Drawing The Wrong Conclusion Again...

 

In preparation for interviewing Pussy Riot’s Maria “Masha” Alyokhina at the Charleston festival, I was reading her new memoir, Political Girl. I thought I remembered the group’s origin story pretty well – in 2012, they performed their anthem, Punk Prayer (Virgin Mary Banish Putin), and two band members were imprisoned for two years in a penal colony, then released slightly early in order to sanitise the country’s reputation before the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

Oh, Russia, awful country where you aren't free to say what you think, eh Zoe?  

The detention of Pussy Riot signalled a significant shift towards the aggressive authoritarianism that is now self-evident, and, in those early days, was expressed and mobilised through misogynistic, patriarchal values-setting built on Christian nationalist foundations.

Say, isn’t there a religion with all those hallmarks that's not Christian, Zoe? I'm sure there is.

Far-right movement-building always includes, and very often starts with, the repression of women. The obvious jumping-off point is reproductive rights, since that’s easily the most effective: a woman who can’t control when and whether to have children isn’t in control of anything.

Funny you should mention repression of women, Zoe…. 

This is why Reform’s Makerfield candidate, Robert Kenyon – surprise, surprise – allegedly has been both anti-abortion and toxically misogynistic on social media and this, crucially, is why Reform’s high command has said explicitly that it has no plans to censure or investigate him.

Reform may not be the answer in the end, but their refusal to play along with the fake concerns from the progressives and censor themselves will get them my vote every time! And focusing on Christians is like shrieking in terror at seeing a grass snake in the garden, while importing black mambas into the neighbourhood.

Again, liberal arguments go in on exactly the wrong pressure point, trying to make it make sense – why, when women constitute so very much of the electorate, would any politician set out to alienate us? We know, from any democracy on Earth that has thrown up a far-right victor, that women don’t vote en masse in the interests of their gender; that some are as susceptible to the politics of domination as some men are. Yet we try to rationalise it on our own terms, and treat misogyny simultaneously like a side dish to the meat of a policy platform, and like a mistake so self-evident that people can be argued out of it.

Now who is making 'a mistake so self-evident'? And if you've failed to notice the elephant in the room marked 'Islam' in this column, I don't feel like wasting time trying to argue you out of ir, I'll just point and laugh instead.

If There's A Competition For 'Worst Take On The German Christmas Market Massacre'...

...then I think I've found it. This went up before the engine had cooled and the bodies had been counted. You think you hate the MSM? You don't hate them enough.

My first thought after hearing about the attack was "I hope people react rationally and don't get aggravated"

A rather baffling response to yet another Islamist attack on free speech. Thankfully others are beginning to react more rationally:

A 74-year-old pensioner, who travelled to Mannheim from the neighbouring Rheinland-Pfalz state to pay her sympathies to the victims, said she had 'goosebumps' ever since she heard about the attack. 'This is not normal that something like this happens. I immediately thought yesterday that it could happen to my child, to anyone. I can't understand this,' she told MailOnline. 'One should live in peace without attacking another person with a knife. Someone like that is not human to me. No one has the right to hurt others.'

She gets it. 

One member of the public, who prefers to stay anonymous, came to the market square in Mannheim today with a home-made sign saying 'Democracy - no Islamism'.The 35-year-old told MailOnline: 'It was another attack on someone who was using his democratic right to free speech. It is bad that something like this happens and it's happening more often, especially at the hands of Islamists. 'I have experienced today how it affects a lot of people here. They want to talk about, but many are afraid. Islamistic terror is coming closer and closer and now it has arrived in Mannheim.'He said he had thought about whether it was a good idea to come up to Mannheim from his nearby hometown to voice his concerns about Islamism, but ultimately decided to put his trust in the police to keep him safe. 'But I'm really scared of the future, of what is yet to come,' he added. While some people, including Muslims, came up to him and said they were sorry to hear about what happened, he said he also encountered people who looked 'as if they want to strangle' him.

I expect the others did too, they just hid it better.  

Roland said he was 'a bit scared' to share his opinion openly after Islam-critic Michael Stuerzenberger was attacked, but he continued: 'We reap what we sow. Who doesn't fight for their rights and freedoms will be a victim and will be under Sharia law.'

Amen, Roland. 

'It really hit close to home. There was only hate and violence behind it, nothing rational, nothing human, just rage,' Leo, who moved to the city for university, said.

And meanwhile, in the UK, it seems the police are waking up a little bit: 

A bit too little, too late, but still welcome. 

Even When There’s No Evidence…

...that's still evidence. To some.

