Richard Coles embarrassing himself

[LadyBracknellsHandbagg]

Why do these mediocre men need to keep speaking? You’d think this was written by a 12 year old, who uses the word ‘baddie’ ffs? 🤦‍♀️ It’s so full of virtue signalling, ‘look at me with all these young people showing them how cool I am’ it’s absolutely tragic.

Almost everyone I know (bar my own family) thinks that JKR is a baddie (in a bad way), probably because I’m 25 and work in the heritage industry. These are not terrible people, they’ve mostly just taken what they’ve heard for granted and not done their research. I have argued (politely) with people in the past, but if I called them all out I would end up very isolated. Maybe it’s easier for those who know more likeminded people. I think RC was calling them out, actually (for being hypocrites). I don’t like that he’s had to delete his Twitter over this.

also apols to him, he didn't tag JKR.

The problem with the internet is that it is too tribal now. Any perceived slight and BAM! pile on.
i don't like it.

I don't see what he has said here that is so bad. He seems to be just observing some generational traits.

@LadyBracknellsHandbagg* his is a man who pretended to have AIDS in the 90’s and whose brother is a creep. He has no moral high ground whatsoever.
Last time I looked I get to decide what I ‘waste energy on’.*

His brother being a creep is no reflection at all on the Rev Cole’s.

Hear Hear

@Tunnocksmallow
in 40 years we will look back, horrified at how we treated other humans just for being different and be ashamed at the suffering we caused

It will be a cold day in hell before that happens.

Exactly how we look back now at how people treated gay men during the AIDS crisis

There’s absolutely no comparing the two to begin with let alone anything else.

I do just love a bit of false equivalence. What we’ll look back on in horror is the medicalisation of vulnerable children, which includes the surgical removal of young girl’s healthy breasts, to treat what is, in most cases, a temporary MH issue, which resolves it itself after puberty, with many of these children being same sex attracted. How many of these virtue signalling, oh so cool posters who support this dogma seem able to forget the utter horror of what is being done to children in the name of this insidious, male centred, ideology never ceases to amaze me.

What will be looked back on is how so many people collectively lost their minds, and their objectivity, in order to centre the needs of creepy men with a fetish, because they didn’t have the courage to call this out for what it is, a regressive, misogynistic, homophobic, insidious ideology.

There was literally no reason to mention JKR at all.

She is a massive opinion-divider and it's at least somewhat divided by generation, so seeing as his post was about the similarities/differences between him and these younger people I'd say it makes perfect sense that he mentioned her.

I don't think opinions regarding JKR are divided by age. I find there's a class divide and a feedback loop within that class where different middle-class generations reinforce that opinion to each other. Ie younger people are taught by older authority figures that JKR is against them and older people decide to dislike her because younger ones do so it makes them feel young again and they have a tendency to expect the world to treat their children as more important than they are.

No, absolutely not. People who are older are more than capable of taking photos with people who are younger without calling other older and completely unrelated random people 'baddies'. These older people are just trying to be 'down with the kids' and it really is cringeworthy.

The thing is, he could have made a nice post about whatever the event was without the “tee hee, I am down with the kids, who like me and not JKR”, so it’s a pity that he chose to do so.

My main question about Coles though is why does he never appear to be at home? Endless perambulations around the country and a pro as it seems

He didn’t call her a baddie. He said they think she is one.
Yes, he used that word, but it is part of his usual posting style to be mild and somewhat old-fashioned in his turn of phrase.

I don’t think it’s entirely class or entirely age, which is why I said ‘ somewhat’ divided by generation.
It was the younger staff at Bloomsbury, wasn’t it, who staged that ‘ protest’ and said they wouldn’t work on her books any more?

He didn't have to type her name at all, is the point. He could have just had a meal and paid his share and gone home.

Jesus Christ.
Nobody ‘has’ to type anything into any social media platform at all.
People do, though.
We could make a long list of things people don’t have to do and yet choose to do.

Indeed. The OP didn’t “have” to c&p RC’s
message in the first place!!!🤣

Well, yes. And people are wondering why he’s chosen to.
Presumably he must have thought he had good reason, but he was clearly mistaken when he then felt the need to delete his whole twitter account because he couldn’t handled being questioned on it.

I haven't actually looked at the comments on Twitter. I presume he got a roasting?
I think he thought (misguidedly) that he could make some gentle points about generational differences and friendship despite them, mention one of the figures that in his experience younger people are discussing, sit on the fence about it, and that would be the end of that.
I will miss him on Twitter.

So will I.

Well he isn’t wrong, imo. Young people do pretty much think those things, whether you or I like it or not. Don’t blame the messenger or turn him into a hate figure (which this board is quite practised at) .

People wrongly assumed he'd dissed JKR and administered a punishment beating, which must have come as a bit of a shock. I don't think X is a very suitable medium for the elderly, because any form of subtlety or understatement gets you misinterpreted by someone. He should have stuck with the flowers and seabirds.

I'm not blaming the messenger. I think he made a silly mistake and underestimated the level of vitriol certain groups of people spew on Twitter.

'the elderly,' how rude, isn't he 60-something?
I agree he should have just kept posting what he'd made himself for his tea, and snaps of his many holidays and work trips.
Hopefully he'll come back.