Rod Liddle: a tribute in bleats

When Elon Musk bought the social-media platform Twitter in 2022, he said that, as a ‘free speech absolutist’, he would be much more tolerant of minority and dissident opinion than had previously been the case. The result of such ‘tolerance’, according to his critics, was a massive rise in ‘hate speech’, as well as disinformation and ‘fake news’. The site became, in the words of Darren Lewis in the Daily Mirror (and of many others), ‘a cess pit of hate’.

Unsurprisingly, a great many users left in what was termed an X-odus (Musk having unimaginatively renamed Twitter as X). The nice people went, the good people, those who believed in a kinder, gentler society. The Guardian, for example, closed its account, citing the ‘often disturbing content’ to be found on X these days.

Where to go, though? Various alternatives were offered, including Mastodon, Hive and Threads, but the one that found most favour was Bluesky, created by Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter. It looked and worked much the same, and – even if the number of users was far lower, with a consequent reduction in diversity – it felt like a decent substitute. Glastonbury Festival relocated from X to Bluesky, and the site enjoyed a surge in the summer of 2024 in Britain, after Musk’s comments on the riots that followed the Southport murders, and again that autumn in America, after the election of Donald Trump. Moving to the new platform was a moral decision, a rejection of the nasty hate-fuelled evil that festered on X.

‘Social media as it should be,’ is how Bluesky bills itself. ‘Unleash your creativity, and have some fun again.’ So how’s this antidote to hate going? Well, here’s a sample of Bluesky tweets (bleats?) responding to the news that the Sunday Times and Spectator columnist Rod Liddle had died at the age of sixty-six.

Rod Liddle: improved the world by leaving it.

Rod Liddle: gone too late.

i see rod liddle has died, which is nice

Rod Liddle is dead. He was a nasty bit of work. A very nasty bit of work. I do not mourn his passing.

No sorrow here at the death of Rod Liddle. He was a repulsive man.

Any man’s death diminishes me. Oh sorry, you said Rod Liddle.

Rod Liddle was very much like Marmite, in that you wouldn’t want him on your television screen, radio, or newspaper.

Rod Liddle was like Marmite. Fucking disgusting.

Pastel drawing of Paddington pushing Rod Liddle down some stairs and saying ‘I don’t like marmite’

Sorry to hear of Rod Liddle. But hopefully it’ll be less of a problem going forward.

unfortunately for all of us it’s only one less rod liddle, there are more where he came from

Oh, has Rod Liddle died? I’m sure that’s sad news for….er… Nope, can’t think of anyone. Prick.

“Oh no, not Rod Liddle”. Said no-one.

Just heard Rod Liddle is dead. So, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Oh, Rod Liddle died? What fantastic news!

I hear that Rod Liddle has died, so it’s nice to hear some good news here in the UK for once.

You should only speak good of the dead. Rod Liddle is dead. Good.

It’s a real shame that Rod Liddle died after such a short illness.

Rod Liddle has died suddenly. Such a shame. He was deserving of a slow and painful death.

The illness is now feeling better after a short case of Rod Liddle

Very sad to hear that the short illness had to deal with Rod Liddle.

Raising a glass to whatever killed Rod Liddle

Oh no, Rod Liddle is dead? And here’s me with no beers in..

Wait up…did you just say LATE Rod Liddle? Looks like I’m going out for a celebratory ice cream.

Rest in Piss, Rod Liddle.

Haha, Rod Liddle! Rest in piss, you nasty little perveyor of filth and bile

Rot in piss rod liddle, and may many more genitally-obsessed bigots join you soon in hell

Lmao rest in piss Rod Liddle, you looked like a bohemian paedophile and we’re a genuine stain on humanity. I hope people go to your funeral to laugh.

Rod Liddle, you say? Oh, yes, that awful fucking bellend.

Rod Liddle was a piece of shit. It’s just true.

Oh well Rod Liddle. He was a complete and utter piece of shit and now he’s dead.

