Tag: left wing

Twitter: enabling bigotry and attacking minorities in the palm of your hand

By Daviemoo

I’ve just been permanently banned from twitter for quote tweeting a Christian using a disgusting meme and suggesting ironically that perhaps a religion of love and peace wouldn’t actually celebrate the eternal torment of atheists; this is a couple of weeks after being suspended for the temerity of sarcastically asking sky news whether I should just die because of the cost of living crisis. Twitter’s moderators casually allow racism, transphobia, homophobia on the daily, but come down hard on minorities speaking their mind: because it’s outrage that drives their algorithm, and there’s nowhere to hide in safety on a website who feeds hate for money.

Would you like to see my recent transgressions that saw me face a one week ban, and now a permanent one?
Here you are:

My first apparent transgression, where sky news were stating that people under £45,000 would struggle throughout the energy crisis and I replied thusly

I used the word die. I didn’t say “you should die”, I didn’t say “I hope someone dies”, in fact I was saying “shall I just die” but because of these pesky things- “” and this one – ? – Twitter decided I was threatening Sky News.
I sent it for review because of course they’d understand it was a mistake. They can read nuance right?
Nope! Twitter’s crack team of moderators decided me insinuating I’d die because of the cost of living crisis was egregious enough to send me to the naughty step for a week! Bad moo! How dare you hint that the cost of living was so severe you might die!

So off I went. Then I took more time away because I’m 34 and twitter is a seething shithole of angry idiots some days. But, like a nicotine addiction with characters I went back and- before I had time to readjust my fringe- boom. I’m permabanned. Why, you ask?

A christian insinuating that atheists will burn forever in hell and me sarcastically pointing out how loving their religion is

So there’s my crimes people- I used the word die sarcastically and I made fun of a christian who was taking pleasure in the idea of atheists suffering for eternity.

Twitter is a shithole of an app. Every day I go on there and see endless examples of small minded bigots from JK Rowling to Helen Joyce, from small minded peons like Lord Moylan to unrepentant idiots like Nadine Dorries tweeting bollocks with impunity: Dorries even tweeted a doctored image of Rishi Sunak attempting to murder Boris Johnson. I watch US congressmen and women write about how the trans menace is going to destroy Bible Belt America, all the while practically deepthroating their AK47s on main.

Does Rowling and her neverending tirade of bollocks ever meet punishment by twitter? Does Joyce sharing the juvenile conspiracy theories she scribed in her book “trans”, in which she met, talked to, interviewed, no trans people? Do our MPs or leaders face repercussions despite the fact that they’re meant to be the best of us? No. But heaven forfend a left winger speak out of turn to people insinuating they’ll be charcoal briquettes in hell forever because we don’t share their cartoon colouring book beliefs.

So much for this lovely free speech I’ve heard so much about eh. Fuck twitter and the little minions so desperate to control the speech of those they spend half their time shouting about free speech at.

The Politics of Privilege- Or “There’s Room For Us All On The Left, People”

By Daviemoo

I made it clear yesterday that I think the infighting of the left wing is going to do nothing but further right wing agendas. All I have done on this blog so far is explain that the right, as morally supple as many of them are, are happy to sit behind whatever winning ideology they need to to further their agenda by degrees- it’s an unfortunate reality that the one thing the right does well is understand that a crawl, not a run, is a winning strategy in politics.

The best time to plant a tree is ten years ago, and the second best time is now. This is a Chinese proverb I usually use to tell people about fitness. But in this instance, the right planted their tree some time ago, and have nurtured it. It’s fruit isn’t swelled to bursting, but it is hanging from the tree and growing slowly in the sun. Meanwhile the left is too busy arguing over what seed to plant.

Don’t misunderstand me here- I understand why ideological urgency is a key part of leftist belief and this is more philosophy than advice, more musing than discourse- but it’s frightening to watch the right wing agenda crawl further up the slowly blackening veins of society as we on the left continue to argue over which fight is the most vital- they all are, but the issue with ideological purity is that compromise is never a part of it.

Compromise is, lets be frank – rubbish. Nobody ever walks away happy in a true compromise, but they don’t walk away defeated and furious. Compromise is about both sides finding a way forward- and it’s confusing to say both sides when we’re all supposedly on the same one. But at some point nuance, realism and compromise needs to be brought to the forefront of leftist discourse, or we’re doomed to more merry go round political disagreement that never actually progresses any agenda, and pits those on the same side fundamentally against each other.

