So journalists like Owen Jones, & to some extent Michael Walker, have, undeniably helpfully, carved themselves a place in the mainstream media & are working hard to try to make left politics respectable after the concerted right wing & liberal project to delegitemise socialism(1)
Their politics are largely actually not radically different from the vast majority of the so-called "crank left" (anti imperialist, anti war, pro public ownership, etc.) but it helps them to be able to fabricate & perpetuate the existence of so-called "disreputable" leftists (2)
against whom they can define themselves, & in doing so reassure the mainstream that they are the respectable, optics Left that won't frighten the horses and know which fork to use at dinner parties (3)
But to make this convincing every now & then they must whip up some good old optics left outrage against the "disreputables" &, because as I said there are few genuine, real political differences between the optics & the crank left... (4)
...this will often have to involve some pretty bad faith stretching - as we've seen today. To me there's not a substantial difference between what Jones pulled against Kerry-Anne today and the "orange-gate" nonsense pulled against Ash Sarkar. (5)
& all I want to say is that it's all extremely depressing. I won't be "cancelling" Jones or Walker or Kerry-Anne or The Canary or Sqwawkbox or Laura Pidcock...But Jones needs to understand he is not gate-keeper of the left & he doesn't get to decide who's in or out of the club(6)
& because I expressed solidarity with Kerry-Anne (a gay person of colour who takes a lot of shit on & off line & someone I've met & is from the same town as me) my mentions are now full of far right flag shaggers calling me antisemitic. & Owen Jones did that. Not cool. Not ok.(7)
TLDR? Owen Jones needs to disabuse himself of the idea he is the head prefect of the left. (8)
