The Wikipedia Interview
Preserved for posterity, the evolution of my responses to a particular line of questioning
I was delighted to find a recording I made of my side of the conversation with an interviewer on RTE's 'This Week' for which I was well-rehearsed because I had near-identical experiences with the (admittedly far ruder and more ignorant) Sarah Smith and Rosanna Lockwood.
I call these interrogations Wikipedia Interviews because all the facts are gleaned from Wikipedia and the reporters are never across the issue. They either don’t understand the debate (Lockwood), or they do, and they’re trying to distract the viewer. Sarah Smith was presumably aware of what her programme’s investigation into the Tavistock was revealing, yet still she tried to portray me as a fringe lunatic. Perhaps to undermine her own team’s reporting? Who knows.
Lockwood, on the other hand', is so stupid that she started using the word ‘nonce’ while seated next to Mr.Betrayal Of Innocence himself, Peter Tatchell. They tried to take me off the air almost as soon as Lockwood had delivered her bizarre rant, and I threatened to sue if they didn’t immediately let me return to defend myself. I knew I didn’t have long, so I brought up Peter Tatchell’s infamous letter to the Guardian.
I didn’t last long after that and they quickly cut me off. But I was satisfied that future chroniclers of these events will never accuse me of being of the many who continued to platform Peter Tatchell long after his persistent activism on this matter became more widely known.
So after these two disingenuous interrogations, and another one along the same lines from the at-least-polite Stig Abell, I was well-prepared for the This Week interview My host even said that sex was 'assigned' at birth, showing that he was very much representing one side of a highly contested orthodoxy. At one point he repeated Sarah Smith’s line almost verbatim “Can’t women stand up for themselves?” and I responded by asking when was the last time his show had Helen Joyce on for a chat. Obviously this was a sore point for them as they cut the exchange.
Anyways, here it is, unedited, for posterity. Please enjoy.
Graham at his best — hope Ireland is listening to this heroic and unfairly beleaguered man.
I swear to God, Graham, you must have incredible mental reserves to still get up in the morning after what you've been through with these evil bastards. All I can say, again, is thank you. It is ineed a wonderful thing that Graham Linehan exists in the world. Tonight my husband and I are attending Abigail Shreir's new book launch as an online even through the FSU. Another person and another organisation whose existences in this world provide some solace as some hope.