Damian Barr

[AbsintheFriends]

I know there's loads going on at the moment, and Damian Barr is just one bearded misogynist in an increasingly dystopian world, but he's the one who kicked up a huge self-righteous fuss about Baroness Nicholson and got her ousted from her position at the Booker Prize on the grounds of homophobia and transphobia. Who would have imagined that such a zealous icon of ideological purity would turn out to have said things like this??

twitter.com/MLagouste/status/1278345389150662658

(Oh yes. Any one of the several million of us on FWR who has seen a bearded misogynist hiding behind a trans-rights banner...)

Yes I'll add that in too. Thanks.

Are you attaching extracts of Barr and Bergdorf tweets?

I really would encourage anyone who feels strongly to email - even if it's just a few lines.
The problem with Twitter is that it's usually some poor junior account exec in a PR firm that handles it and all the comments that are made to TheBookerPrizes twitter handle are unlikely to be seen by the big wigs at the top. And if the account exec is all woke and doesn't agree, then there's no incentive to report the extent of the concern.

I did think about collating a who load of screen shots and attaching it as a pdf doc too?

@crumpet

Are you attaching extracts of Barr and Bergdorf tweets?

I haven't but I've changed it to include a couple of tweets from when they resigned from the Labour Party - calling a gay tory activist "a dickhead' and one saying the suffragettes were 'white supremacists'.

If—and it’s a big if—“tranny” was once used among certain circles by LGBT people as a normal, even affectionate, term (and in my experience it was)...we still have the repugnant mocking of a failed suicide attempt.

This is similar to OJ's explanation of that t-shirt.

It's as if they don't realise that twitter is public.

Great letter molly 💪

I like this one as well

Great letter Molly

Barr is not part of the Booker prize is he?

Barr is not part of the Booker prize is he?

No, and having apparently got rid of all the other honorary title holders (who were they?) they are unlikely to reinstate Baroness Nicholson.

However, they have undermined their credibility, and created a huge problem for themselves, because, having set this standard, they now not only have to read all the books, but check the purity of all the writers.

I'd imagine past prize winners would also fail the twitter purity test in one way or another, so they have also damaged the legacy of previous competitions.

@littlbrowndog

I like this one as well

Nice one. You missed out ‘you fuckers’ though.

Mollyollydolly that is one fantastic letter.

@FantaOra

Barr is not part of the Booker prize is he?

No but he instigated the campaign against her on social media.

I've been thinking a lot about this over the last day or so and what I've felt was sort-of relief but I couldn't understand why... then realised because these tweets really prove the gaslighting and the sudden onset of there being sacred groups of people that you can't joke about in these identity politics time (suicide and nasty names notwithstanding of course) but seven, ten years ago it might have annoyed people and they unfollowed or ignored or scolded but then largely got on with life. I used to follow DB and one of those tweets might have been my unfollow trigger, I don't remember. But this purity spiral is not going to benefit anyone.
As a not-unrelated aside I've been listening to the Marlon James audiobook of a Brief History of Seven Killings. It's quite tough going but I was going to persevere with it, but now I can't be arsed, because he's irritated me with his comments on the Booker prize furore. And I'm annoyed that I'm annoyed!

I saw a lot of people tweet about the Baroness to Booker, so it seems the consensus that Barr took the lead on this.

Booker said many people were complaining. I am just curious about addressing Booker as if he is the only canceller and how effective that will be with them.

Just musing on it really, as the hounders did not take much promoting to abuse a woman for the crime of being a "dinasour conservative".

The Booker have not covered themselves in glory here. It's them that I'm more angry with really - people will always make daft mob attacks on women, but one would expect a body like the Booker to see that and rise above. The fact that Barr has been exposed as a vindictive, cruel person is not really a revelation. The fact that professionals are taking their lead from this empty, self righteous howling mob is far more of a problem.

I keep getting the phrase 'you're nothing but a pack of cards' in my head.

I agree that the Booker people have been weak. Her husband founded the bloody thing, I’m sure he would be disgusted to see his wife treated so shabbily.

If they had any sense they'd have given it s bit of time and thought it through properly etc rather than knee jerking so fast.

It’s interesting to see that Harrop is still trying to be a thorn in Baroness Nicholson’s side on Twitter yet I see he has completely side stepped any comment on Damian Barr. Same with Owen Jones. Strangely silent on the issue.

Well the harrop,and wee Owen dislike women so no surprise off that pair of misyonists

I think it's strange so many of his cronies have stayed silent on Twitter - Tracey Thorn, Caitlin Moran etc - the usual suspects.

I guess it's understandable that people who are in his social circle, who have known him for years and think of him as a friend, aren't publicly condemning him. I think, if I'm honest, a sense of loyalty would mean I'd probably be the same in that position.

BUT - I would feel shockingly guilty and probably quite shaken by what's happened. It would make me reflect and take a really fucking hard, honest look at what's going on and exactly who are the real victims in this situation. It would make me want to actively speak up in support of those victims and not carry on, smugly congratulating myself for being on the right fucking side of history.

I hope this will be another one of those pivotal moments where the narrative changes. Even if no one admits it publicly.

It would make me want to actively speak up in support of those victims and not carry on, smugly congratulating myself for being on the right fucking side of history.

Here's hoping.

Apologies if this has already been linked haven't read the full thread life is too busy

order-order.com/2020/07/02/woke-writer-learns-what-goes-around-comes-around/

From Guido Fawkes

"A week ago, leftie playwright Damian Barr helped get Baroness Nicholson axed from her decade-long Booker prize role after she was accused of “bullying” transgender model Munroe Bergdorf. Barr helped lead the woke mob against Nicholson, tweeting

“As a gay writer I feel very concerned that a person who is actively and publicly propagating homophobic views holds a position of such power & prestige in your rightly esteemed organisation.”

If transphobic comments now threaten exclusion from the writing profession, Damian may have shot himself in the foot. Old Tweets have now come to light in which he repeatedly uses the word “tranny”, including one post joking about the failed suicide attempt of a transgender person.

Damian’s feed – which includes colourful use of words like “whore”, “bitch” and calls the LGBT community “perverts” – has been set to private.Will woke writers now leave Damian Barr’s literary agency in protest?"