I feel a little irresponsible for writing this article, since nobodies like Katie Hopkins dominate our
media, and I’m usually opposed to adding to the white noise. But her critics seem to have ignored
that she’s actually really important for our collective conscience, so it’s worth highlighting the
reasons why I’m glad Katie Hopkins exists.
The ex-Apprentice reality T.V. ‘star’ has made full use of the media over the last few months, most
notably appearing on This Morning to bemoan the stupidity of the working classes. Reactions have
veered between agreement, pity, mockery and hatred. If you haven’t heard of Katie Hopkins (and
well done, you were probably doing your summer reading), I’ll summarise for you. She’s a prototype
snob, reactionary and offensive, and she delights in sharing her views in what she considers to be
class-A comedy. Amongst Katie Hopkins’ recent tweets are these gems:
“It’s not caravan sites that put you off is it? It’s the people in them.”
“Council turning spare beds into bathrooms to avoid tenants having to pay bedroom tax. Why not stick in a sauna for the poor little mites?”
“[London] has a higher living wage (load of crap) but employers are not obliged to pay it. I
wouldn’t.”
“Young man just gave me a shove for being a stuck up snob. “Better a snob than a yob”. He
ran away. Such cowardice in our uncouth youth.”
A quick Google finds that she’s frequently referred to as ‘controversial’, but for me, ‘controversial’
doesn’t fit. Her views are actually incredibly banal – who hasn’t heard someone making fun of ‘chavs’,
a parent who wouldn’t dream of letting her child get a tattoo, or a diet-obsessive criticising fat
people? Yet the nation reacted with surprise, even horror, to Hopkins expressing these common
views.
The truth is that we all know these attitudes are generally deemed intolerant. The majority of people
may well laugh along with dodgy jokes or mutter to themselves guiltily on the street, but then they
use phrases like “I’m not racist, but…” because they realise that some views are unacceptable in an
aspiringly democratic society. Katie Hopkins simply gives a voice to widely-held prejudices, coming
out with false facts that the majority of Brits (including Hopkins herself) still consider to be “telling it
as it is”.
There’s a tendency of prejudice-denial in some of the media: sexism doesn’t exist, ladies, so
keep hoovering; racism is basically gone, and here’s a black businessman to prove it; class is
entirely superficial – it all boils down to what breakfast cereal you eat. But these trivialisations
are just excuses. I like Katie Hopkins because she’s evidence, revealing British culture’s ingrained
assumptions more successfully than any moralistic newspaper exposé. The level of support she
receives is indicative of the social division which lingers in the 21st century like a bad smell.
Whether or not it’s for show, the views Hopkins has expressed over the last few months have been
infantile – when did you last mock a ginger person for their hair colour? But Katie Hopkins isn’t alone.
Get drunk with a cross-section of the population, and I bet this sort of confessional crap would
saturate the air to choking point, and some of it might even come from you or me. After all, we all
have judgments we’d hide in polite company, and Katie Hopkins acts as an amplifier to society’s
unsanctioned thoughts. Whilst it’s clearly a feeling of superiority that underpins her beliefs, we
all think we’re superior to someone, and whenever we feel ourselves superior, sly thoughts can
creep in: “the reason I’m not that fat is because I have more self-control”, maybe, or “I’m successful
because I worked harder than most people in school”. Sometimes, these self-congratulatory lines
might be true. However, they are based in values that remain largely unquestioned, and sometimes
they pressure us to make spiteful choices – like Katie Hopkins refusing to employ someone
overweight because she thinks fatness equates to laziness.
But I live in an aspirational world. Like Holly Willoughby on This Morning, who told Katie Hopkins
that she’d rather be part of the solution than the problem, I believe in trying to face up to the
cruelty and unfairness in our society. If powerful people genuinely assume that fat means lazy,
the tattooed have bad attitudes and poor mothers are scum, I’d like to challenge those fantasies,
because fantasies create reality: relegating the overweight to the benefit office is only going to
add to people’s negative perceptions, just like judging a little boy by his name influences his future
prospects. Step One is seeing society’s ‘common-sense’ discrimination in all its absurdity. Who better
for that job than Katie Hopkins?
