Mob Rule Versus Survival of the West: Why Americans Should Be Watching the UK

The destruction wrought by mob-driven cancel culture comes with even greater costs than individual lives turned upside down and dreams destroyed. Zenza Flarini/Shutterstock

Commentary

It’s been hard to watch the effects of forced diversity, multiculturalism, and mass immigration on the tiny island of Great Britain—the most densely populated nation in Europe. At least in America, we still have so much land area that most people are not yet feeling the effects of large-scale population displacement stemming from all forms of immigration.

In the UK, however, every day feels like an episode of “Survivor” as people who are being crammed in like sardines are increasingly made to fear that they’ll be voted off the island.

Recently, protests surrounding the Israel–Hamas war have exposed the fragility of a British culture—and nation—on the verge of capsizing from the weight of immigration and cultural divides.

Well-known British YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson has been covering events there, addressing the British prime minister’s remarks that his country is descending into “mob rule” and that the situation is urgent. The prime minister was referring to pro-Palestinian protesters currently flooding the streets of Britain.

Mr. Watson shared a genius chart from a user on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, supposedly detailing the rise of mob rule in London. The user commented, “HOW DID WE GET HERE? After importing millions of people from countries with a culture of mob rule into London, mob rule has taken over London. Experts are crunching the numbers to figure out if systematically undermining basic law and order could have affected basic law and order.”

Meanwhile, Pro-Palestinian protesters across Britain vowed more marches, ostensibly to protest Israeli attacks in Gaza.

Mr. Watson has also been covering reactions to another member of parliament recently claiming that there were “no-go zones” in Birmingham. To support the existence of “no-go zones,” Mr. Watson cited the Birmingham Mail newspaper, which reported that “due to soaring crime being committed by ‘urban youths,’ parts of the city center are no-go zones and the areas immediately surrounding Birmingham are no-go areas for the same reason,” according to Mr. Watson.

All of this comes after a huge blowup about a comment made by a Conservative member of parliament on conservative-leaning GB News.

Lee Anderson told the media outlet (where he also hosts his own show): “I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of [Mayor of London Sadiq] Khan and they’ve got control of London. ... He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates.”

Mr. Khan then responded with three strikes against Mr. Anderson, saying his remarks were “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist” and that they poured “fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred.”

It was all downhill from there. Mr. Anderson was suspended from the Conservative Party after refusing to apologize and later defected to the Reform UK party.

After that, a GB News guest said Mr. Khan was “not British. He doesn’t support Britain.” This led to calls for GB News to be investigated by Ofcom, Britain’s communications regulator, similar to our Federal Communications Commission. And it won’t be the first time; Ofcom seems to be targeting GB News for investigations quite a lot lately.

Another British YouTuber who has been weighing in on the ongoing cancel culture wars in her country is Katie Hopkins. In a video titled “How cancel culture (evisceration) REALLY works,” Ms. Hopkins outlined what she believes is “currently being done to GB News by those that want to see it done away with.” She also claimed that “Ofcom is the weapon wielded in a war of attrition against GB News.”

And she should know.

The controversial celebrity, journalist, and comedian has done her share of shocking the public and angering many over these past many years, but she has also become quite the conservative hero. She has been retweeted by President Donald Trump multiple times, banned from Twitter, reinstated on Twitter, and thrown out of Australia for mocking quarantine lockdowns. She has called Islam the “single biggest threat” to Europe and was named as a target in a planned terror attack by ISIS supporters. Most recently, she has done a hilarious must-see YouTube short dedicated to all the people who “pushed the jab.” It currently has more than 1 million views.

In 2020, Ms. Hopkins told conservative host Candace Owens that her situation in Britain was so much more than the cancel culture that was overtaking America. She explained that in the UK, it had become “acceptable” to think that a targeted physical attack against her would be “welcomed and applauded.”

She continued to explain to Ms. Owens that she lost her jobs, her home (which she said had to be sold because of litigation), and even experienced having her children reported to social services with the intent to have them taken away. She concluded by saying that, in the UK, “the darkness is that when they come, it’s not something flippant that is cancel culture, it is taking you to the point where I truly believe they will only stop when they find that you will swing from a tree.” Her fundamental commitment, she said, was to not allow that to happen.

In the few short years since that interview, America has seen cancel culture morph from online censorship to real-life consequences: We’ve watched helplessly as President Trump has been indicted in four separate prosecutions, charged on 91 criminal counts, and threatened with financial ruin. We’ve seen the entire MAGA movement labeled “as something representing domestic, violent extremism” by our own government. And being banned on Twitter was nothing compared to the ongoing persecution of Jan. 6, 2021, rally attendees.

Keep an eye on the UK. Not unlike the dark days of World War II, that tiny island country may once again be the canary in the coal mine for predicting the survival of Western civilization.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.