Urban v's the Commentariat

[butchersapron]

a) What on earth does she think will happen - that UKIP are going to win the general election?
b) What on nearth does she think has happened? Has she missed the racialising of social issues by the three main parties over the last three decades? Where is the real far-right threat here? Her parties and their power or UKIP?

 

[butchersapron]

Scroll down to the adverts under that piece - look at the middle one. What on earth made them think that would be a good picture to sell their service?

 

[ViolentPanda]

Patriarchy is 'male dominance' so that definition is circular. And that wasn't my argument.

No, patriarchy isn't "male dominance".

You kind of answered this yourself when you jumped at a class argument:

Except that I didn't.

 

[killer b]

Has she missed the racialising of social issues by the three main parties over the last three decades? Where is the real far-right threat here? Her parties and their power or UKIP?

This is a point that needs to be made over and over - that UKIP or similar (and stamp out UKIP and something else will take it's place) are the inevitable consequence of mainstream political discourse.

 

[Theisticle]

1000 words and she does not mention how some working classes are voting Ukip, the sense of betrayal many feel with the centre-left agreed to variants of austerity. As if the racist framework Ukip came from was not established by the very Westminster elite they claim to despise.

"The entire comment spectrum on left and right seems to treat the people who plan to vote for Ukip and similar meatheaded, vicious right-wing parties like cattle who must be herded towards right-thinking."

But you've just labelled Ukip a far-right party. Irony, eh? She really does not understand the appeal of Ukip a great deal. Vacuous dribble.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Really? Is that conclusively proven, or an assertion you've made?

Nothing is conclusively proven, tommy.
As far as psychology goes, however, there's very little from 100+ years of research to show that "human nature" is innate (unless we're regressing back to Lombroso and his mapping of traits to physiognomy - read your head-bumps, sir?), and quite a lot to show that it's culturally-loaded and socially-constructed.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I fit right in here, don't I?

Yes, you do!

 

[Dogsauce]

British people - and, in particular, the English people - will giggle it all the way into Downing Street, accompanied not by a Wagnerian overture but a farting trombone.

Something already demonstrated by Boris?

 

[J Ed]

"Across Europe, candidates from the libertarian nationalist fringe are emerging to fill the void where hope should be"

Is a really weird line. I know that UKIP has a lot of right wing libertarians but are any of the other nationalist parties in Europe at all libertarian? I know that Wilders went through a free market phase that he seems to have abandoned but I cannot think of any other examples...

 

[butchersapron]

"Across Europe, candidates from the libertarian nationalist fringe are emerging to fill the void where hope should be"

Is a really weird line. I know that UKIP has a lot of right wing libertarians but are any of the other nationalist parties in Europe at all libertarian? I know that Wilders went through a free market phase that he seems to have abandoned but I cannot think of any other examples...

It tends to be strongly interventionist and social protectionist. Serious misreading of the contemporary far-right,

 

[killer b]

Something already demonstrated by Boris?

I don't agree with her. I just thought it was a fairly nasty sentence. Contemptuous.

 

[Theisticle]

Britain has a long tradition of resisting fascism. If she only thinks Ukip are a) fascist b) will get near Westminster. Well, she is deeply misguided. The bigger issue is the normalisation of racism/xenophobia by the major parties. Ukip's racism does not exist in a vacuum after all. It's a really patronising final paragraph.

 

[J Ed]

Scroll down to the adverts under that piece - look at the middle one. What on earth made them think that would be a good picture to sell their service?

Hipster chic?

 

[butchersapron]

Hipster life insurance.

 

[Theisticle]

I hate these people:

 

[rekil]

LP's "made it"- she's at the point where she can churn out any old sick, reheated from last week's guardians, and then harvest the "omg! nailed it!!" head pats.

 

[tbtommyb]

No, patriarchy isn't "male dominance".

Oxford Dictionary definition: 'a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.'

That's an example of male dominance. Not all male dominance is patriarchy, of course.

Except that I didn't.

You did, when you said 'those who could exploit, did'.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Looks like Laurie is going back to university. http://laurie-penny.com/some-very-exciting-news/

I’m excited finally to be able to announce that I’ll be joining the class of 2015 at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

 

[J Ed]

Looks like Laurie is going back to university. http://laurie-penny.com/some-very-exciting-news/

Meritocracy, she is in you

 

[DaveCinzano]

Looks like Laurie is going back to university. http://laurie-penny.com/some-very-exciting-news/

Look forward to some great scoops

 

[J Ed]

I'm so glad that we live in a world where the privately educated, Oxford grad salt of the earth daughter of lawyers can end up at Harvard.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I'm so glad that we live in a world where the privately educated, Oxford grad salt of the earth daughter of lawyers can end up at Harvard.

In a way, we are all the winners here.

 

[rekil]

"given my age and background in non-traditional media."

State telly and radio, newspapers and liberal websites are non traditional media.

 

[rekil]

Laurie Penny (UK anarchist), contributing editor of the New Statesman, editor-at-large of The New Inquiry, and a contributor to The Guardian, Vice, The Nation and many other publications, will study the economic history and theory of social movements, with an emphasis on digital culture and linguistics.

Hope she finds the time and inclination to have a go at studying Proletarian Democracy.

 

[phildwyer]

Scroll down to the adverts under that piece - look at the middle one. What on earth made them think that would be a good picture to sell their service?

It's an ad for life insurance, so we must presume this shows a young widow's reaction to the news that her recently-deceased husband had failed to make adequate provision in that regard.

Quite obvious really, why have your semantic skills deserted you today?

 

[killer b]

Win/win - we get a break for a year or two, and she learns to write.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Win/win - we get a break for a year or two, and she learns to write.

And - maybe, just maybe - citizenship!

 

[Theisticle]

Maybe Laurie will drop the pretence of being anything but posh and privileged.

 

[killer b]

Oh, please.

 

[Theisticle]

"I’ve been feeling for a while now that in order to take my writing to the next level, I needed to stop careering around chasing stories, go back to school and sit my bum down for some serious reading and nerding out. This fellowship is an unbelievable opportunity to do just that."

Oh man, I'm dying reading that.