Rubbish it may be, but compromise is vital here.

Now let’s be clear- some things can’t be compromised on: if you’re too dense and regressive to see the right wing puppet masters behind the trans panic then let the scales fall from your eyes and see rich, middle class white women only one notch below rich middle class white men arguing for a minority to lose rights. Trans people have been able to use the spaces of their gender for over a decade longer than I’ve been alive. Cis men who commit crimes dressed as women aren’t trans. This isn’t a debate, it’s a moral panic as ludicrous as the satanic panic and the pink panic and any and every panic over people of colour for the last 300 years. So if that’s your “compromise” you’re not a left winger, you’re a shill of the far right. Imbibe those words, learn and do better. Let’s also note that LGBT+ issues tend to be a microcosm of a larger societal issue- and here we see the denigration of trans people and the pitting of cis against trans reflected in the denigration of the SoCiaLisTs and the pitting of far left against center left. There’s room for us all.

When it comes to political ideology – unfortunately this is where realism must be employed. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when it’s your ideology that’s deemed too far, and I think that the UK would benefit hugely from socialist policy in regards to public infrastructure- travel, utilities and more. But I also realise that in a country where nearly 50% of the voting population voted for right wing parties, its going to take more than relentlessly disparaging anyone who doesn’t 100% agree with your ideology to win people over. Yes, people should ideally do the research that allows us a different perspective from the status quo- but even the ability to sit and read about different societal models or modes of politics comes usually from privilege as most people are working to earn money to live and pay their bills. The ability not to do so is, at it’s core- privilege.

Instead of immediately assuming those who share differing ideas of socialism or political or prison reform etc are purposely bad people who’ve read what you have and simply choose to believe the bad stuff–  ask yourself whether theyre lucky enough to have had the chance to read and understand what you have. Have the discussion about it. If your ideas are the best- surely conversing with people about them civilly is the best way to expand your circle of believers…

Additionally, the never-ending hatred between the so called far left and so called centrists is exhausting. If you’ve more anger towards people who share your fundamental politics than those who are the antithesis of it then perhaps you’ve fixed your sights more on being the best leftist, and less on depowering those who despise your politics.

We’re at a strange crux at the moment. I’ve said it before that Jeremy Corbyn was a victim of a different type of populism than Boris Johnson is: his name is invoked as a dirty swearword and a tarnished messiah alike but he’s just another politician, with good points and bad points alike. Looking at him as a paragon of leftist perfection is revisionist at best. I’m not a Corbyn hater, I did like the man a lot and I thought he would have been a damn good PM and better than Johnson (but I also think anything including and up to a damp shoe would be better than Johnson). But he had his flaws- his neutrality on the hot issue of Brexit showed a finger slipped way off the pulse of what the electorate wanted at the time- which was the surety either of a brexit voted for willingly and with eyes open or a cancellation of a referendum beset with lies and corruption.

I don’t hate Corbyn. But those who sow discord on the left and disparage anyone who doesn’t agree with them, often in his name? Those people, I hate. I’d imagine that he is no big fan of the misogyny, racism, transphobia, homophobia and more I’ve seen meted out against those who don’t like him.  

Starmer is our option for the moment and he’s trying to grow the voting base of labour. Is he losing some of the finer points of what makes labour a great party? Unfortunately sometimes it seems so. I don’t claim to know his plans, sometimes he does things (like yesterday’s “name and shame drug purchasers” promise) that drive me utterly to distraction. But a policy like that can be voted down. People dead due to the corruption and utter theatricality of a banana republic government like Johnson’s cant be resurrected. Ultimately I think Starmer is probably similar in the mindset that we must slowly, slowly erode the hatred towards leftist policy and politics powered by the press and populist pundits like Johnson. Is he doing it right? I don’t know, I’m not an expert in this- but don’t pretend that you are either. We’re all in the dark, hoping for a way forward and even if that way is through a bog, it’s better than being stranded at sea.

