The death of satire is now complete

[FleecyMoo]

Am I the only one who can no longer tell if what I am reading is satire or someone's magical thinking? I keep thinking that the latest Labour Twitter declaration cannot be real. If it is I must be living on a completely different planet to those who are signing the ridiculous petition.

The Labour party has become the place where facts go to die and become reincarnated as crazy opinions!

When we have completely waved goodbye to objective truth how will we, as a species, survive? If I go to a hospital to have my burst appendix removed do I really want to see a surgeon who believes my appendix is located in my left big toe?

[Michelleoftheresistance]

It's beyond barmy. Part of me is thinking that these stupid fools will not stop until they've successfully driven society to full blown civil war. Immigration, Brexit, this, every damn issue that led to them losing the election, they seem utterly fixated on creating aggressive division, bad feeling and anger. How exactly do they think this is going to lead anywhere positive, and if they ever did actually win an election on this lunacy, what do they intend to do with the bits of the electorate they've declared untouchable and illegal? Gulags? Seriously?

And then another part of me thinks, crack on guys. Put it right out in the open, make this into a giant public fuss, and the faster the better, because the massive majority of the general public will shift from 'I can't be buggered with this nonsense' to 'fuck this'.

[Thelnebriati]

You know its not just you when there's a name for it;

''Poe's law is an adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of the views being parodied.''
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

[WhereYouLeftIt]

"And then another part of me thinks, crack on guys. Put it right out in the open, make this into a giant public fuss, and the faster the better, because the massive majority of the general public will shift from 'I can't be buggered with this nonsense' to 'fuck this'."

But it worked so well for Jo Swinson and the LibDems! Oh, wait ...

[popehilarious]

There are also people who go on Mumsnet to make grand "Statements" where I still am not 100% sure if they mean literally anything they've posted or they want a 'wind them up and let them go' thread...

[AnyOldSpartabix]

I read that declaration and found it hard to believe that prominent women in the party had signed it. I had to wonder whether they read it to the end before they did so.

What do they see when looking at it? I see a list of near outrageous demands, and an astonishing slur at the end against women’s groups. How can anyone read it and think it reasonable?

It passes me...

[BritneyPeedOnALadybug]

Appendixes rights are toes rights. If you oppose this then you’re clearly toephobic and contributing literal violence to appendixes.

[BritneyPeedOnALadybug]

^^ oh, or should that have been literal violence to toes? I can’t keep up tbh.

[TheProdigalKittensReturn]

I'm with your there, mate. It's like living in a Philip K Dick novel. Is everyone on glue? Is this like the Salem Witch Trials and we'll find out years later that there was an outbreak of ergot poisoning?

It's a fascinating case study in how easily people can be persuaded to lie if they think it's in their best interests to do so and all, but still, I'm ready for this massive experiment in collective social manipulation to stop now.

[Gingerkittykat]

Have you got a link to the declaration?

[Goosefoot]

And then another part of me thinks, crack on guys. Put it right out in the open, make this into a giant public fuss, and the faster the better, because the massive majority of the general public will shift from 'I can't be buggered with this nonsense' to 'fuck this'.

I feel something like this too, like parts of society, maybe all of it, have been picking up bad habits of thought and need something to really knock them off their high horse. People had begun to forget how things go wrong.

If we are lucky, something will happen big enough that no one will be able to deny it - unfortunately I suspect it will be related to a whole lot of people being damaged. If we aren't lucky, I don't know. I don't really want to think about it.

[Counterpane]

What worries me is that these are the people who should be holding the Government to account. Instead they have chosen to fart about demonstrating they are so woke they're sleep deprived and meanwhile no-one is representing any of us.

[Jillyhilly]

What is the declaration?

[BovaryX]

I think it's indicative of the way many left wing parties have become completely dislocated from the demographic they imperiously claim to represent. This phenomenon is happening on both sides of the Atlantic. The hierarchy of victimhood is such a bankrupt paradigm that it is inevitable it will end in farce. And Labour's pledges are farcical. The fact they have been written by trans activists and are being regurgitated by people who expect to be elected? It's comical. And that is how you can tell satire from ideological fanaticism. The purveyors of the former have a sense of humor. The po faced identity zealots? Not a trace.....

