Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU about Owen Jones

172 replies

PickyParent · 18/08/2017 21:51

During a discussion about neo-Nazis and alt-right in the US today, my MIL started ranting on about a journalist called Owen Jones, who is allegedly part of alt-right, is an anti-feminist, Corbynista, hysterical, storms off in huffs on tv, and is a general twat.

I had not come across this chap at all, despite reading a broad cross-section of media and being quite well-informed and up to date (and I try to have an open mind on things except Trump and neoNazis)

So I googled him and can't find anything really awful about him (I don't object to him supporting Corbyn).
Am I being obtuse?
Is MIL right?
Am IBU? Hmm

OP posts:
SylviaPoe · 19/08/2017 00:33

Sorry, my brain is slowing down.

Isn't Katie Hopkins renowned for being a vile bully? Why would anybody need to point it out?

LoveMySituation · 19/08/2017 00:33

His latest video from 2 days ago, would seem to suggest that that Owen is still very much here.
Brexit

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 19/08/2017 00:34

I'm assuming it is a typo for Katie Hopkins ; if so this is spectacularly inaccurate. I've never seen anyone support her on here.

Notice a fair few here critiquing OJ who are silent when Abu Hopkins has her latest rant

myshinynewusername · 19/08/2017 00:34

Oh, trust me, its bullying.

He has also thrown some of his most vile tweets at people, then waited for them to react, before then saying that he didn't mean that at all (or deleting it), and then re-tweeting the reaction to his pals saying something along the lines of 'look at this nasty person , throwing insults at me, because they despise the left...'

I'd call that gaslighting.

QueenLaBeefah · 19/08/2017 00:35

I find him a bit odd - the way he was vehemently anti-Corbyn before the election and now he is his staunchest supporter. His last article was all about how a centrist party would be an utter betrayal - no one seems to be starting a centrist party so I've no idea why he has such a bee in his bonnet about it.

He is a misogynist. But when you're a fully paid up member of identity politics it seems all too easy to throw women under the bus.

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 19/08/2017 00:35

Isn't Katie Hopkins renowned for being a vile bully? Why would anybody need to point it out?

Indeed.

bathildabagshot1 · 19/08/2017 00:36

"I'm assuming it is a typo for Katie Hopkins"

Not a typo, her nickname.

myshinynewusername · 19/08/2017 00:37

Yeah squoosh, this is a prime example of the mental gymnastics that Owen Jones and his fan club perform to justify their bullying.

"But, but why are you calling us out for being bullies when Hopkins is a much bigger bully than us. Its not fair!"

squoosh · 19/08/2017 00:37

Yeah but are you accusing people on this thread of being Hopkins fans?!

QueenLaBeefah · 19/08/2017 00:38

Is it ok to dislike Jones and Hopkins? Why is it an either or choice.

bathildabagshot1 · 19/08/2017 00:39

"no one seems to be starting a centrist party so I've no idea why he has such a bee in his bonnet about it. "

So you haven't seen a fair few articles about James Chapman wanting to start a party called the Democrats? Blair launching an initiative to bring politics back to the centre?

Paul Mason wrote an article about it too.

LoveMySituation · 19/08/2017 00:40

I watched one of his videos in which he met one of the trolls that abused him on Twitter. In a pub, they had a good old chat. He gets a lot of abuse, including homophobic. I can't see him doing the same to others

QueenLaBeefah · 19/08/2017 00:40

No. Hadn't seen that but Blair's glory days are behind him. Nobody is interested in what he has to say anymore.

bathildabagshot1 · 19/08/2017 00:40

"Yeah but are you accusing people on this thread of being Hopkins fans?!"

I think I also mentioned Michael Gove's behaviour behind a sock puppet and that SOME people seem to get het up about Owen Jones doing stuff but are silent when others do it.

Didn't say you were a fan, I suppose she must have one left though.

myshinynewusername · 19/08/2017 00:40

Shades of the old Owen Jones indeed , Lovemysituation.

Sadly, that's not typical of Owen these days.

squoosh · 19/08/2017 00:42

Well the evil left of centrists tend not to be fans of Gove or Hopkins or Jones.

It's possible to be pissed off by people on all sides.

squoosh · 19/08/2017 00:43

Is it okay for me to dislike Celine Dion and Marilyn Manson? I do hope I don't need to declare allegiance to one of them.

myshinynewusername · 19/08/2017 00:43

I really admired Owen Jones during the leadership contest of last summer. He interviewed both Corbyn and Smith very fairly and got a lot of stick from both sides of the party for doing so. Nonetheless, he stuck to his principles.

I couldn't imagine the Owen Jones of today doing that.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 19/08/2017 04:32

He gets a lot of abuse, including homophobic. I can't see him doing the same to others

But he is lesbophobic, isn't he? Or more precisely, he despises women and therefore lesbians.

I thought he was just a professional 'angry young man', but he really showed his true colours on this one. Some women were talking to him about lesbians feeling morally obligated to have sex with pre-op trans women, which is an extremist position some transactivists hold. Someone asked him to empathise by asking him if he, as a gay man, would necessarily want to have sex with someone with a vagina. He absolutely kicked off, claiming it was homophobic to even suggest this, and still believing the lesbians were transphobic.

I just found it shocking. I grant it was a twitter spat and nuance can go out of the window, but I genuinely think he couldn't understand that women could have sexualities as real and important as his own identity as a gay man. That was a really telling moment for me. There's no way someone credited as 'intelligent' ought to excuse that.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 19/08/2017 04:33

(Incidentally, I voted Labour. I've been a lefie all my life. People like him make me sad.)

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 19/08/2017 05:36

He can be incredibly self righteous at times but alt right no

His opinions tend to flip flop he was pro Brexit (as quite a few on the left were) until the referendum was called then he was suddenly pro Europe and scathing towards brexiters Hmm

He was passionate about corbyn then he wasn't and now he is again

He appeals to many on the left but certainly not all

Toadinthehole · 19/08/2017 05:42

He is a professional holder of opinions, without being an expert in any of the things he opines on. There are too many people like that, clogging up British broadsheets.

He (and all like him) would do well to copy John Harris, who spends considerable time travelling round, talking to normal people, giving them a fair hearing, and - most importantly - doesn't restrict himself to a particular milieu.

Capricorn76 · 19/08/2017 07:06

He's annoying sometimes but not 'alt-right'. Off topic but I also wish people would stop using that term. It's a cuddly and techy sounding rebrand of what they really are: misogynists, racists, neo-Nazi's,fascists and anti-Semites.

Pengggwn · 19/08/2017 07:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fruitlovingmonkey · 19/08/2017 07:48

He seems like the kind of person who would google himself daily.

Hi Owen, you woman-hating wanker! Grin

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread