Ben Lowry: Ruth Dudley Edwards is fearless in the face of anonymous trolls

Ruth Dudley Edwards joins us as a weekly columnist on Tuesday.
By Ben Lowry
Published 26th Sep 2020, 12:08 BST
Updated 26th Sep 2020, 12:14 BST
Ruth Dudley Edwards, the writer and commentator, who will join the News Letter from Tuesday. She is ruthlessly targeted by anonymous abusive Twitter accountsRuth Dudley Edwards, the writer and commentator, who will join the News Letter from Tuesday. She is ruthlessly targeted by anonymous abusive Twitter accounts
Ruth Dudley Edwards, the writer and commentator, who will join the News Letter from Tuesday. She is ruthlessly targeted by anonymous abusive Twitter accounts

Her relentless criticism of terrorism means that many republicans dislike her intensely.

It is telling that when Alistair Bushe, the editor, tweeted out with pleasure the news of Ruth’s arrival, and I did too, there were hundreds of hostile messages. Most of those messages stayed within the bounds of fair comment, but a large minority of them were abusive — some of them making nastily personal references to her gender and so on.

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Ruth is fearless in the face of this twitter mob. I reiterate a point I have made before: if a group other than unionists (or people who defend unionism) was the target of such a thuggish army of propagandists, who taunt and attack and harangue, it would be the subject of documentaries and demands to curb ‘hate’ rhetoric.

Kevin Myers is re-emerging as a columnist, and has released a memoir, after the great injustice of him being sacked and branded an anti-semite. In fact, he is one of the most pro Jewish voices in Ireland, which is one of the most anti Israel nations in EuropeKevin Myers is re-emerging as a columnist, and has released a memoir, after the great injustice of him being sacked and branded an anti-semite. In fact, he is one of the most pro Jewish voices in Ireland, which is one of the most anti Israel nations in Europe
Kevin Myers is re-emerging as a columnist, and has released a memoir, after the great injustice of him being sacked and branded an anti-semite. In fact, he is one of the most pro Jewish voices in Ireland, which is one of the most anti Israel nations in Europe

It is effective too. Increasingly unionists stay quiet and some of them indulge the ‘New Ireland’ initiatives, perhaps in an (understandable) bid to be polite or be liked.

My advice is: watch you don’t disown your convictions, in the same way that nationalists don’t. Try to imagine getting moderate nationalists to join forums on a ‘new post Brexit Britain’ — not easy, is it?

It was interesting to read the young artist Brian John Spencer (Sep 2, see link blow), regret how he embraced LAD, a group who viciously satirised loyalists after the 2013 flag protests. Brian came to think that whatever failings he attributed to loyalists, republicans were worse.

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Meanwhile, it is a joy to see Kevin Myers, like Ruth a superb writer who is a fearless critic of terror (and was a critic of the worst woke idiocy before any of us had heard of the term woke), begin to emerge again as a public voice in columns and in a memoir he has just published.

Kevin actually supported our Stop The Legacy Scandal series of essays in 2018 (see link below), but otherwise he was silenced after he was viciously hounded from his job over a 2017 Sunday Times column, in a storm that flared up in London.

It was a great injustice, because he was accused of anti semitism when he is one of the most pro Jewish writers in Ireland, which is one of the most anti Israel countries in Europe.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor

• Ben Lowry: A zero risk approach to fighting Covid is not noble, it just means a rise in other risks

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• Ruth Dudley Edwards to join the News Letter as a regular columnist

• Kevin Myers in 2018: Pay attention Commissioner Bradley, it was all the fault of the security forces

• Brian John Spencer: I was naive and wrong to agree with LAD satirists

——— ———

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Related topics:Ruth Dudley EdwardsBen Lowry