This Sunday, allegations of misinformation being spread by the Right in relation to George Nkencho appeared online. Most notably was that of an article published in the ‘Sunday World’, which claimed that a ‘far-right organization’ had been circulating false claims about Nkencho’s previous convictions.

As a publication that prides itself on covering that which other more mainstream outlets would never dare to, we feel that we have a responsibility to fact-check the claims made in regards to the Nkencho case, and to reassure our readers of our publication’s commitment to the truth.

The meme that has received by far the most attention from the press is one claiming that Nkencho had previous criminal convictions. Variants of the above image, which made this claim, were quite prominent over the last few days, often commented under posts detailing the violence that took place in the aftermath of the shooting.

Let me point out the obvious first: the meme itself is entirely unsourced. What’s more, this publication has been unable to verify any claim that is made, bar that his name was indeed George Nkencho.

What’s more, a report by the Irish Independent has claimed that Nkencho had no previous convictions, let alone 32. As such, the basic assumption must be made that this meme is completely false, at the very least until it’s proven otherwise, though that seems highly unlikely.

Another image that made the rounds online and which now is under deserving scrutiny were variants of the above, which claim to depict the man hospitalized by Nkencho before he was shot dead. A quick reverse image search reveals that this image is actually of an Everton football fan who was attacked before a game against Millwall in 2019.

Both of these two memes, which seemed to have gone viral within private WhatsApp groups, have largely been blamed on the so-called ‘far-right’. The Sunday World in their reporting goes as far to say that some ‘far-right organization’ was responsible for spreading false information in relation Nkencho’s previous criminal record. 

However, just as the above memes are left fully unsourced, so too is the Sunday World’s reporting. The claim, made in the opening paragraph of the article and slapped onto the cover image, is never brought up again, with the organization itself supposedly responsible for the memes left unnamed. This publication has tried to pick up where the Sunday World left off, but have been unable to find the source of the claims, let alone ascertain whether some ‘far-right organization’ is responsible.

The Modern Disinformation Campaign

There is a lesson to be learned here for those concerned with the rise of rabid progressivism in Ireland. Before making a claim, you should always triple check the source of said claim. It is the view of this publication that the truth of the Nkencho affair is outrageous enough, and that the known facts are more than enough to conclude that the Gardaí in this case were morally justified in their actions, while the violent responses from various protestors were definitely not. There was no reason for anyone on the Right to go beyond the facts at hand, and make claims they could not back up.

And yet that is exactly what happened. Many individuals, stirred up in their justified outrage, simply shared memes without thinking about their authenticity. A minority of people made claims that had no substance, and with no source backing them up.

As a result, many of those within the Media-NGO complex are using these incorrect claims to derail the conversation. No longer are we discussing the morally reprehensible violence against civilians as a result of the moral actions of Gardaí, but the incorrect assertions made by a minority which have little relevance to the events themselves.

What’s more, many of the counter-claims themselves are also misleading. It is true that Nkencho had no previous convictions, but the Independent reported that he was previously known to Gardaí, and that multiple members of his family had taken protection orders against the man.

The use of misinformation in regards to the Nkencho case only ended up taking away from the violence that took place in Blanchardstown on New Years Eve. The spread of frivolous falsehoods only harmed Nationalist arguments. This mistake cost us greatly, and will do so again if the same mistake is made.

It must be stated however, that this publication, to the best of its knowledge, did not publish any misinformation regarding the Nkencho affair. As always, our reporting of the case was careful, with our writers mindful of only ever making claims that could be backed up with hard fact.

We hope this ethos, especially after the damage these memes have done to our arguments, is adopted by others, both organizations and individuals alike. In the modern world, the truth stings bad enough. There’s no need to go making things up.

Posted by Daithí O'Duibhne

5 Comments

  1. Linda OConnor 03/01/2021 at 7:55 pm

    The open society funds activists groups like antifa, blm, and NGOs they only serve to politise and divide us racially. Socialist democrats are nothing more than commumists and are using fascists tactics to silence common sense people. They use lábles such as ‘far right’ ‘fascists’ etc as a justification to ban people online. We are going down a dark and dangerous path. When we ban free speech, or politicise or endorse censorship, we will destroy freedom in this country. The government are flooding the country with unchecked migrants, then using disinformation to radicalise both sides thus creating a race war. Its wrong and dangerous. And it must be stopped.

    Reply

  2. Ireland plans on restoring Birthright citizenship ; against the wishes of the 80 % who voted to remove it from the constitution in 2004.
    Direct flights to Ireland from many fourth world countries will become the new norm. Aside from Portugal, no European country is dumb enough to adopt such a law.
    Why is Ireland the only European country that gives visa free access to South African “tourists ” ? With the Brits closing their doors to many migrants , Ireland will be taking tens of thousands ( annually) .
    How can you run an immigration system when people arrive here via France, Uk etc & have no documents , making them impossible to deport ?

    Reply

  3. László Molnárfi 05/01/2021 at 2:44 am

    The claim you make that his death was ‘morally justified’ is incorrect. The circumstances of his death warrants a full investigation as called for by many people. Yes, they did try to de-escalate the situation with tasers and pepper spray. But how can you justify your premise that they acted ‘morally’, killing a man in/near his own home, wielding only a knife against a squad of armed police and posing no deadly threat at the time to anyone else? It seems common sense to me that they should have waited for the person to calm down and then arrested him properly and that the de-escalation of mental health issues requires trained professionals and not armed police who shoot.

    Where I would put blame on with regards to the left, as someone who is on the left myself, is that students do not comment on The Burkean publications enough to call out your lies and paramoralistic rhetoric.

    Reply

  4. Daithí O'Duibhne 05/01/2021 at 1:42 pm

    Self defense is always morally justified, whether someone is a Garda or not. Had Nkencho not been shot, either the Garda themselves, or one of their colleagues would either be dead or seriously injured. Video confirms this (and no, you couldn’t just shoot him in the leg. Life is not a video game. A low calibre round would simply cannot stop a determined attacker, unless you shoot them in the head, which would defeat the entire purpose).

    Also, that house was not his own home. He was not living there at the time, family had taken out protective orders against him, and the Gardaí were afraid he would take someone in the home hostage, putting their life on the line too.

    As for your accusation of lies and paramoralistic rhetoric, you have failed to point out any lies we have published, and we’re not the ones excusing violent protests in the name of someone who assaulted a random shop attendant, before attacking another person, who happened to be a Garda.

    Reply

  5. Paper woman 25/01/2021 at 2:18 am

    Hello Burkean,
    You guys have some great articles but can I purchase the Burkean in paper form; there is nothing like handing a paper form of an article to someone and the crazy left will ban the online version of the Burkean probably soon. The anti-free speech penal laws will mean the truth has to go underground and it will become more precious as it becomes so scarse. As for the lunatic, that was shot because he had a knife and was displaying extremely violent behaviour just ask the actual innocent man at the Spar shop , lets imagine he was white , do you think anybody would care? There would not be a word about it, the people who were going around crying injustice for that fellow would of being laughing at the crazy white guy and applauding the gardai. I have heard gangs of them in Dublin city laughing their heads off at homeless Irish people and their misfortune. crazy left people/puppets and the ideas they champion give the rational Irish people no choice but to move as far right as possible to get away from them and their madness. Imagine, I was, myself, tipping left not so long ago but I see what the agenda is now particularly the sick stuff they want to push on children and I say NO!

    Reply

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *