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

[ernestolynch]

Libcom the anarchist website.

(sic)

 

[audiotech]

No matter how bad things get, real people will never allow themselves to be led by somebody called Tamsin.

It's what the person is saying and whether it's strikes a chord with real people. Nowt to do with what their name is, as you well know.

Anyway, Tamsin and the meaning of the name:

[ syll. tam-sin, ta-ms-in ] The girl name Tamsin is pronounced TahMSIHN †. Tamsin has its origins in the Aramaic language and it is used largely in English. Derived from the element teoma which is of the meaning 'twin'. The name developed as a short form of Thomasina, and was common among English speakers in the medieval period. It has in recent times mainly been used as a Cornish name in Cornwall, Britain.

http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Tamsin

 

[LLETSA]

It's what the person is saying and whether it's strikes a chord with real people. Nowt to do with what their name is, as you well know.

Anyway, Tamsin and the meaning of the name:



http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Tamsin

No matter what they say, no self-respecting person could ever throw in their lot with a Tamsin.

 

[Proper Tidy]

No matter what they say, no self-respecting person could ever throw in their lot with a Tamsin.

It's true.

 

[audiotech]

Shortened to Tam? No forget that.

 

[Riklet]

Her name and how "omg middle class" it is, is obviously the biggest issue.

 

[Captain Hurrah]

No matter what they say, no self-respecting person could ever throw in their lot with a Tamsin.

lol.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

I think plenty of blokes would throw their lot in if they could.

 

[LLETSA]

Her name and how "omg middle class" it is, is obviously the biggest issue.

Followed by people who accompany their vacuous posts with rolleyes crap.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Her name and how "omg middle class" it is, is obviously the biggest issue.

I think you'll find that it's what she does that's the biggest issue, and that taking the piss out of her name (and even her class) is secondary.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Followed by people who accompany their vacuous posts with rolleyes crap.

That's detective-boy fucked, for sure.

 

[audiotech]

Tamsin, a Cambridge graduate, avoided being sent to prison for breaching bail conditions, which forbid the 23-year-old from going anywhere near Parliament.

"Family tradition: Social activism"

Tamsin Omond is the granddaughter of Sir Thomas Lees, a fourth-generation baronet and owner of the Holton Lee estate at Lytchett Minster in Dorset. Sir Thomas has publicly supported his granddaughters' activism, calling it part of a long family tradition of philanthropy and politics. Her great-great-grandfather Elliot Lees was an MP for Oldham in the late 19th century whilst Sir Thomas himself spends most of his time running a charity for disabled people on 350 acres of woodland in the Purbeck Hills. Omond's mother, Sarah, is Sir Thomas' eldest daughter and her father, John, fled Soviet Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. They live in north London.

http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...ce-tamsin-omond-faces-her-critics-965457.html

 

[The39thStep]

Tamsin, a Cambridge graduate, avoided being sent to prison for breaching bail conditions, which forbid the 23-year-old from going anywhere near Parliament.

"Family tradition: Social activism"



http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...ce-tamsin-omond-faces-her-critics-965457.html

Well meaning middle classes .The world is full of them.

 

[ernestolynch]

her father, John, fled Soviet Czechoslovakia in the 1970s

Counter-revolutionary scum.

 

[audiotech]

Well meaning middle classes .The world is full of them.

As is this forum.

 

[killer b]

it doesn't matter that no 'real people' have heard of penny - hers is still one of the most prominent voices of the anti-cuts movement, and her opinions will be filtered through to the 'real people' as the thoughts of those leading the movement, and not the confused ranting of a privileged teenager.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Must say she's something of a public relations master, having gone from blogger, to LibDem backer, returned to Labour now courting revolutionary opinion she's got people across the 'left/ liberal' spectrum all talking about her. Love her or hate you lot aint forgetting her in a hurry!

 

[killer b]

we'll be remembering her for being shit. what fantastic PR.

