In a private Facebook page post, which was screen grabbed and shared and went viral, she wrote: \u201cPuberty blockers are fucked, absolutely desolate, big pharma laughing all the way to the bank. Little mixed-up kids are vulnerable and need to be protected, that\u2019s just true.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has prefaced that with: \u201cplease don\u2019t call me a terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], please don\u2019t keep using that word against women\u201d.<\/p>\n
None of this should be controversial, and this is a bigger issue than the ongoing row around transgenderism. R\u00f3is\u00edn Murphy should have the freedom to say what she likes, but she was to find out that the same people who bleat endlessly about tolerance and tearing down the rules are also hugely vindictive and vicious about punishing those who disagree with their Woke Commandments. Free-thinkers they definitely are not.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d invite you to watch the entirety of her speech below, which she delivered on Wednesday at the launch of a report, \u201cThe New Boycott Crisis\u201d, by Rosie Kay of Freedom In The Arts and Professor Jo Phoenix. She began with these searing truths after saying she never wanted to become a campaigner \u2013 something many people who have been forced into action can relate to:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhen artists speak plainly these days, especially on radioactive issues, they don\u2019t get debate. They get condemnation and professional exile. I\u2019ve lived it when I spoke my mind about puberty blockers and current social trends around gender and I watched the machinery kick in fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressure to recant, threats to pull promotion, leads to the press, venues dropping bookings, colleagues stepping back. The message was clear \u2014 conform or risk your livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI fought for my work. I took back ownership of my music. But the wider chill remains. Many others don\u2019t fight back, they self-edit or simply stop \u2013 and I completely understand the disillusionment. Being cancelled is hard I won\u2019t sugarcoat it. The world goes very dark, very quickly. Everyone and anyone who is ever going to disappoint you does so all at once\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Murphy is absolutely right about the \u201ccrippling self-censorship\u201d \u2013 something Irish artists of every genre have also privately said to me. The unspoken, but very real, threat of loss of funding, of media hit-pieces, of silent cancellations, is entirely corrosive to a sense of freedom of expression, and artists \u2013 more than anyone else \u2013 are supposed to lean into that freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublic funding, meant to support excellence regardless of politics, has become an ideological points system,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cProjects that question the current line on sex and gender find doors close, while those that affirm it flow with support. This isn\u2019t patronage, it\u2019s patronage with strings attached so tight it strangles the critical thinking it takes to invent anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
She appealed for artistic freedom saying \u201cThe creative soul of this country \u2026 has always thrived on discomfort, on the freedom to be wrong, to offend, to pivot and to surprise ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout that freedom, we don\u2019t get better art, we simply put artists into a chokehold and suffocate the life out of our culture. We need free, equal and open debate. The arts must breathe freely again.\u201d<\/p>\n
She concluded that \u201cIt\u2019s not the first time in history artists have faced oppression and it won\u2019t be the last. We should support each other, come together and defend our shared space, our territory, the place where imagination can roam free. Because if they come for one of us they will eventually come for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy\u2019s courage is underlined by her evident sadness at what she has experienced: it would have been much easier to lay low and hope that some day the spite of the Woke mob would eventually fade away. But, in truth, that kind of vindictiveness seems to last a lifetime.<\/p>\n
Broadcaster Niall Boylan described her speech as \u201cgenuinely heartbreaking\u201d, adding \u201cshe puts into words something many people feel but are afraid to say, that we\u2019ve reached a point where critical thinking and real debate are being stifled, not always by rules, but by fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhen she talks about self censorship, or what I\u2019d call the chilling effect, it hits home. That quiet pressure to hold back, to soften your views, or to say nothing at all. It\u2019s not just coming from one place, it\u2019s a mix of government, media, and social media, all shaping an environment where stepping outside the minority accepted line can come at a cost.<\/p>\n
Having worked in media for over 30 years, I\u2019ve seen the shift myself. There were always lines, but in the last decade the change has been dramatic. The space for robust, honest debate feels narrower than ever.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
He\u2019s absolutely right. Free speech is still being suppressed, despite the push-back from a few brave souls. The group Breaking Point has seen not one but two venues cancel a meeting hosting fuel protesters this week, which is utterly pathetic on behalf of the hotels who cave in to bullies and liberal gurriers threatening protests.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s noticeable that Boylan is one of the few Irish media personalities who have anything to say re R\u00f3is\u00edn Murphy\u2019s speech. Surely an Irish woman who has forged a stellar career and is now making impassioned, viral speeches at high-profile events is newsworthy? The RT\u00c9 newsroom doesn\u2019t seem to agree. Neither does the Irish Times or the Indo. What a surprise to see that sort of groupthink.<\/p>\n
But perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps R\u00f3is\u00edn Murphy will appear on the Late Late Show tonight as a special guest to discuss her articulate and powerful speech and perform one of her many hits. Perhaps RT\u00c9 does, in fact, like strong, independent, disruptive women. We shall see.<\/p>\n
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