Infiltration
Doc Stock on the “But but but you wrote a piece for The Spectator!!” expostulation:
I am on the left — or at least, a version of the left that doesn’t involve trying to get employees sacked by bosses, which may or may not be the left as we now know it. One frequent preoccupation of fellow left-wingers is the potential for guilt by association with those on the right. When feminists like Julie Bindel and I share a platform with a Tory, or write something for The Spectator, isn’t that just grist to the mill of our enemies? And, over time, won’t this heinous practice increase the likelihood of our own politics becoming less feminist? My usual response is to point out that an ideology with ambitions to erase fundamental categories like ‘woman’ and ‘man’ will annoy nearly everyone, right-wingers included (usually adding that if the Guardian ever want me, they know where to find me). But these days I feel more bullish. As far as I can see, rather than feminists like Julie Bindel becoming more right-wing by appearing in The Spectator, Spectator readers are becoming more feminist by reading articles by Julie Bindel. And that’s fine by me.
Now if only we could figure out a way to make readers of The Guardian more feminist.
Genderists like it when liberal GC feminists are forced to find platforms in conservative publications and venues: it confirms their expressed conviction that these feminists were secret conservatives “all along” and now it all comes out. Believing this is a lot easier than wondering why people you agree with about 90% of the time don’t see transgender rights as the obvious next step after civil and gay rights. No, the GC are either against those things too, or are willing to sacrifice them just to prevent trans people from being happy.
“You’re not canceled if you’re publicly complaining” is a bizarre idea, since it presupposes that everyone would gladly lose their jobs and many of their former friends, colleagues, and admirers in order to get on talk shows. If Lavery was bullied off campus by protesters angry over “you can change sex,” I doubt he’d be thinking it was fair criticism so no kvetching.
The level of political polarization today is something that is being taken advantage of by zealots and opportunists on both sides. Bizarre online conspiracy theories are pushed by those seeking influence and political power on the right, while those claiming that gender trumps sex have managed to get social media platforms like Twitter to make disagreement with them ban-worthy to silence the skeptics. Moderates who disagree with all this are told they’re traitors to their side, which helps feed the polarization even more.
I know the old quip about politics not being bean bag and that elbows can and do get thrown – it’s just that when I see AR-15s and baseball bats being brandished that it’s clear things have gotten out of hand. At least in the U.K. now with the BBC taking its leave of Stonewall and critics like Kathleen Stock getting serious media attention that can’t be ignored and dismissed so easily, hopefully we’ll see more voices of reason pushing back against the zealots.