There’s no denying that Dawn French’s video about Israel was mind-bogglingly crass. In particular the bit when she put on a silly, babyish voice and referred to the October 7 massacre as “a bad fing”.
Even so, let’s not be too hard on her. In time, I believe, we may end up owing her our deepest gratitude.
Because, thanks to the sheer, blistering ferocity of the backlash she’s received, other mush-brained luvvies may finally take the hint – and stop inflicting their witless political views on the rest of us.
To be clear: I’m not suggesting that these people deserve to be cancelled for their opinions. Cancel culture is a blight on our age, and famous actors have got just as much right to free speech as anyone else.
The problem is that, all too often, what they say is so cluelessly conformist. It’s obvious that they’re only passing comment because they think trotting out the fashionable line on a given topic – Israel, gender identity, net zero or whatever – will make them look good. With any luck, therefore, Ms French’s experience will deter them from expressing a view on such issues until they’ve bothered to give them some actual thought.
And if that sounds too much like hard work, and they’d prefer not to say anything, that’s absolutely fine. Why on earth should we expect actors to have intelligent opinions on current affairs, anyway? Their day job is to recite words that have been written for them by other, much smarter people. It doesn’t require them to think. So you might as well seek geopolitical analysis from a performing seal, or a parrot.
Ms French, however, seems to have believed she had some kind of duty to air her criticisms of Israel’s military strategy. In a subsequent statement apologising for her “tone”, she wrote: “I have felt my silence is complicit or even somehow sanctioning.”
Allow me to put her mind at ease. Dear Ms French, I promise you: your previous “silence” was not responsible for a single death in the Middle East. Even if you’d published your video months ago, Benjamin Netanyahu would not have said, “Stand down, everyone – I’m ordering an immediate ceasefire. Look, I know we want to defeat Hamas and save the hostages. But, as a nation, we simply can’t afford to incur the wrath of that woman from The Vicar of Dibley.”
So please, dear Dawn, try not to feel guilty. In fact, be proud. Because if your calamitous own goal does indeed prompt other celebrities to abandon their narcissistic virtue-signalling, it will be the greatest contribution to human happiness you’ll ever make.
There’s no denying that Dawn French’s video about Israel was mind-bogglingly crass. In particular the bit when she put on a silly, babyish voice and referred to the October 7 massacre as “a bad fing”.
Even so, let’s not be too hard on her. In time, I believe, we may end up owing her our deepest gratitude.
Because, thanks to the sheer, blistering ferocity of the backlash she’s received, other mush-brained luvvies may finally take the hint – and stop inflicting their witless political views on the rest of us.
To be clear: I’m not suggesting that these people deserve to be cancelled for their opinions. Cancel culture is a blight on our age, and famous actors have got just as much right to free speech as anyone else.
The problem is that, all too often, what they say is so cluelessly conformist. It’s obvious that they’re only passing comment because they think trotting out the fashionable line on a given topic – Israel, gender identity, net zero or whatever – will make them look good. With any luck, therefore, Ms French’s experience will deter them from expressing a view on such issues until they’ve bothered to give them some actual thought.
And if that sounds too much like hard work, and they’d prefer not to say anything, that’s absolutely fine. Why on earth should we expect actors to have intelligent opinions on current affairs, anyway? Their day job is to recite words that have been written for them by other, much smarter people. It doesn’t require them to think. So you might as well seek geopolitical analysis from a performing seal, or a parrot.
Ms French, however, seems to have believed she had some kind of duty to air her criticisms of Israel’s military strategy. In a subsequent statement apologising for her “tone”, she wrote: “I have felt my silence is complicit or even somehow sanctioning.”
Allow me to put her mind at ease. Dear Ms French, I promise you: your previous “silence” was not responsible for a single death in the Middle East. Even if you’d published your video months ago, Benjamin Netanyahu would not have said, “Stand down, everyone – I’m ordering an immediate ceasefire. Look, I know we want to defeat Hamas and save the hostages. But, as a nation, we simply can’t afford to incur the wrath of that woman from The Vicar of Dibley.”
So please, dear Dawn, try not to feel guilty. In fact, be proud. Because if your calamitous own goal does indeed prompt other celebrities to abandon their narcissistic virtue-signalling, it will be the greatest contribution to human happiness you’ll ever make.