Oliver Callan expresses his distaste for the Repeal supporters who he has called “media nitwits” and suggests that they have “given no real thought” to their support

On-the-fence RTE star and comedian Oliver Callan has said that he is “sick” of the campaign to Repeal the 8th, calling supporters of it “media nitwits”.

“I’m sick of the Repeal the Eight automaton morons who think theirs is the only voice that matters, or their view is the epitome of modern thought,” Callan said.

“The most annoying aspect of the Repeal gang is that they are buoyed by the docile unquestioning support of social media nitwits.”

“Many of them have evidently given no real thought to what they’re supporting, only that it’s a cool thing to do,” the comedian alleges.

“The Repeal Facebook page is promoting an ‘artistic revolution’ to Repeal the Eight. Not a Pearse die-for-Ireland sort of revolution however.

“Just a back-alley movement of preaching to the converted, swelling their egos in front of like-minded nodding legions.”

Callan goes on to draw attention to the Repeal Project’s black jumpers, which brandish ‘Repeal’ in all capitals across the chest, something Callan calls “the garment of choice at an IRA funeral.”

However, Twitter users are already replying to Callan’s article, with one pointing them towards the Twitter Moments piece, “Death Isn’t Beautiful. It’s Scary and Painful”

Hi @olivercallan Read this.It might help you get off that fence ⚡️ "Death isn't beautiful. It's scary and painful"https://t.co/MBU52Vu9uU

— Colm O'Gorman 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🇮🇪 (@Colmogorman) October 6, 2016

Pro-lifers

However, despite his grievances with the Repeal campaigners, Callan does not hold a soft spot for pro-life campaigners.

“I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with the pro-life crew too, with their Addams Family street tactics of dead baby posters and talk of lethal injections on unborn children,” Callan wrote in his Irish Sun column.

“The pro-life group are equally shy about admitting some are motivated by their links to a discredited religion run by corrupt men in frocks.”

“As in the gay marriage debate, it was clear priests or bishops were going to get short shrift from the public. So a hapless bunch of frown civilians are paraded to do their bidding instead, like Breda O’Brien, David Quinn and the aforementioned Ronan.”

The Long Haul

This comes after a record number of pro-choice campaigners took to the streets on a rainy Saturday afternoon this September to show their support with their feet in the fifth annual March For Choice.

Without government recognition of the need for a referendum on the matter, the Repeal campaign will continue until the issue is brought to the Irish people.

Once that happens, the pro-choice and pro-life campaigns will begin in earnest. Linda Kavanagh from the Abortion Rights Campaign highlights the kind of tactics the anti-choice campaigners are likely to employ based on their history.

“We can see that anti-choice people are willing to lie,” Kavanagh said.

“They’re lying to people when they go to their pregnancy clinics, they’re postering all over Dublin the Youth Defence posters, they’re going on TV and misleading people about HSE guidelines and that is being given equal weight to the lived experience of women who’ve had abortions and that is a very scary prospect.”