The driver was said to have slowed down to let Misbah Sadique, 37, and her friend Kulsum, cross the road. They were close to home in Waltham Forest and felt safe in a part of east London that they knew well. But, as they stepped out, the car in front of them suddenly, inexplicably, accelerated, one of the women later alleged. It is said that Kulsum was thrown to the ground by the force of the impact and that Misbah was dragged under the vehicle. She claims she was lucky to escape with breaks to her right ankle and foot, ribs and right arm, on top of extensive bruising and abrasions. Three weeks later, she remains in hospital, traumatised and facing a long road to recovery.

The story doesn't mention whther this occurred at a crossing. Which is strange. But the police acted promptly. 

The driver, who did not leave the scene, gave a statement by the side of the road and the police have categorised what happened as a road traffic incident. No arrests were made.

Just one of those things. But wait! 

But Misbah and Kulsum had both been wearing hijabs.

Aha! The game (of victimhood) is afoot! 

Misbah, who has given a statement to the police in recent days, is calling, with the support of her family and the charity, The Islamophobia Response Unit, for the incident on 1 February to be further investigated as a potential hate crime.

Well, sorry, but they already did. And found no evidence of that at all. 

The Met said officers did open a hate crime investigation in response to concerns raised with them. “However, our investigation – including viewing of CCTV – leads us to believe that the women were not in any way deliberately targeted,” said Ch Supt Simon Crick, who is in charge of policing Waltham Forest.

“This was an unfortunate road traffic collision.”

The police said they had asked specialists to review the case as well but that they had come to the same conclusion.

 QED? Well, no, Reader, of course not.

But that Misbah should consider someone capable of running her down purely due to her faith might be in itself be regarded as a damning insight into modern Britain.

Well, it's a damning insight into something, all right. But I really don't think it's modern Britain.  

Do You Need More Proof That Drag Is Narcissism Writ Large?

I was being mercilessly bullied at school, and it was obvious to even the ants that crawled the pavements that I was gay as hell, which also happened to be my Iraqi parents’ worst nightmare. Home was a cosseted environment where any kind of genuine self-expression was policed.But the rainbow fish were almost defiant in their flamboyance.

I was hypnotised by their ethereal, kaleidoscopic forms that seemed to reject the conformity of the world I was desperately trying to fit into. Strange, undefinable creatures that moved through the sand and the water as if constantly in the process of becoming – I was transfixed.

Understandable. Aquariums have a power to soothe the soul, but they can't work miracles. Of course, most people buy them because they want the challenge and pleasure of keeping alive and happy these exotic pets.  

Instead of feeling solace, irrationally, I felt anger that my marine companions couldn’t understand what I was going through. I scanned the tank and tried to grab the attention of a pair of clownfish. But they were swimming along happily together – just another couple who had found love – and suddenly the tank made me feel lonelier than ever.

Because everything's about you... 

Shortly afterwards, I quit my job at the marine shop and developed a complete aversion to my fish tank, barely able to look at it without the temptation to smash the glass. I couldn’t even bring myself to turn on its lights.

One night, I saw that all my fish and coral were floating rigid on the surface. It was the final confirmation I needed – the tank no longer served me, and couldn’t be the heal-all balm I needed it to be.

So this twisted individual let his expensive pets die and now has a 'Guardian' column to boast about it? It's enough to make you vomit... 

Just What Is It You Think 'The Wider Electorate' Cares About, Mustafa?

Mustafa Al-Dabbagh, a spokesperson for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: “We’re speaking to British Muslims on a daily basis and they feel alienated. Muslims feel like they are not being taken seriously by the leadership on the Labour party. There seems to be an attitude that Muslims have always voted Labour, so they’re always going to.”

He said the party needed to take a stronger stance on tackling Islamophobia as well as on foreign policy issues. “The Conservatives have left Labour with an open goal to come and engage with Muslim constituents and it’s not doing so. You have a government that ignores foreign policy issues like Palestine and Kashmir, and you have an opposition that equivocates,” he added.

Because I can tell you - it's not what happens in other countries, it's what happens in the UK... 

“When you’ve got Labour party officials briefing frankly Islamophobic statements and making Muslims feel like they’re not part of the wider electorate then I’m sorry, what do you expect from us?” he said.

If your concerns are purely for foreign policy, then you're not part of the wider electorate, are you? 

Steering The Ship Away From The Rocks...

The alleged murderer of eight people, six of whom were Asian American women, reportedly said that he was trying to “eliminate temptation”. It’s as if he thought others were responsible for his inner life, as though the horrific act of taking others’ lives rather than learning some form of self-control was appropriate. This aspect of a crime that was also horrifically racist reflects a culture in which men and the society at large blame women for men’s behavior and the things men do to women.

Oh oh! I see where this could be going... 

The idea of women as temptresses goes back to the Old Testament and is heavily stressed in white evangelical Christianity...

Whew! Avoided disaster in the nick of time!