Liberal Vision

Thanks For The Memories

The Mark Clarke ‘Tatler Tory’ bullying scandal has brought back some fond memories of my time in youth politics. Here are a few of my favourite screen caps from that time in my life…

Why don’t you just fuck off and join the Tories?

Violence is never the answer, Duncan…

DROP THE BOMBS!!!

Join the Tories – Take Two… Maybe I should just join the Tories – nobody is threatening to violently assault me there…

Encourage other members to take part in the fun…

That’s right every problem in Liberal Youth was my fault even though they continued long after I was off the scene…

Off like milk? Or like a bomb? Are you calling me a terrorist? Because someone in the LibDems did actually do that once…

Sara Scarlett drinks blood…

I notice that this individual has since taken his Twitter feed down. Can’t imagine why…

And my personal favourite – two members of the same party “joking” about beating me in the face with a fire extinguisher! So good.

Hilarious…

Why a fire extinguisher? So oddly specific…

I don’t know what I love most about this collection of screencaps more? The fact that grown adults did this on a public platform, or that some of the aforementioned individuals are now in charge of the anti-sexual harassment group, or that the Liberal Democrats have it enshrined in their constitution that no one shall be enslaved by conformity – unless they don’t assimilate to the policy views of the majority of centrist LibDems in which case they’re fucking Tory cunts and we’ll hound them out the party…

I genuinely wanted to get back involved and help the LibDems out about a year and a half ago – that is until the sustained bullying started back up on LibDemVoice. I don’t comment on sites like Guido because it’s a cesspit and it knows it is. But I do expect that on a site with a strict moderation policy people shouldn’t be allowed to behave in a way that drives members of their own community off the site. I feel as though the LDV moderators have the internet equivalent job of raking a zen garden but one where there is shit where the sand should be.

The only way to survive is to become scum yourself and give it right back – but since I don’t want to be scum and I didn’t like the person I was becoming, I thought it better to bow out and leave the shit pit for people who enjoy that sort of thing. Those people are the people who are either very apt at manipulating other people, the people with a lot of emotional resiliance, and/or the people who are so bland they don’t get wrapped up in anything because they are so mind-numbingly, almost death defyingly bland. Look at any MP and you will see that they fit into one of those three categories.

In all honesty, I do feel shame for every single unbecoming deed I have ever done – I wonder if the people who bullied me similarly feel shame. In balance I do believe that I have been aggressed upon more than I have aggressed. I hold non-conformist views and I know I’ll be attacked for them but too often they’ve played the man rather than the ball.

Good people just don’t last long. The system is inherently corrupting. Look at the Rennard scandal. All the women who accused Lord Rennard of impropriety are no longer party members. You have the choice – do you make a completely justified complaint? Or do you have a career on politics? Until those two choices are no longer mutually exclusive, politics will remain a shit pit where the shitty cream rises to the shitty top. No wonder there isn’t a sound dispute resolution process in the LibDems. The people in charge of the process are the most in need of being subjected to it.

I’ve met Mark Clarke – once -just over five years ago and I have delibrately made a point of not going anywhere near him or his circle ever again. His reputation preceded him even then. He wasn’t even shy about it. That’s the difference between the Tories and the other parties. The Tories know they’re scum. Everyone else is in denial.

And that, children, is why nothing gave me greater joy that seeing the LibDems get annihilated in May.

Is Feminism Dead In The LibDems?

I really think the LibDems Lords must be missing a large portion of their collective brain cells. The fact that they not only defend Chris Rennard but thought him a suitable candidate to represent them at the FE just defies belief. Even as a mere horrified witness to the distress of women close to me, I am still livid at this whole sorry chapter in Liberal history. Lord Rennard may not belong in prison but the fact that anyone thinks he deserves power after he abused it in such a serious way is worthy of the highest scorn.

In the Liberal Democrats, the “broadly credible” voices of several women, who included trusted LibDem party officials, party staff and candidates, are worth less than the voice of one powerful man. As others have rightly pointed out, this would be more than enough for any organisation in the private sphere to sack someone. Why should any woman work in a party that offers them less protection than the private sector?

If this is a woman-friendly party then I’d hate to see what isn’t. I still need a lot of convincing that feminism isn’t dead in the LibDems.

 

Rennard: I Was Cyberbullied…

Sir Norman Fry: “The fact that both my hands were on both her breasts was simply an accidental happenstance…”

Sic semper tyrannis!

Hat Tip: Ben Mathis

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