If you don’t like Keir Starmer I won’t lose any sleep over it. But actively attacking people who back him out of pragmatism does NOT mean your politics are superior, it does NOT change people’s opinion magically to agree with you- it DOES however push you further away from the realms of someone who can be meaningfully spoken to about how we achieve our goals. Even today I saw Owen Jones who is quite the outspoken critic of Starmer say that he cant endorse other small leftist parties because under the current system, it’s reductive and pointless. Jones does seem to secrete more venom towards Starmer than any tory, and frustrates me with his repeated shrugs and “you think me, a little *journalist with hundreds of thousands of ardent followers and access to a huge platform* can change people’s minds politically?!”. If, Owen, you didn’t believe you could change minds – you probably wouldn’t be a journalist who runs a literal platform based on speaking about alternatives.

In the driver’s seat is a man desperate to sow discord and is the only one who benefits is he- and currently too many of us on the left are too busy backing our own corners to realise that there is a whole middle ground for us to occupy TOGETHER.

I see our slog towards a more leftist nation as a long one. It’s not going to magically change overnight with hoards of red faced vest wearers who think our reductive flag is the best symbol since the cross. It certainly wont change with hoards of hardcore left wingers screaming at anyone outside of their club, acting like their moral superiority is comfort as our life quality degrades due to an unwillingness from them to engage and enact plans to help move their agenda forwards. It certainly isn’t going to change by alienating those on our side who want more radical change- and compromise can be met with less radical points now and the measure of which more radical change we want in the future.

The overarching theme is simply this. If you want to enact change, it’s time to stop making acquaintances enemies and tacitly aiding your enemies by alienating those who would be friends.

Together we stand and divided we’re fated to tory boot stamping. So the next time you type “Centrist Keir lover” or “Stupid Corbynista” perhaps wait and ask where your commonalities lie, instead of your differences.

viemoo is a 34 year old independent writer, radicalised into blogging about the political state of the world by Brexit and the election of serial failures like Trump and Johnson. Please check out the rest of the blog, check out Politically Enraged, the podcast available on all streaming platforms and share with your like minded friends! Also check him out on ko-fi where you can keep him caffeinated whilst he writes.

Oh just shut the f*ck up about “free speech” and start defending your sh*t takes if you believe them…

By Daviemoo

And so begins another week in the UK where another entitled person – shocking no one, a cisgender straight white man – rails against the terrors of the cancel culture machine, a machine that literally stops nobody who decries it.

The ex member of Mumford & Sons, Winston Marshall unleashed his full potential as a spewer of nonsense today on GB news, or as I like to call it, “Gammon Blithering news”. Railing against the horrific, life ending effects of a cancel culture that’s claimed literally not one person who has spoken out against it, he explained his ire with people “cancelling” Joe Rogan’s podcast and stating that he sees this as trying to censor free speech.

Ultimately, adopting phraseology which allows you to attack people who are more adept at navigating the human experience than you is the ultimate weapon of people utterly ill suited to sharing the planet with others. If someone told me my behaviour was offensive to them and rather than even hearing them out I declared them woke, I’d probably be ashamed- and therein seems to be the crux- those anti woke amongst us are desperate to be allowed to continue verbally shitting their pants in public without being called out on the stench of their ridiculous words.

Listen reader, you and I are as bored as each other with this absolutely bottom drawer argument about cancel culture, wokeness and free speech so, dearest reader- lets do some debunking.

Cancel culture

Not one person that complains about cancel culture has ever been a victim of it. Let’s look at some examples.
JK Rowling- constantly stirring up transphobia, still rakes in millions, lives in a castle.

Donald Trump – he wasn’t cancelled, he lost an election because he was about as good at being a president as I am at being a blue whale

Joe Rogan – his podcast is one of the widely disseminated pieces of media that exists today even with episodes removed

Kathleen Stock – Regularly making the rounds on British media, stepped down voluntarily from her teaching role and her university protected her, immediately obtained another job

Yes some people have been wrongly accused of x and y and people have jumped on them, and this isn’t cancel culture. Its mob mentality. Normally these people are successful and people are quick to attack them because people love to see the fall of a star. It’s now par for the course for these so called “cancel culture victims” to actually be seen and heard wider from the front pages of our unquestionably right leaning media. In a way it’s become a lucrative side gig to claim cancellation and lap up money and accolades from your blind defenders. At worst cancel culture means a change of status, of employer or something else- but never for these people does it mean CANCELLATION.