 

[The39thStep]

it doesn't matter that no 'real people' have heard of penny - hers is still one of the most prominent voices of the anti-cuts movement, and her opinions will be filtered through to the 'real people' as the thoughts of those leading the movement, and not the confused ranting of a privileged teenager.

anti tuition fees perhaps, anti cuts no. The latter won't be as fashionable or as easily impressed.

 

[LLETSA]

it doesn't matter that no 'real people' have heard of penny - hers is still one of the most prominent voices of the anti-cuts movement, and her opinions will be filtered through to the 'real people' as the thoughts of those leading the movement, and not the confused ranting of a privileged teenager.

Real people won't take that much notice of 'those leading the movement' either for that matter.

 

[LLETSA]

Must say she's something of a public relations master, having gone from blogger, to LibDem backer, returned to Labour now courting revolutionary opinion she's got people across the 'left/ liberal' spectrum all talking about her. Love her or hate you lot aint forgetting her in a hurry!

I've never heard anybody talk about her except on here. In fact I'd never heard of her until this thread.

 

[Fruitloop]

Guess no-one ever throws old copies of the Guardian down your well

 

[LLETSA]

Guess no-one ever throws old copies of the Guardian down your well

I occasionally get to see a Guardian on Saturday and sometimes read it online. But I've still never noticed Laurie Penny.

 

[Sgt Howie]

Most "real people" haven't, to their credit, heard of most broadsheet columnists. We all know it's a tiny, self-perpetuating little world. That sort of underpins the entire thread, doesn't it?

 

[audiotech]

Cynicism and abuse, from the self appointed representatives of the 'real people'. Just what's needed at this time.

 

[Riklet]

I think you'll find that it's what she does that's the biggest issue, and that taking the piss out of her name (and even her class) is secondary.

Ahhh sigh I wrote a big reply and it just got back-button destroyed, oh noes.

I was reading this pretty late, and I mainly objected to the points in this thread where the (perhaps legitimate) criticism, cynicism and character assassination instead turned into a "look at her pic, what an ugly cunt" or "what a posh clueless cunt, being called Tamsin says it all" blah blah blah. Pretty nasty kinda undertone imo. I do think her articles are at times pretty shitty; the lolsome lies about singing the Internationale and harping on about her 'living in poverty' etc, the sense of proportion is really not there, but also is she really claiming to be a 'voice of the yoof'? I guess newspaper editors do genuinely think like that, which is pretty fucking sad really.

Making a quip about the SWP (and essentially their 'marketing' at protests) isn't exactly the end of the world, personally the whole facebook/CIF handbags-out debate wankery just makes me chuckle (or even eye-roll like the evil green smilie). She's only 22 or something though isn't she, maybe i'm naive and over-optimistic but writing someone off as a useless liar future lib dem abuser of their class privileges is just as snidey as her SWP comments; compared to Richard Littlejohn or someone her articles are hardly the inadvertent evil some are making them out heh.

Penny's petty sectarian comments are exactly what some people are replicating (here and elsewhere) on some level, in some ways she's a non issue, a her few CIF pages is not going to either make or destroy how young adults in protest movements are viewed imo, and to say this will buys into a pretty low opinion of people in society as a whole, and their ability to read around, and y'know... think for themselves a bit.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

I've never heard anybody talk about her except on here. In fact I'd never heard of her until this thread.

Me neither to be honest, and I read the Guardian more often than I would like.

 

[ernestolynch]

You should see someone about that, it can't be good for you.

 

[killer b]

fair points that she won't have a massive impact (what columnist does?), but she's still got a profile which far outweighs her talents. i can't think of another anti-cuts campaigner who's had as many opportunities to mouth off in the mainstream media (guardian / bbc / ns - possibly elsewhere?), so i think it's reasonable to criticise her writing, and to question why it's her who's been 'chosen'.

 

[frogwoman]

fair points that she won't have a massive impact (what columnist does?), but she's still got a profile which far outweighs her talents. i can't think of another anti-cuts campaigner who's had as many opportunities to mouth off in the mainstream media (guardian / bbc / ns - possibly elsewhere?), so i think it's reasonable to criticise her writing, and to question why it's her who's been 'chosen'.

yep