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Why I’m glad Katie Hopkins exists
I feel a little irresponsible for writing this article, since nobodies like Katie Hopkins dominate our
media, and I’m usually opposed to adding to the white noise. But her critics seem to have ignored
that she’s actually really important for our collective conscience, so it’s worth highlighting the
reasons why I’m glad Katie Hopkins exists.
The ex-Apprentice reality T.V. ‘star’ has made full use of the media over the last few months, most
notably appearing on This Morning to bemoan the stupidity of the working classes. Reactions have
veered between agreement, pity, mockery and hatred. If you haven’t heard of Katie Hopkins (and
well done, you were probably doing your summer reading), I’ll summarise for you. She’s a prototype
snob, reactionary and offensive, and she delights in sharing her views in what she considers to be
class-A comedy. Amongst Katie Hopkins’ recent tweets are these gems:
“It’s not caravan sites that put you off is it? It’s the people in them.”
“Council turning spare beds into bathrooms to avoid tenants having to pay bedroom tax. Why not stick in a sauna for the poor little mites?”
“[London] has a higher living wage (load of crap) but employers are not obliged to pay it. I
wouldn’t.”
“Young man just gave me a shove for being a stuck up snob. “Better a snob than a yob”. He
ran away. Such cowardice in our uncouth youth.”
A quick Google finds that she’s frequently referred to as ‘controversial’, but for me, ‘controversial’
doesn’t fit. Her views are actually incredibly banal – who hasn’t heard someone making fun of ‘chavs’,
a parent who wouldn’t dream of letting her child get a tattoo, or a diet-obsessive criticising fat
people? Yet the nation reacted with surprise, even horror, to Hopkins expressing these common
views.
The truth is that we all know these attitudes are generally deemed intolerant. The majority of people
may well laugh along with dodgy jokes or mutter to themselves guiltily on the street, but then they
use phrases like “I’m not racist, but…” because they realise that some views are unacceptable in an
aspiringly democratic society. Katie Hopkins simply gives a voice to widely-held prejudices, coming
out with false facts that the majority of Brits (including Hopkins herself) still consider to be “telling it
as it is”.
There’s a tendency of prejudice-denial in some of the media: sexism doesn’t exist, ladies, so
keep hoovering; racism is basically gone, and here’s a black businessman to prove it; class is
entirely superficial – it all boils down to what breakfast cereal you eat. But these trivialisations
are just excuses. I like Katie Hopkins because she’s evidence, revealing British culture’s ingrained
assumptions more successfully than any moralistic newspaper exposé. The level of support she
receives is indicative of the social division which lingers in the 21st century like a bad smell.
Whether or not it’s for show, the views Hopkins has expressed over the last few months have been
infantile – when did you last mock a ginger person for their hair colour? But Katie Hopkins isn’t alone.
Get drunk with a cross-section of the population, and I bet this sort of confessional crap would
saturate the air to choking point, and some of it might even come from you or me. After all, we all
have judgments we’d hide in polite company, and Katie Hopkins acts as an amplifier to society’s
unsanctioned thoughts. Whilst it’s clearly a feeling of superiority that underpins her beliefs, we
all think we’re superior to someone, and whenever we feel ourselves superior, sly thoughts can
creep in: “the reason I’m not that fat is because I have more self-control”, maybe, or “I’m successful
because I worked harder than most people in school”. Sometimes, these self-congratulatory lines
might be true. However, they are based in values that remain largely unquestioned, and sometimes
they pressure us to make spiteful choices – like Katie Hopkins refusing to employ someone
overweight because she thinks fatness equates to laziness.
But I live in an aspirational world. Like Holly Willoughby on This Morning, who told Katie Hopkins
that she’d rather be part of the solution than the problem, I believe in trying to face up to the
cruelty and unfairness in our society. If powerful people genuinely assume that fat means lazy,
the tattooed have bad attitudes and poor mothers are scum, I’d like to challenge those fantasies,
because fantasies create reality: relegating the overweight to the benefit office is only going to
add to people’s negative perceptions, just like judging a little boy by his name influences his future
prospects. Step One is seeing society’s ‘common-sense’ discrimination in all its absurdity. Who better
for that job than Katie Hopkins?
Liked this article? Why not share it?
Related