Brendan O'Neill - Spiked

And tap-dancing is the very worst of all the dancings so don't go wobbling chaps. Stand firm. 😁

I agree with whoever said upthread that Dylan hasn't had as much surgery as he's claiming. I think we would have been looking at a tip-tilted WASP-y nose and a very different jawline if that were the case. He's very much hedging his bets on the gradual detransition front.
As is anyone who goes for 'titty skittles' and hormones but not genital surgery.

Indeed Arabella.

"..O’Neill is the furthest thing from a feminist I can think of. He’s jumped on this because he’s a cynical grifter, and he’s taking people that believe him like mugs. God I hate how easily people are duped."

I find "hot takes" such as this embarrassing for the person posting if that's the best they can do as an argument - "a bad man wrote something and stoopid wimmin read it and are now brain dead zombie followers of the writer and every other opinion he's ever had and this must be pointed out to them so they know they are stoopid"

Tedious in its regularity on here.

Ach, none so blind as those who will not see.

Spiked is the RCP as was. The RCP's strategy - ironically, a bit like Queer Theory's today, and Trump's - was that any transgression/disruption of current social structures - whether 'good' or 'bad' - was to be desired, because it was the quickest way to break society down. That was both their primary tactic and what stood in for a set of political or social values. O'Neill (no beef, I don't know him personally) is steeped in that history and those values, though unsurprisingly he doesn't like it to be discussed.

I've said that it's a good piece - he has a good brain.

...clearly has spent time putting the work in to acquire a genuinely difficult physical skill has somehow landed up playing, to quote Germaine Greer, a ‘ghastly parody’, getting invasive surgery for likes,

Or as Charlie Brooker would put it, wanking for coins.

I know!! Finally using those powers of contrarianism for good.

See also Ella Whelan, owner of a truly epic eye roll !

Yes I do - and that's a laughable translation of what I said.

Which was: You can't trust Brendan O'Neill as far as you can throw him, so why are we celebrating him when we are really just grist to his mill.

For clarity, in the simplest terms: Many, many women and men are speaking out against current oppressive dogma. I like them. I don't like B O'N. 😁

Right, so we're not supposed to say it's a good article because he might change his mind tomorrow? Or we can agree that it's a well written article but we should discard what he says because you had some beef with him 49 years ago?

I mean I've read some pretty weak arguments here over the years but those really are feeble @WinterDeWinter

Anyone who had anything to do with the RCP in the 80s will understand my unwillingness to pat O'Neill on the back for anything.

He’s in his 40s! He was at primary school in the 80s 🤣

Christ on a cracker I hope we have the good grace to let the little blue haired gender blob kids grow up without still holding the youthful idiocy of student politics against them in their middle aged years.

So no real change to mannerisms. I know that's not the look he's going for but I think DM comes across more like a very camp man than a parody of a women. I don't really find him any more offensive than any other high profile man who claims to be a woman.

😁

He's a professional contrarian and those people are dangerous

”People who speak out against current (oppressive) dogma, risking their livelihood and sometimes safety, are too dangerous to be allowed to continue, as people might listen to them”

Do you even hear yourself?

Ha ha I was going to say that and then I thought some fucker will point out unwaged labour 😁

Taxes

You think adulthood is a guarantee of.. well, anything at all?

You do realise you're speaking to adults?

I didn't say it wasn't a good piece - just that he's as likely to argue the opposite if the winds change tomorrow. He's a professional contrarian and those people are dangerous - even the ones who (unlike B O'N, who knows exactly what he's doing) who think they're just stirring things up a bit, Puck-like - keeping things interesting.

Besides, there are lots of good pieces (by, for eg, actual feminists who aren't going to throw women under a bus if that's what 'counterintuitive and disruptive' looks like tomorrow) that we could be celebrating; this feels like the kind of gratitude for a bit of male critical attention which characterises some corners of the GC landscape.

Anyone who had anything to do with the RCP in the 80s will understand my unwillingness to pat O'Neill on the back for anything.

Ella Whelan’s Question Time episode is up on YouTube now:

Maybe we’re supposed to disavow her for working for Spiked, too? I dunno, I’m not good at keeping up with the constant amendments in The Real Feminist rule books…

Mulvaney on some game show pre the current grift (January 2021) - and all the same OTT squealing and dancing around.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=eOQbCTCB5-A

That's a very good point.

I'm neither left- nor right-leaning as I evaluate each issue on its own merits. I wish I could vote that way, too.

Or maybe one can’t tell if they are left or right because they form their views based on the merits of each case, as they see it?

I mean, no one can tell if I am left or right from my views either. And frankly, neither can I anymore.

I feel absolutely no need to create opinions for myself to enable me to join a left or right tribe. And I think the world would be a lot saner if fewer people did.

I completely reject your point of view that I should form judgements based on who said something, rather than on the quality of their arguments.

I tend to find that people who take your stance have no convincing counter arguments of their own. Attacking the messenger, not the message, is all they have.

So, same shtick different outfit! very look at me me me

Dylan is actually a really good tap dancer.

Whether the trans thing is sincere or not, I find it quite sad that someone who clearly has spent time putting the work in to acquire a genuinely difficult physical skill has somehow landed up playing, to quote Germaine Greer, a ‘ghastly parody’, getting invasive surgery for likes, whilst sponsored by Tampax.