Thread by @Samfr

The three types of Corbynite defender of anti-semitism. A thread.

Type 1: the cultist. These people will not acknowledge any problem + will respond to anything with: a straight denial; A "WhAT aBoUt IsRAeL"; or a Chomsky quote.

They are dumb/brainwashed so just mute them.

Type 2: "the gaslighter" or "Bastani". This lot are just smart enough to avoid engaging on the substantive issues. Instead they'll pick on some perceived micro-flaw in an argument ("the quote was edited"; "I dispute this polling methodology") + hammer away at that to goad you.

It's very easy to get drawn in by these people because initially it can seem like they're just asking a reasonable question ("so what am I allowed to say about Israel?). But there's no point because they're just doing it to deflect from talking about the actual issue.

Type 3: "the pretenders" or "Owens". This is the smartest + most insidious group. They *will* acknowledge there's a problem + even argue (eventually) for people like Williamson and Willsman to be thrown out the party. But they will seek to minimise the extent of the issue and...

crucially will insist that Corbyn and his advisers have nothing personally to do with the issue. They will also try to deflect to whataboutery on Tory Islamophobia (which is a real issue) whenever possible.

This is the most dangerous group because to Labour supporters....

...struggling with the issue they can seem reasonable and balanced but what they're actually doing is making tactical concessions to protect the actual root cause of the problem - which is Corbyn, Milne and Murray.

They are just as bad as the others.

Thread ends.

It occurs to me that this taxonomy can probably be applied to trolls across a wide range of issues...