cassa - //She says what a lot of people think but have been to cowed to say it out loud. //
I think the notion that Ms Hopkins, and columnists like Richard Littlejohn 'tell it like it is', or Jan Moir again in the Mail, who's strap line is 'Are You Thinking What She's Thinking ...' are 'saying things everyone thinks, but daren't say - is nonsense.
We live in a society where free speech is prized, and if people wish to discuss issues about race, immigration, politics, and so on, they do so, and I am unaware of anyone who feels 'cowed' into not saying what they think.
More accurately, what these high profile commentators do is pick on a really easy contentious subject - Tony Blair is a prime example - say what you could hear in any office or pub in the country, and then act as though they are spokespeople for some great unrepresented underclass too scared to speak out, and pitifully grateful that Katie and Richard and Jan are there to speak for them, or else they would have no voice.
It's utterly fatuous, to assume that I, or anyone in the country 'needs' these people to speak for me because I can't speak for myself.
Clearly I can - and so can everyone else.
To put it in perspective - everyone can say exactly as they please, within the law, and no-one 'needs' these mouthpieces to sound off on a daily basis about controversial subjects that are easy to pick and blow up to some sort of talking shop.
The day I am 'thinking what Jan Moir is thinking ...' or read Richard Littlejohn, or listen to Katie Hopkins, will be a day when I have given up my hard-won and much appreciated ability to think and speak for myself.