The 'Bonkers' Radical Left — The Suzanne Moore-Julie Burchill Uproar

Well, I can't beat this headline, from Dan Hodges, at Telegraph UK: "The Suzanne Moore-Julie Burchill uproar shows how utterly bonkers parts of the radical Left are at the moment." Here's the key bit:

@ampowerblog @rsmccain Most clueless neocons are a bit confused about what bullying is. "Bullying" is what that badly-written article did.
— Michael Rowe (@rowemichael) January 15, 2013

This idiot troll couldn't handle it, blocked me by the third tweet: ---> @rowemichael I'm getting fast on the draw! #HighNoon. @rsmccain
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 15, 2013

Oh god, that idiot @rowemichael was marinating in this drivel, "hate speech"? Isn't it always? guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/… … @rsmccain #LGBT #HRC
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) January 15, 2013

The Left detests a traitor. Or rather, there’s nothing the Left loves more than embarking on a witch-hunt for a traitor. Which is why Suzanne Moore found herself strapped firmly into the progressive ducking stool last week, after writing an article for the New Statesman that contained the line “We are angry with ourselves for not being happier, not being loved properly and not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual”. This single sentence, in a piece that otherwise sought to take a chainsaw to sexism and gender prejudice, saw Moore facing demands to apologise for what Pink News called her “recent transphobic outburst”.

No sooner had Moore been officially found to be in league with the devil than it was Julie Burchill’s turn. Burchill had defended her friend in a typically understated Observer piece, including a hot contender for most un-PC line of all time: “a gaggle of transsexuals telling Suzanne Moore how to write looks a lot like how I'd imagine the Black and White Minstrels telling Usain Bolt how to run would look”. This resulted in Lib Dem minister Lynne Featherstone demanding Burchill’s sacking, which was a very sensible response. What we all need at the moment is government ministers appointing newspaper columnists.

Next it was Owen Jones’s turn. The horny-handed tribune of the workers dared to suggest on Twitter there were probably more appropriate candidates for progressive outrage than Moore or Burchill, and was promptly vilified for his own treachery. Then, just as the whole thing was starting to resemble a surreal feminist/LGBT Marx brother’s sketch, in rushed gay rights activist Peter Tatchell shouting “Make that three hard-boiled eggs!” Actually, I couldn’t quite make out what Peter’s take on the whole issue was, but what I do know is he spent the next hour or so vainly trying to convince people he hadn’t become the new Bernard Manning.

I’ve got to be honest; I’ve found the spectacle of the cream of the progressive movement re-enacting the final scene from Reservoir Dogs strangely exhilarating. It’s like watching a grainy video from the 1970s, with Norman Mailer sitting in some run down cinema in Greenwich Village, swearing at Germaine Greer, and screaming “You damn harpies!” at every women in the room.

It’s also quite illustrative of some of the problems affecting the radical Left at the moment: not least the fact that a significant fraction of the radical Left is utterly bonkers. I’ve got my differences with Suzanne Moore – as a man I don’t actually feel collective responsibility for the breast-implant scandal, for example – but anyone who claims Moore is prejudiced is jumping an exceedingly large shark.

That's a lot of inside baseball --- or, er, cricket, be that as it may --- but by Jove I think he's got it!

And this idiot Michael Rowe above must really be searching the #Transsexual tweets, or something, because within seconds he was in my timeline attacking me as a "clueless neocon." What fun!

EXTRA: Hodges links to Paris Lees, so folks will for a moment understand why transsexuals are so damned unreasonable. See, "AN OPEN LETTER TO SUZANNE MOORE."