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The maddening awfulness:
- @lucianaberger has 2 criminal convictions of men who abused *her* leftsplained *to her*
- See also her police escorts at the Labour Party conference where she was and still is regularly accused of lying.
- This atmosphere didn't come from nowhere...
- @lucianaberger has 2 criminal convictions of men who abused *her* leftsplained *to her*
- See also her police escorts at the Labour Party conference where she was and still is regularly accused of lying.
- This atmosphere didn't come from nowhere...
@lucianaberger Of all the issues around Labour antisemitism, the treatment of Luciana Berger MP has been the most extraordinary and depressing.
It displays all the worst features of the movement around Corbyn, and his own studied indifference and lack of empathy. See
It displays all the worst features of the movement around Corbyn, and his own studied indifference and lack of empathy. See
@lucianaberger ... When I reflect on this particular nastiness, I wonder what can make people feel it is OK - not just OK but right - to focus vitriol on someone like Luciana, a good MP who campaigns on important issues such as mental health.
... There is clearly an element of it which is antisemitic - see the thousands of racist messages she gets. But I think it's also to do with the demands for ideological purity which seem to be common, and encouraged, on the left ATM.
... Since Luciana is a woman, a 'centrist', a Jew, a liberal Zionist, she is at the point in the Venn diagram which will expose her to the worst kind of abuse. The thing which puzzles me is that many people aren't racist, or don't see themselves as racist, and yet engage in this
... I think they genuinely see themselves as purging the 'movement' of ideological impurity, and that is for the greater good. What else could explain the obsessive focus on her? I think the psychology of it is something very tribal and ancient
... it is the ancient switch within us which allows us to see people not empathetically as humans but as objects whose only important feature is that they are blocking our path towards some great purpose. Once it is switched, our perception of the world becomes corrupted
... and history tells us what happens too many people are pressing their dehumanisation switch.
That, for me, is the point of human rights. When they work, they are barriers which protect us against our worst natures. Because they force us to see everyone as ends not means.
That, for me, is the point of human rights. When they work, they are barriers which protect us against our worst natures. Because they force us to see everyone as ends not means.
I know it's trite to refer to Orwell but the treatment of Squealer in Animal Farm has a lot to teach us here.
Also Golding: Piggy in Lord of the Flies
Also Golding: Piggy in Lord of the Flies
