Alex Callinicos/SWP vs Laurie Penny/New Statesman Facebook handbags

[love detective]

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed
@anamariecox hey I'm organising volunteering stuff tomorrow, also a journolady. Want to co-ordinate? L xx

Out of all the people in the city she could roll up her sleeves with, she managed to home in on somebody from GQ with over a million twitter followers. Looks like a bit of a fib to make herself sound important as well.

yeah, the extent of her 'organising volunteering stuff' seems to be demanding people come and pick her up from midtown manhattan (where she attended a society party last night with someone who had just raised 30 grand of idiots to write a few tunes) and take her to staten island. Despite many people telling her she can get there by ferry and bus/tube no problem, she still continued to ask people to drive her there

 

[Treacle Toes]

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed
@anamariecox hey I'm organising volunteering stuff tomorrow, also a journolady. Want to co-ordinate? L xx

Out of all the people in the city she could roll up her sleeves with, she managed to home in on somebody from GQ with over a million twitter followers. Looks like a bit of a fib to make herself sound important as well.

Ana Marie Cox ‏@anamariecox
I'll be midtown/Rock Center--looking for a ride for @PennyRed and me to volunteer center in #statenisland #sandy
Retweeted by Laurie Penny

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed
Is there anyone who can help me and @anamariecox get to Staten Island tomorrow? Need transport, happy to pay for fuel.

 

[butchersapron]

She's quite simply not 'organising' stuff in the sense of her being involved in organising a volunteer operation - 'organising' in her post actually means getting someone to drive her somewhere that they talked about at their posho party the night before. The fib comes in attempting to suggest by the ambiguous use of 'organise' that she is is actually using it in the first sense above.

 

[Treacle Toes]

I might have sent her a list of volunteering opportunities.

 

[articul8]

yeah, the extent of her 'organising volunteering stuff' seems to be demanding people come and pick her up from midtown manhattan (where she attended a society party last night with someone who had just raised 30 grand of idiots to write a few tunes) and take her to staten island. Despite many people telling her she can get there by ferry and bus/tube no problem, she still continued to ask people to drive her there

How would they do a tickertape parade for her if she came on the bus

 

[Treacle Toes]

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed
Was meant to volunteer at Coney Island today, but my brain and body have been flashing burnout klaxons for some time. So, not a good idea.

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed
Going to finish my 3 remaining deadlines, then attempt to have one of those 'weeks off' everyone always goes on about. Before I collapse.

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed
Last time I let burnout happen, I fell over post-reporting on the tottenham court road whilst holding a tray of fried noodles. Not pretty.

IMO LP is falling foul of tweeting her every thought and move. She will be roasted as a result. I personally think she should respect her own privacy more.

 

[articul8]

now that's exhaustion - when you're so tired you can't even be chauffered somewhere

 

[love detective]

burnt out, so can't go and help out with the relief efforts despite doing nothing but talking about it for the last few days but still managed to travel to and attend a society party in central manhattan last night

to be fair to molly, she's been putting in some decent shifts the last few days with none of the fuss & pomp of penny

 

[imposs1904]

funny how all that's going in in Brooklyn, meanwhile

eta: it's too early.

 

[love detective]

We will be transporting volunteers and supplies from St Jacobi Church in Sunset Park to impacted areas throughout the day. We prefer that new volunteers come to Sunset Park if possible so that we can route you to the locations with the greatest need, rather than going directly to one of the volunteer sites.

To catch a ride to Sunset Park, vehicles will be leaving from the following Brooklyn locations at 10am and 1pm. Please arrive a little before the hour as cars will be leaving on time!

Fort Green/Clinton Hill: 45 Waverly Avenue
Park Slope: 120/122 16th St btw 4th and 5th ave
Park Slope: 361 15th Street
Willimsburg: 190 Withers, First Fl
Bedstuy: 136 Jefferson Ave, apt 2
East Williamsburg: 342 Maujer st bay ridge.

Transportation update
Staten Island Ferry will be running starting at Noon 11/2
NY water taxi providing free rides from ikea to lower manhattan

it's just impossible to get there

 

[DotCommunist]

IMO LP is falling foul of tweeting her every thought and move. She will be roasted as a result. I personally think she should respect her own privacy more.

Its funnier if she carries on tbf

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Unlike the purely voluntary system in the UK, don't they pay you $20 for donating blood in the US?

 

[Delroy Booth]

Its funnier if she carries on tbf

I feel really cruel for laughing at all the shit that comes out on this thread. It's just it keeps on coming. I'm not sure if obsessing over every little thing Laurie Penny ever tweets is a healthy way to spend your time. And I think one or two people on here seem quite vindictive with it.