Rod Liddle was a piece of shit in both his private and public life, and it speaks to the state of British media that they’re praising the man. He presaged the steep downward decline of British broadsheet print columnists into increasingly open racism, misogyny, and hatred of queer people.

I had to look up Rod Liddle, unfortunately. I’m glad he’s dead, he seemed like an all around piece of shit. Who’s next?

Rod Liddle used to shit on the back of his bollocks.

I think rod liddle was a cunt

Rod Liddle was a cunt. And now he’s a dead cunt.

Never understood why some people think that you can’t be horrible about someone dying when said person has been an awful human being all their life. Rod Liddle was a cunt and I’m glad he’s dead.

Despite everything, one thing you can say about Rod Liddle is what an absolute cunt of a man he was

Rod Liddle dead? Fucking brilliant. Utter cunt of a man.

Rod Liddle also wrote a column about how fibromyalgia and ME were made up diseases. What a cunt

this country has produced some absolute cunts, and rod liddle was one of them

Why you upset that people are joking about a dead cunt? Thought you liked Rod Liddle for his ‘irreverent wit?’

Fuck rod liddle, another fascist gone.

Say what you like about Rod Liddle, but – no, not even as a joke, fuck him

Say what you like about dead domestic abuser Rod Liddle.

Say what you like about Rod Liddle, he’s dead and can’t sue you

You can’t libel the dead, so you can call him a wannabe nonce.

Rod Liddle died as he lived: as a massive nonce

Rod Liddle is a self-confessed paedophile.

Both Jimmy Saville and Rod Liddle were right wing, former BBC employees and paedophiles. People who’re upset Rod Liddle is being criticised need to explain if they think it’s ok to criticise Jimmy Saville.

Writing in the Spectator a few years back, Rod Liddle expressed his hope for the eradication of trans people. Though, obvs, if any trans person expresses anything less than total grief, total respect for the deceased eliminations, we are monsters!

Fuckity-bye to Rod Liddle, a man who cut short his honeymoon so he could rush back and be with his company’s 22-year-old receptionist.

Rod Liddle left his wife and 2 sons, and allegedly beat his pregnant partner, yet he chose to write about black families and fathers? Faux concern, barely concealed racism, utter hypocrisy.

Rod Liddle is not someone to mourn. Vile bigot and domestic abuser.

The racist, sexist, homophobic domestic abuser Rod Liddle.

Violent misogynist, homophobe, transphobe & loudly outspoken racist, dies aged 66 after short illness

Rod Liddle the pregnant girlfriend punching paedophile is dead

Racist misogynist ableist homophobic transphobic piece of SHIT Rod Liddle is dead.

wife beating racist child rape advocate Rod Liddle has indeed left the planet

Rod Liddle? He’s yer man who left his wife and ran away with the boundless depths of hell

If you think it is hot here, spare a thought for poor Rod Liddle

Rod Liddle is in Hell so that’s nice.

Rod Liddle burns in Hell and the world is better without him!

Good riddance to Rod Liddle, racist domestic abuser, maggot of a man, latest swimmer in the Margaret Thatcher Lake of Hell-Piss.

Hey, Rod Liddle! Eat shit in hell you dead cunt! Haha!

hahahahhaaaaaaaaaa rod liddle eat shit in hell for ever you fucking monster

We should probably give it a few days to make sure Hell doesn’t spit Rod Liddle back out tbh

Listen, I’m not even religious but Rod Liddle is 100% Doonstairs.

I am hearing Rod Liddle split open and a million tiny Rod Liddles spilled out of his body and ate him while he desperately tried to receive the light of Islam and failed to recite the Shahada. Even now he looks up from Jahannam. Truly there is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is his prophet!

Goodbye and good riddance to Rod Liddle. A genuine voice of the sewer who spewed filth into the body politic.

Little less hate in the universe today.

I actually hated Rod Liddle.

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