A day or two ago Alex Jones, the right-wing host of the Voice of Reason channel on YouTube, was handed a temporary ban for two weeks. At first it was thought that he’d been banned for three months, but Andy the Gabby Cabby, another YouTuber sympathetic to Belfield, has cleared that up. He’s been in communication with him, and apparently he’s only been suspended for a fortnight, but it was because he had already had two strikes against him within a three month period before suffering the third complaint resulting in his suspension. The Blackbelt Barrister, a YouTube legal expert, has also weighed in on the case. Citing expert legal opinion on the 2003 Information Act, the Barrister states that, in the opinion of the judicial authorities, the Act should only be used against communications that physically threaten a person’s safety or which stir up racial hatred. They should not be used to chill personal opinion or censor offensive views, even if those views make someone feel uncomfortable.
This is fine, but I don’t think Belfield has actually been charged with anything under the Act. Belfield has been banned from YouTube because it’s a private company, as are the other internet platforms. As private companies they are quite within their rights to set their own terms and conditions and restrict what may be said on them. The right got very upset about all this a few years ago when they started being censored for issues like misogyny, homophobia, racism, transphobia and so on. Left-wingers, however, pointed out that this was simply private industry acting as a private company and not in the public interest. They also pointed out how ironic it was this had happened to the right, who are staunch supporters of private companies against state-owned industries. There were even demands from some that the government should set up a nationalised internet platform to allow a proper exchange of views without censorship. Which would be really ironic considering that the right is worried about government censorship and attacks on free speech rather than that by powerful corporations.
So what brought about Belfield’s ban? Well, it seems from another post by the Gabby Cabby that it was a complaint against Belfield by Carol Vorderman because of his comments about her ‘assets’. The Cabby stated it was unclear whether this was about her property, or something rather more personal. Quite.
Belfield has regularly criticised the former Countdown star along with a number of other celebrities including Katie Price and Philip Schofield. This includes comments on her home or homes as well as more personal remarks about how she has apparently enhanced her bosom to retain the attention of the jaded public. He’s satirised her as a character ‘Carol Vordernorks’ in drag with fake breasts and a thick Brummie accent. I’ve never found this to be funny and it’s really just personal abuse. My sympathies in this instance are very firmly with Vorderman. I don’t know her, but she’s always come across as perfectly genial and polite on TV, and is herself an extremely intelligent woman. Not only does she have a degree in engineering from Oxford, but she’s also a pilot and a patron of the air cadets. She’s also active trying to get more people, especially girls, into science and flight, and has done her bit supporting the RAF. I really don’t know what Belfield has against her, as it doesn’t seem like there’s the same kind of personal feud he apparently has with the BBC and its producers, and the presenter Jeremy Vine, which have seen him involved in a legal battle over the past few years.
Belfield himself has thanked YouTube for paying for his house and giving him a livelihood, and claims his shows about the country are now sold out. He states that he will come back, but is going to launch a ‘secret VOR channel’ on the 28th of this month. This seems to confirm rumours that he’s about to vanish behind a paywall.
Belfield has some very right-wing views, some of which I regard as particularly dangerous. Like his demands that the NHS should be privatised, although in a video he made shortly before he was banned he urged people not to give to the NHS, because this would tell Johnson that we can be charged, ‘and then we’re all f***ed’. I wonder what he thinks will happen if he gets his way and the NHS is privatised. I am well aware that there are members of this blog who heartily despise Belfield. I watch some of his videos because he says openly what the rest of the right doesn’t, but who share his attitudes. And I do share his opposition to the transgender craze, but not trans people, which is causing real suffering to mentally and emotionally vulnerable young people. I firmly believe that some youngster are being misdiagnosed and put on a long course of medical treatment and physical transformation predominantly for ideological reasons and against their best interests. Some of the children now identified as transgender seem to be gay and come from extremely homophobic backgrounds, so it looks like a form of gay conversion therapy. This can be compared to the situation in Iran, where gays are given the choice of transitioning to the opposite sex or execution. I realise that such gender critical views are controversial, but the science behind them, to this layman’s eyes, seems solid. There is considerable censorship of such views, including threats and personal violence. Therefore, on this score, I support Belfield for posting against the transgender craze even if I find some of his other views mistaken, offensive and dangerous.
And rather than seeing anyone banned, I would prefer that people instead showed their opposition by blogging against them and winning arguments. I would rather have this done to make their views unpopular rather than censorship.
Because there are too many attempts already to censor what we can say with the Tories doing their best to outlaw public demonstrations against their monstrous policies.
Tags: Air Cadets, Alex Belfield, Andy the Gabby Cabby, BBC, Blackbelt Barrister, Carol Vorderman, Censorship, Countdown, Demonstrations, Engineering, Flight, Gay Conversion Therapy, Girls, Homophobia, Internet, Jeremy Vine, Katie Price, Misogyny, Nationalisation, NHS, NHS Privatisation, Oxford University, Philip Schofield, Private Industry, racism, RAF, Transgender People, Youtube
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
February 13, 2022 at 6:49 pm |
“Jones”? Typo!
February 13, 2022 at 7:26 pm |
Thanks, Trev. He hasn’t quite gone full YouTube conspiracy theorist just yet!
February 13, 2022 at 9:09 pm |
This was predicted by some as the July court case gets closer, he has still not admitted that he is the defendant, and refused to answer questions about donations.
It is not a “ban” as such, as he is still deleting a lot of his content, Playboard is your friend here.
With regards to free speech, as said before, Belfield is quite hypocritical here as if you disagree with him, you get cut off, abused and/or harrassed by him.
I know what you are getting at with over zealous T&C’s but human nature will always unfortunately bring out the bullies who think they can say what they like with no right to reply.
February 14, 2022 at 9:11 am |
I saw some of his attitude to callers who disagree with him in a video he put up with the title ‘Leftist Who Wants to Let in 100 Million Immigrants’. This was about a young chap, who’d called in to tackle him on his anti-refugee attitudes. Belfield said that there were people starving all over the world and we couldn’t take them all. Like there are 100 million people in Nigeria. Would he want us to take all those in? The figure about 100 million immigrants came from Belfield, not the young chap. The poor fellow had problems answering that question, so Belfield eventually cut him off and then sneered about him with the next caller, who was definitely on his side, about how this uni-type wanted to let 100 million immigrants in. It was a very dishonest exchange, so I’ve no doubt you’re right about his attitude to callers who disagree with him. I think if you’re in any danger of showing him up you’re definitely going to be cut off, ridiculed and vilified.
February 13, 2022 at 11:10 pm |
Perhaps this is the beginning of his downfall. Gaining thousands of followers on YouTube is one thing but attracting a similar amount of subscriptions to pay wall content is quite another. I wouldn’t pay tuppence to hear him talk in my back garden.
February 14, 2022 at 9:13 am |
He’s talking about charging a pound a week, which for many people will be a pound too much. My guess is that his popularity will decline if he doesn’t have the massive exposure possible on YouTube.
February 14, 2022 at 12:23 pm |
Did you see Louis Theroux recently on the current crop of America Firsters, who seem a pretty dangerous lot and, according to Theroux, exert enormous influence via the web. They make Belfield and the seamier spokesmen for BLM sound like mere pimples on the bum of a vast elephant in the room.
February 14, 2022 at 12:26 pm |
I didn’t, Brian, but this sounds very interesting. I remember the concerns over the militias when they appeared back in the 90s. There was a real fear that they’d organise a right-wing coup,.