“Wokeness”

Woke comes from slang to mean that someone is awakened to the existence of racial injustice. It’s now regularly thrown at people like myself as an insult, a pejorative term to indicate that I’m offended by everything and yet I have sound solid reasoning for my stances for and against certain things, whereas it’s all too easy to throw out the “oh that’s woke” flare that means that you can 1 attract your fellow thoughtless to defend whatever you’re saying and 2 immediately insulate yourself from the critique- after all, why SHOULD you have to moderate how you speak to people if theyre offended by everything? Is it because humans have been doing that since literally the beginning of time.

I’ve no doubt that if everyone walked around saying what they thought the world would look something akin to the middle of a disaster movie, riots in the street every day. It’s not woke to ask someone not to say something stupid or offensive, it’s common sense- and if you immediately declare something woke without even listening to reasoning then you’re hardly a brainbox- in fact, it takes a stupefying dearth of independent thought to simply disregard everything you don’t understand as just another thing you don’t need to learn or account for in your own behaviour. If children learn not to urinate in their pants by age 4 it’s eminently possible for an adult to learn that something they do or say is rude and adapt their behaviour.

Free speech

Ah free speech. I’ve said this literally hundreds of times: free speech actually doesn’t exist. If you walked down the street exclaiming how much you wanted to fucking murder every bastard who got in your way, you’d be in the back of a police van fairly quickly- not as quickly as before the conservatives gutted police numbers, but still. If you walked into my office as a new employee and called me a fag, I’d rightly complain and if justice prevailed you would lose your job.

Of course you’re able to say whatever you want. But should you? Free speech has been used as license for utter, mind boggling stupidity for years in online discourse. Racist people will use the N word and then cry FREE SPEECH when they lose their liveliehoods over it, shocked that they’re being punished for using hate speech- because you see, free speech is often in an intimate tango with hate speech. It’s never someone like me talking about how terrible the state of the world is decrying my lack of free speech, because what I’m saying shouldn’t be offensive to you –  I’m looking out for your interests. So we see this neat intersection between free speech and hate speech, and these two things are distinct. Saying something discriminatory isn’t something to be proud of and even if you were absolutely able to do it, you exercising that right means you’re… well, an asshole. It’s that simple. You can think it all you want, but it’s possible to have thoughts and believe them deeply and not say them-  I believe I want to mount some of the more muscular guys at the gym but I fully expect they’d probably be pretty offended if I sashayed over and gave them the laundry list of tawdry acts I’d perform on them. It’s common sense to keep your thoughts in your head- and the free speech bayers often lack common sense in place of the ability to censor or hold in their thoughts.

Additionally, let’s go further with all these things.

Many of the Cancel Woke Free Speech shouters claim they want people to be able to say whatever they want. Recently in Germany a far right politician ran on the platform of “you should be able to say whatever you want!” and when a political commentator said “yeah, listen to the Nazi bitch” she… sued him.

So it’s never, ever about being able to say whatever you want. And if someone from Isis was online spouting off about the west being decadent and disgusting I guarantee they’d raise their hackles- it’s exclusively about right wing bigotry being allowed. Let’s put it this way- if they really believed in free speech they wouldn’t get so pissed off when we called them out on their disgusting words and actions.

Joe Rogan has the ability to say the N word. He shouldn’t. Society dictates that- if he wants to do it, society is allowed to call him out. He’s absolutely able to platform anti vaccine propogandists- should he? It’s easy enough to find well reviewed peer confirmed data that shows vaccines are safe and effective. So he’s being called out for doing shitty things, and for being WRONG… and if it’s now become “cancel culture” to tell someone they’re wrong then the problem isn’t political correctness gone mad- it’s stupid people becoming far too confident in being able to create verbal diarrhoea without being told they are being stupid.

If you don’t want to be called stupid, either be smart, or be quiet.

Daviemoo is a 34 year old independent writer, radicalised into blogging about the political state of the world by Brexit and the election of serial failures like Trump and Johnson. Please check out the rest of the blog, check out Politically Enraged, the podcast available on all streaming platforms and share with your like minded friends! Also check him out on ko-fi where you can keep him caffeinated whilst he writes.