“How’re y’gettin’ ann?” – Garron Noone
Ireland has embarrassed itself on the international stage yet again. If it weren’t bad enough that Washington humiliated the Government by hosting Conor McGregor on St. Patrick’s Day instead of the Taoiseach, the mob has now cannibalized one of its own. The latest to fall to the insatiable and irrational mob is the inimitable, the “delicious” Garron Noone. His crime? Recognizing that hot-button issues like immigration may have some nuance to them. Years of goodwill evaporated and Garron disappeared from the internet. The mob has destroyed yet another victim.
Canceling Garron
Until Wednesday, Garron was more beloved in Ireland than Conor McGregor is hated. For Irish abroad in particular, his videos served as a strong reminder of the Irish quirks that distinguish Ireland from its neighbors. His videos were innocuous, funny without any agenda. To borrow a phrase from one of his supposedly controversial videos this week, he’s “just a lad who shouts at tea on the internet”. In fact, he has gone out of his way to avoid politics.
When he has touched on controversial issues in the past like the Middle East and the Natasha O’Brien story last summer, he has been balanced. Always reasonable, those in disagreement could always at least understand his approach. It was in this context that he released a video on Wednesday. In response to a flood of requests to comment on Conor McGregor’s White House visit on Monday, he said, in effect, that he would not comment because there is too much nuance. He happened to mention that he dislikes McGregor and acknowledges that there is an obvious problem with the immigration system in Ireland. To any reasonable person, it was a reasonable statement. Alas, not everyone is reasonable.
Claimed by the ‘far right’
First of all, the immigration-skeptics crowned Garron their leader. Immigration-skeptics in Ireland are woefully disorganized, ineffective, and unprepared for any sort of healthy alliance. Despite being almost entirely disenfranchised socialists, they wear the ‘far-right’ label and some sort of defeatist badge of dishonor. For the many who see no path to victory for their cause, delving into the victimhood is an attractive way forward. So when a loveable rogue released a video that acknowledged that there may some nuance on their issue, they made him king. His unequivocal “F*** the far-right” sign-off evidently was not enough to separate him from them. Their enemy’s enemy must be their friend, and they claimed him as their friend.
Sunned by the Mob
Second of all, the mob threw him out like yesterday’s trash. By daring to deviate from the official narrative, Garron became an insurgent member of the ‘far right’ himself. Such is the unquestioning conviction of the mob that they claim anyone without discernible opinions. As soon as someone deviates in the slightest by expressing an opinion, the mob brands them a traitor. In fact, the reason the so-called ‘far right’ is growing so rapidly is precisely because of how censorious the mob is. There is no discernible right wing or conservative movement in Ireland. It is almost entirely disenfranchised socialists, cast out by the mob. The movement is not growing, the mob is becoming more concentrated. It naturally follows, then, that the ‘far right’ will claim anyone who deviates from the narrative.
Garron falls to the Mob
The mob runs Irish politics and Irish society. There is no winning in an environment like that.
Never back down
For those who fall victim to the mob, the only response is to stand your ground. The mob will never accept an apology so it is fruitless to try. What makes Garron’s cancellation especially frustrating is that he has been so open in the past about his struggles with anxiety. Of course he will go to ground as soon as his biggest fears become real. But generally, for public figures who find themselves in a media storm, apologies are only appropriate when they are genuine. Otherwise, doubling down is the only possibility for survival.
The Mob will always lose
But the mob will always lose out. Censorship and suppression naturally detracts from society. Ireland has lost its best diplomat and funniest influencer this week because he acknowledged that there may be some nuance in the immigration debate. Hysteria is the modus operandi of the mob and what it purports to represent. This naturally makes the underlying values it defends look callous and hateful. When Garron gets cancelled, pro-immigration activists simply look bad. Further, it empowers insurgents to fight back – but not potential allies of the mob. People like Garron who find themselves in the crossfire will not fight back. The true believers with something to prove will. These are the people most likely to dismantle the mob. One such true believer is sitting in the White House as we speak, moving faster than anyone in recent history to dismantle all the structures the mob has relied upon in the US. Even the mob at Twitter lost out because it banned too many people from its platform. The more the mob cancels innocent victims like Garron, the closer the entire order comes to being burnt to the ground.
Buckle up
This is why Garron’s treatment actually lends credence to Conor McGregor. Another former darling of Ireland abroad, his popularity did not wane when the assault cases started. It waned when he started criticizing the immigration racket in Ireland too. Certainly, he lost any remnant mainstream support after the Nikita Hand civil case last November. But when even Garron is cancelled for not drinking the kool aid on immigration, it makes Conor McGregor look like more of a victim. With McGregor evidently better connected in Washington than the Government, perhaps the mob is flying a little too close to the sun. Eventually someone is going to tear down the establishment. When it does make sure to follow it. It’ll be delicious.