If I were Laurie Penny (and there's no definitive proof that I'm not...) I'd consider leaving twitter and just concentrating on actually doing my job. Y'know like maybe reporting honestly and faithfully on what's going on in New York with the cleanup effort for instance. Never mind "I cant' get a lift omg I'm gonna burn out" find a way! That's what journo's are supposed to do isn't it? It's like actually reporting on stuff is beneath her, and unless there's some factually dubious grandiose meta-story, or some Discordia arty book deal to be got out of it, she's just not bothered.

When I was younger i'd have loved to have a career as a journalist like what Laurie's doing. She's a bit older than me but not by much, but this idea that actual journalism is a chore and instead being an Activist (with a capital A) and iconoclast and celebritry tweeter and achingly bohemian dilettante really pisses me off coz at one point, before the weight of the world crushed all my hopes and aspirations, I'd have loved to do all that shit that's seemingly beneath her. Y'know, writing down facts to a deadline, getting paid ABOVE minimum wage, working with people who can converse intelligently (My last job I was on a 12 hour shift for months with a Hungarian who told me back home his friday night entertainment was shooting Roma with his .22 rifle....) all that stuff. I know it's laughable and pathetic today, but when I was 16 that just about as high as my hopes ever got. I don't think I'd do it now. Having a 176 page thread on a message board dedicated to slating me would crush my fragile ego for starters. But still, there must be loads of people who'd kill for the opportunity to do what she does, but sincerely.

I don't think she realises just how lucky she is to be honest.

/rant over

 

[nino_savatte]

IMO LP is falling foul of tweeting her every thought and move. She will be roasted as a result. I personally think she should respect her own privacy more.

Like a lot of people, she's horribly naive when it comes to the Internet. Once your innermost thoughts are online, it's too late to reel them back in.

 

[Delroy Booth]

I take it all back

http://www.penny-red.com/post/34978235379/blood-and-thunder-new-york-after-hurricane-sandy

 

[cesare]

I take it all back

http://www.penny-red.com/post/34978235379/blood-and-thunder-new-york-after-hurricane-sandy

When me and my friend Veronica went down to the Church to open our veins for the cause, I was told that my tangy British blood was not acceptable because I might be riddled with mad cow disease ( this from people who haven’t even read my Twitter feed).

Not even read her twitter feed

 

[rekil]

Since she's a communist, she should be in Cuba. Or at least give it the mention.

Y U No Give Cuba The Mention.

 

[rekil]

I take it all back

http://www.penny-red.com/post/34978235379/blood-and-thunder-new-york-after-hurricane-sandy

In every case, though, the most dangerous thing you can do in any crisis - the absolute worst thing you can possibly do - is sit at home and accept it.

That's it. Sorry, guys, but I'm not going back out there today. Really don't want to be arrested and deported just for journalism

 

[emanymton]

I take it all back

http://www.penny-red.com/post/34978235379/blood-and-thunder-new-york-after-hurricane-sandy

Is it just me that thinks her prose is terrible and barely readable?

 

[Delroy Booth]

Is it just me that thinks her prose is terrible and barely readable?

That article's not very good, but she's written stuff in the past that's better. She was the smartest girl at a school full of smart girls, she's probably got some residual amount of talent.

15 years working at a local newspaper in some deeply unfashionable province before becoming famous would've done her the world of good imo.

 

[DotCommunist]

I take it all back

http://www.penny-red.com/post/34978235379/blood-and-thunder-new-york-after-hurricane-sandy

LOL

 

[Captain Hurrah]

Indeed.

 

[Balbi]

Since she's a communist, she should be in Cuba. Or at least give it the mention.

Y U No Give Cuba The Mention.

She's only a little bit communist.

 

[love detective]

...

In every case, though, the most dangerous thing you can do in any crisis - the absolute worst thing you can possibly do - is sit at home and accept it.

Anyway, I'm not volunteering today.....Am flatsitting for @davidgraeber for a few weeks while he's in Ldn. Just arrived

 

[Captain Hurrah]

The normals.

 

[U N Arrator]

(My last job I was on a 12 hour shift for months with a Hungarian who told me back home his friday night entertainment was shooting Roma with his .22 rifle....)

He was lying.

 

[Captain Hurrah]

Aye.

 

[phildwyer]

He certainly sounds more interesting than LP's colleagues.

 

[rekil]

Anybody got that clip of Solomon shouting 'I'm in charge!' at someone who was doing protest wrong?

"I'm in control!" at 2:33 on this video. I'm sure there's another one but this is good.

 

[butchersapron]

In her little lenin cap. God i despise these people.

I used to find this Penny stuff amusing but it's making me genuinely angry each time i click on this thread now. How the other half lives eh?