[MedusasButterDish]

The declaration starts here: twitter.com/Labour_Trans/status/1226939313264394241?s=19

[MedusasButterDish]

This campaign group inside the Labour Party has just 2,132 followers on Twitter (which is bound to include at least a few following from the other side). Yet leadership candidates are endorsing it, against the interests of potentially millions.

I understand that the party wants a pipeline of members and activists, so is keen to get youth on board, but there are major generation and cultural gaps here, and #ExpelMe and #LabourLosingWomen are an expression of huge holes in that membership pipeline - further along the pipeline, at a time of life when political allegiances should be more stable (members a party can rely upon for votes, volunteering and funding). This is very bad politics. It's negligent opposition.

[SophocIestheFox]

They might as well just put up a big flashing sign saying “please never elect us” at this stage.

Political wonks, what can we actually do about this? Is there anything?

[Mycatismadeofstringcheese]

Bloody hell. I notice in point 5 it’s only transwomen that face misogyny and not women or trans men.

By point 9 I could picture the author frotting themselves to orgasm at the exclusion of A Woman’s Place and the LGB Alliance (but maybe I’ve been reading too much about AGP).

It’s a dreadful manifesto. There’s no room for compromise or working with other groups in a spirit of harmony or cooperation. Only total capitulation will do.

[TheProdigalKittensReturn]

The problem is that though they seem to have little interest in winning general elections the people pushing this stuff are very interested indeed in retaining control of the parties in which they're embedded, so that's where their focus is, making it very difficult to make the kind of changes needed if Labour are ever to be elected again.

[SpinningTooFastWantToGetOff]

And then another part of me thinks, crack on guys. Put it right out in the open, make this into a giant public fuss, and the faster the better, because the massive majority of the general public will shift from 'I can't be buggered with this nonsense' to 'fuck this'.

Exactly this! The sooner all this comes out in the open the better. Most people haven't got a clue what is going on.

[SpinningTooFastWantToGetOff]

If I go to a hospital to have my burst appendix removed do I really want to see a surgeon who believes my appendix is located in my left big toe?

Or worse, someone who merely identifies as a surgeon

[SpinningTooFastWantToGetOff]

To some extent, I'm assuming, the leadership race will have some sort of impact on this issue.
I would like to think that if, well anyone except RLB wins, the party will begin to return to a more level headed path.

Maybe I'm expecting too much

[Deathgrip]

The Labour party has become the place where facts go to die and become reincarnated as crazy opinions!

To be fair, it’s not the Labour Party yet. So far it’s a small faction, who’ve basically just killed any chances they have of controlling the party. The twitter responses demonstrate that this does not and will not fly with a large percentage of Labour members. I was pretty sure RLB had no chance of winning anyway, but now it’s a done deal.

If this were a batshit subsection of Tories, with the public response generally being “you’re nuts”, would people be talking about it like it’s Conservative policy? There are plenty of nutters in the Tories, with fringe views on all sorts of issues affecting women’s rights. And yet they’re running the country right now.

The trending hashtag is trending because of the response of Labour members.

[Michelleoftheresistance]

Or worse, someone who merely identifies as a surgeon

We joke about this..... a friend in the states recently showed me some advertising locally to him, where people without qualifications such as accountancy etc identify as with their lack of qualification and registration a selling point. As in 'look at me, free of the rubbish of restrictive training, no establishment nonsense and no indoctrination in a lot of rubbish (like ethics, standards, quality assurance, regulation)' - and people are actually falling for it, not least that these 'I identify as' people are way cheaper than those qualified and regulated.

[FleecyMoo]

Spinning, I laughed at your post until Michelle wrote hers. Magical thinking can get some people a long way can't it?!

[ILikeSneezing]

OP you’re not the only one. I sometimes read things and think is this a joke? Or ‘do they really believe that?’ and I don’t know which is worse, do they really believe what they’re saying or are they saying it out of self-interest? I’ve sometimes laughed at what someone I’m talking to says because I think they’re being satirical...and then comes a silence and disapproving looks.
Yes, it is worrying. A mass case of ‘what must not be cannot be’. It will probably go on for years until it stops. And then start again. My definition of history: Shit That Didn’t Need To Happen.