In Suzanne Moore's UnHerd piece, setting out at length why she felt she had to leave the Guardian, there's this tidbit about an unnamed "fellow columnist":
By 2018, the atmosphere was poisonous. A fellow columnist at The Guardian replied to a message I sent about being civil at the Christmas do with: “You’ve prompted the most sickening transphobia, for which you have never apologised, you called islamophobia a myth and you publicly abuse leftwingers.” This person went on to say that I felt insecure “because a new generation of younger leftists have caught the public mood”. I didn’t even understand the accusation of Islamophobia. More broadly, I understood that the possibility of a left-wing government was exciting, but unlike half the paper, I didn’t believe that Corbyn had actually won in 2017. I also didn’t like the macho, bullying culture around him propped up by writers at my place of work.
I complained to my editor about this person at the time but was told that as neither of us were on staff, nothing official could be done. Really?
So there we have it. Here comes the “new generation”: the new Left, same as the old Left. Full of misogyny, utter pricks and those with the emotional intelligence of whelks. Misogyny in the name of socialism. Again.
The latest Private Eye, out today, provides us with the columnist's name: Owen Jones. Of course.
It's hard to judge where the Islamophobia accusation originates. Google puts
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/14/charlie-hebdo-add-faithophobia-to-my-crimes
this article about Charlie Hebdo as a candidate, but it's immediately underneath
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/25/why-are-we-questioning-the-loyalty-of-british-muslims-we-never-ask-anyone-else
this one asking why Muslim loyalty is questioned.
It seems that if you challenge Islam in any way, you are guilty.
Posted by: TDK | December 02, 2020 at 12:53 PM