Extremism in the UK — How “Mums” Rushed To Defend Kiwi Farms
There’s a lot to unpack and digest about the past few weeks and Kiwi Farms. The people who are targets of them, or are potentially targets, know full well what the site is all about. And slowly the wider world is beginning to learn as knowledge of what Kiwi Farms is spreads across the mainstream media, albeit in a heavily-watered down, vanilla version.
It isn’t difficult to condemn Kiwi Farms. It’s history is one of both formenting and hosting terrorism, of targeting individuals to harass and intimidate them into hiding; to find ways to kill them if they dare stand up for themselves.
So you’d think it would be easy for the users of one of the largest forums in the UK to condemn Kiwi Farms and its actions.
Of course, there’s one particular section of Mumsnet that has done the exact opposite and it’s the section that claims to be about feminism. A laughable claim anyway, as anybody who knows anything about the extremism promoted there will already know. But users on the quarantined feminism board have found even deeper depths to sink to.
They’re defending Kiwi Farms.
Kiwi Farms is a site too extreme for the founder of 8chan, a site notorious for its hosting of child pornography amongst other things. Yet it isn’t a site too extreme for the “fine, upstanding, feminists” on Mumsnet.
Their claims to feminism have long since been known to be a joke. Has been for years. But now they’re cheerleaders for extremism. Extremists themselves in their actions and affiliations. Extremists who excuse any and all behaviour as long as that behaviour is targeted at the people they hate. As long as it’s targeted at trans and non-binary people.
The extremists on Mumsnet have already cheerleaded on the deaths of trans and non-binary people caused by Kiwi Farms. They’ve excused it saying that Kiwi Farms wasn’t responsible.
‘Oh, Kiwi Farms is just engaged in a bit of rough banter and nothing else. It’s the trans-identified person’s fault. They were too weak and fragile. They killed themselves because it’s what the 41 do. It’s nothing to do with Kiwi Farms. Certainly it’s nothing to do with me. And of course they didn’t really kill themselves. Nah. Of course they didn’t. They faked their deaths to get sympathy and build a narrative of just how hard they have it’’.
The extremists on the Mumsnet board have pulled every trick they can think of to try and exonerate Kiwi Farms of any harm. Everything from victim-blaming to outright denial it ever happened. There is no death caused by Kiwi Farms that is to be laid at the feet of Kiwi Farms, claim these extremists. There is no harassment. No stalking. No abuse. Not according to these extremists.
And when it’s pointed out that Kiwi Farms targets cis women as well?
‘They’re asking for it’.
Extremism has been allowed to grow and fester in the UK, and of all kinds. The extremism that can be seen on the board hosted on Mumsnet, and found elsewhere in the UK, is one that has focused on the elimination of trans and non-binary people, be it from public view, public acceptance, human rights. Even our right to exist. Our right to live.
Right now the extremists on the Mumsnet board are trying to explain away the open threat of terrorist action that had been made on Kiwi Farms; the specific targeting of venues in Northern Ireland and the claims and calls made to bomb them. They claim that these calls weren’t serious and couldn’t be taken seriously by anyone with sense — three years after the murder of a journalist by terrorists in Northern Ireland.
Extremism is alive and well in the UK. And its cheerleaders can be found in the mainstream of life.
Trans, non-binary, or cis — we should all be deeply worried about that.
