Owen Jones “supporters” “visit” Giles Coren’s home

[DrinkFeckArseGirls]

Right, not sure you’ll agree that this belongs in Feminism as such but as it involves women’s greatest fanboy (not) Owen Jones I thought it’d be of an interest. Just to show what sort of people support him and his ideas.
Giles Coren might be a tit but I can’t imagine his column readers visiting his adversaries‘ homes and upsetting their families. It’s the paragraph titled “Beyond a joke“.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cereal-boxes-make-me-snap-crackle-and-pop-85tv05h8t

She’s the most Corbynite candidate and the left of the party still won’t listen to her.

What are you suggesting, @TheProdigalKittensReturn?

The left of the party won't listen to her because she's a young woman.

Momentum is all about equality as long as you're non Jewish and male.

I can't believe I have to actually spell this out. Going to someone's house and scaring their kids is not OK, regardless of how offensive you find something they said or how much you disagree with them about politics. The fact that many people think it is OK is a problem.

And that's as much teaching of basic reading comprehension as I'm up for.

You are suggesting that the mob could justify their behaviour if he had been homophobic. But if their problem is with Giles Coren, why did they go to his family home, where his children live?

No of course Prodigal isn't saying that- it's the very opposite.

Thank you, Tigers. I was beginning to wonder what sort of do I need to add glove puppets to aid communication vortex I'd fallen into.

Loving those snide comments, Kitten.

My academic background is in English so the problem most definitely lies with you.

It really doesn’t.

If she says I need a lesson in basic reading comprehension and a puppet show to help me understand, then it most definitely does.

All the best to you too, sweetie.

If we could get back to talking about Owen Jones and the issue of internet incited mobs turning up at people's homes over political disagreements now that would be great.

I suppose it’s a natural progression from social media abuse.

There doesn’t seem to be any tolerance of opposing views nowadays. I’m not talking about the Anti Nazi League protesting far right groups. I’m talking about a social media storm because someone has a different view on something that’s still well within the mainstream range. Belligerence seems to be the acceptable response to being offended now. It’s very noticeable that when trans issues are discussed, being ‘upset’ by something is automatic justification for extremely violent and threatening comments.

They will be too busy shouting about Trump now there is a war to protest.

The Twitter thread someone linked about social media and Lord of the Flies was interesting. We seem to have found ourselves in a situation where large numbers of people no longer see emotional self regulation as a necessary or even desirable quality, and from there some of them seem to consider taking their rage from the internet to real life spaces a normal and reasonable thing to do.

I hesitate to blame avocado toast but I do wonder if it’s a Millenial thing. A generation has grown up with social media almost woven into their reality. The lines between inner thoughts and those that can be expressed, between public and private have been erased. When they get angry they aren’t going to write a strongly worded letter to The Times.

The lack of embarrassment over declaring stuff most older people would never admit in public is interesting to me. Is it because they don't see those spaces as public? It does feel like there's been a shift in terms of what adulthood means to people in terms of behavioral expectations. I'm in my 40s and the idea that shouting "I'm upset now!" at people would result in them changing policies on no other basis than my feelings just seems utterly baffling to me. It really does feel like watching very large toddlers take over the world.

Goodness me, yes. I can't help but notice the lack of awareness of people having tantrums based on Tweets who also critique the US President who behaves the same way and has his fat fingers on many big red buttons as well as phone keyboards. My god, the world is nuts.

The tweet was dripping with innuendo and I find it pretty hard to believe that a fellow journalist wouldn't be aware that Jones was gay. But Coren makes his living as a writer so he would know how to ensure it was offensive but ambiguous. Of course that doesn't justify people turning up at Coren's house to harass his wife and children but, whatever my feelings about Jones, I don't think he can be held accountable for the behaviour of the thugs who follow him.

Maybe it'll make the pair of them think more carefully in future but probably not. I think it's a pretty unedifying episode all round and the only people I have any sympathy for are Coren's family.

I suppose it’s a natural progression from social media abuse

This is what happens and what are the police doing about it?

Did OJ just assume the gender identity of those tight bottoms?
How transphobic.

For people saying they didn't know OJ was gay, presumably you also didn't chose to write about him in your national newspaper column.

As much as people on this board may dislike OJ's trans-rights stance, clearly Coren's column is interpretable as homophobic and OJ is clearly not to blame for the people who went to Coren's house.

clearly Coren's column is interpretable as homophobic

Why? I genuinely don't get it. Is it homophobic to suggest a gay man may behave in the exact same way many straight men behave?

Because there is a long history of demonising gay men as depraved sexual predators. It may not be a stereotype that you recognise or aware of, but that doesn't mean that the tired old trope is not offensive to gay men.

The whole business is dreadful. Coren's comment was in my view homophobic. He's got form for making "edgy" jokes about people so I don't know why he's pretending he didn't know OJ was gay. (If he really didn't know OJ was gay, that's an astonishing admission for someone who moves in media circles.)

If OJ had any emotional maturity he'd have ignored Coren's comment. Instead he tweeted it to his one million followers, whipping up the anger and viciousness that invariably occurs on Twitter when people get outraged. I have no idea about the people who turned up outside Coren's home but they sound unhinged and dangerous. OJ, who has been the victim of an assault himself, should understand the potential consequences of encouraging people to work themselves up into a frenzy of hatred.

We seem to have found ourselves in a situation where large numbers of people no longer see emotional self regulation as a necessary or even desirable quality, and from there some of them seem to consider taking their rage from the internet to real life spaces a normal and reasonable thing to do.

Yes, absolutely.

OJ appears to believe that the assault on him was wrong because it was aimed at an inappropriate target, but that there are cases where people are to be considered fair game. Which was rather my point earlier - the moment that line is crossed we have a serious problem as a society.

I don't care how much something someone said offends people, it doesn't justify an angry mob turning up on their doorstep, and whipping up the mob should imo be treated with a great deal more seriousness than it is.