almost everything he writes gives me the rage.

I agree wholeheartedly with scatter on this one.

[MyCatWasRightAboutYou]

YABU. Downplaying the homophobic nature of the crime is the same as those people that tweet #AllLivesMatter in regards to racism. It was an attack on a specific marginalised group of people. That should not be minimised.
As somebody that is a part of the LGBTA+ spectrum, I'm glad he's speaking for us.

[BertrandRussell]

And if the person doing the shooting had been a Christian - (because there are plenty of Christians who think killing gay people is the way forward)- would that have been Christian terrorism?

No- it would have been a lone gunman.

[MorrisZapp]

Agree. Liberals are torn in knots when minorities attack other minorities.

[Surferjet]

He was totally fixated on the gay issue though, which isn't what Isis are about, they hate anyone having a good time & living the life they want, ie: western values. ( none of the Paris attacks targeted gays ) I think that's what the presenters were saying.

[mamamea]

He spent the entire interview shaking his head and interrupting and then when the presenters panned to the 'ISIL wages war on gays in the West', he realised that the narrative was about to swing back to the issue of ISIS, which was something he didn't want to be having to criticise, and he stomped off.

[PinkyofPie]

When a minority group have their voices silenced in the way LGBT people have been, it's incredibly important we acknowledge the homophobic (& biphobic / transphobic) nature of the attack. I completely understand why he was so angry. Yes we need to discuss gun control but we also need to discuss homophobia. A lot.

This x1000

It's disgusting that they skirted around the fact that this was a LGBT attack and to say "bad people will always be mad and bad" is just minimising a crime that has been wage against a whole community who are already oppressed. Good for Owen for walking out, I'm amazed he lasted as long as he did

[MorrisZapp]

To my knowledge there isn't currently a world wide threat of violent death from organised and self identifying Christian terrorists.

[HopeArden]

I don't think they were dismissive - they acknowleged thatvit was a homophobic attack but felt it was motivated by Islamic fundamentalism and could just as easily have been an attack on any one of us. I think that is what JHB was getting at when she said that the terrorist would have hated her ^as a gobby woman' just as much as lgbt people. I think the comments by the terrorist's father support that view.

If only gay people had ever been targeted by Islamic fundamentalists then OJ would have a point, but that isn't the case. We have all been attacked - concert goers, journalists, women, people on public transport because we are a part of western society that fundamentalist islam wants to eradicate.

OJ complains about not being listened to but not only does he want his say, he wants to control what words JHB says too. The irony...

[teafuelledradical]

Absolutely, Ego. The Islamism and homophobia in this awful atrocity are not two separate things. It's a toxic cocktail.

[mamamea]

Here's a gay voice on the issue: www.breitbart.com/milo/2016/06/12/left-chose-islam-gays-now-100-people-killed-maimed-orlando/

[RobinsAreTerritorialFuckers]

What sort of gay man defends Islam? It's bonkers, like Jews defending Hitler.

That's an absurd statement, and pretty shitty considering there are people who are both Muslim and LGBT.

Anyway. Owen Jones is often a total, utter wanker, but I can completely understand him being very upset in this case. And he rarely loses it, I think? He's not just someone who froths at the mouth whenever he can.

I also had respect for him pointing out the element of domestic violence in this situation, which I think is absolutely relevant.

[RobinsAreTerritorialFuckers]

Cross post. Absolutely with you, ego.

[mamamea]

He understood perfectly well what was being said, it's just that Julia Hartley-Brewer is not the talented polemicist that he is, so he was able to stomp out in order to twist the narrative .