Philco – Nothing is beyond parody

[ian1964 10,617]

https://exposingtherhats.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/philco-nothing-is-beyond-parody/

 

The last 48 hours in Sevconia have been a truly spectacular “Lolzafest” with three hugely embarrassing events for those who have sought to create an industry around “Rangers porn”. We’ve had:

 

The Sevco erm sorry Scottish Football Monitor sending a ned down to the SFA offices to ask “Are Ranjurs deid” only to receive further confirmation that devastatingly they are not.

 

 

 

Phil dreamed up another “exclusive” with the news that Nathan Oduwa had slated Rangers in Q&A with Spurs fans. The damning stuff included unpaid hotel bills, no ice baths and Spurs never allowing a loan player near Rangers again. Only small problems with the story were the fact there was no Q&A, Oduwa lived in a club paid for house for most of his time in Glasgow and most awkwardly Dominic Ball is still on loan from Spurs. Unfortunately for Phil these inaccuracies reached the Spurs Head of Media Simon Felstein who quickly had the blog pulled.

 

 

 

Graham Spiers & the Herald were forced into a grovelling apology over lies they told about a Rangers director praising the Billy Boys. Despite some hilarious attempts to distance himself from it last night Graham admitted his story was false and agreed to the wording of the apology suggested by the Herald’s legal team.

 

These events in such close proximity to each other have led to a pretty joyous few days on twitter for Rangers fans ensuring a predictable Philco intervention with every one of them piling in to try and claim the laughter is in some way bullying the press. This is a favourite line of their’s and is often accompanied by using offensive, dehumanising language like “klan”, “herrenvolk” or “sub-species” to describe Rangers fans. I feel it’s important to highlight this behaviour and discuss how best to address it.

 

Firstly let’s address the Freedom of the Media side of things. I welcome a free and critical press, it’s a cornerstone of any democratic society and I am delighted that every move Rangers and their board make is held up to enormous scrutiny. This week Keith Jackson and Richard Wilson both wrote critical pieces about the Rangers board’s transfer dealings. I didn’t agree with every word but they were balanced, contained no inaccuracies and an example of the press doing their job. Both journalists got some grief on social media from both sides of the Old Firm which is a good indicator of balance and neither had to be removed to avoid legal action. That is the sort of journalism I want, apply scrutiny, write stuff I disagree with or even dislike but do it in a balanced way and stick to the truth.

 

To suggest that Freedom of the Media should mean Phil and Spiers be allowed to write the completely untrue articles referenced above is offensive to those of us who understand and value that right. It is not “North Korea-like” to insist that in return for the freedom to write whatever they like within the boundaries of UK law our journalists (and bloggers) display responsibility and ensure that their content is accurate.

 

Perhaps the most humorous upshot of this affair is that Spiersy’s own ego and daftness has led to him pretty much killing off the remnants of a once promising career. Thankfully for him Philco are always recruiting for members, all you need to apply is an irrational hatred for Rangers and the ability to set-up a donate button. Philco’s leading members Moobsy, Angie Haggerty, Tomoblogger, Doleman, Philumpanny et al certainly indicated they would welcome him into the fold with predictable support for his lies last night.

 

The problem this crowd have is the default lines aren’t working. Their go to is that “the klan/jihadis/subspecies” are abusing & threatening the press simply isn’t working due to the good natured, humourous way these various cock ups have been parodied by the Rangers support. Let there be no doubt people like Angela Haggerty, Phil Macgiollabhain, Matt Leslie et al are bigots, they expose themselves as such by the language such as “Klan” or “herrenvolk” they use to describe people purely because of the team they support. Retrospectively added qualifiers such as “it’s only some of them we call that” simply don’t cut it given they don’t describe unsavoury elements of any other club’s support with the same terminology.

 

There is a very similar group to Philco who have achieved notoriety on Social Media called Britain First. Their MO is exactly the same, find a group of people that a large number of negative stereotypes exist for and play on those misconceptions. Dehumanise the group with offensive language and highlight only the worst in their midst to ensure negative perceptions of them are re-inforced.

 

Extremist groups like this thrive on hatred and aggro, there is nothing Philco would love more today than be threatened or abused as it would allow them to play the role of the victim and push the negative knuckle dragging stereotype of those they call “the klan”.

 

We as a Rangers support need to continue playing smart in that climate, no matter how abhorrently these people behave don’t stoop to their level of bile, simply parody them relentlessly in the way the excellent “Britain Furst” site does with “Britain First”.

 

Britain has a long history of facing down extremists using humour, we don’t threaten bigots we parody them relentlessly. I’ve been delighted to see my fellow “klan” members using that powerful tool so effectively over the last few days.

 

Donate, tanks, chapeau etc…..

 

(H/T to @cemetrygates89 and various others who helped me with the photoshopped Spiers/Spears headshave)

Edited January 28, 2016 by Frankie

[Frankie 8,371]

Well written from the Phantom as usual...

[SteveC 150]

Excellent. The Britain First analogy is spot on and will be a dagger to their black hearts.