MILO: “manspreading”
Proof positive of the tragic–well, sort of tragic–demise of feminism in 2014 was the “manspreading” debacle at the end of the year, in which feminists claimed that men sitting with their legs too far apart on public transport constituted a sort of patriarchal oppression and sent women nearby into spasms of anxiety and terror.
I mean, it’s almost too absurd to give column space to. But only almost, because, like the hounding of hero scientist Matt Taylor over a harmless shirt, the manspreading fiasco was the icing on the cake of a terrible year for the authoritarian harpies of the modern feminist movement and yet another example of their… well, craziness.
The tragedy of modern feminism is that, precisely when women’s rights are being trampled in the most appalling ways in the third world by radical Islam, western feminists turn a blind eye to the suffering of the sisterhood and instead focus their attention on ridiculous perceived infractions on the subway, in the workplace and on the computer screen.
The general public now routinely observe these manufactured furores and think to themselves: “You what, mate?” And so it is, once again, that the wider world finally catches up with what ordinary blokes like us have been saying for years.
JAMES: The war on UKIP
When is the mainstream media going to realise: the war on UKIP is the equivalent of the London Blitz – far from dampening spirits it only makes the resistance more determined?
Anyone familiar with UKIP’s intractable grassroots could have told you this. The reason many of them joined Britain’s Tea Party is precisely because they’re sick to death of the politically correct narrative imposed on them by the remote Westminster political class and its amen corner in the MSM. So it doesn’t exactly require a psephological genius to work out what these UKIPers response will be to stories like the one about the rogue UKIP councillor who linked homosexuality with flooding, or Nigel Farage’s supposedly appalling observation that unchecked immigration is leading to increased traffic congestion.
“Is that really the best you can do?”
MILO: Russell Brand
No round-up of the year in liberal stupid would be complete without mention of airheaded clown Russell Brand, who metastasised this year from funny-ish prankster to Leftist icon before, mysteriously, sinking into malaise and depression in a calamitous Question Time appearance toward the end of the year as he realised the general public weren’t buying his snake oil.
It was neither brave nor original in 2014 to be “anti-establishment,” nor to ascend to fame on a platform of disaffection with the lot of ordinary people; Brand’s bete noire, Nigel Farage, did it earlier, better and for the right people.
And let’s not forget that Brand is an odious hypocrite whose private life and personal choices give the lie to his everyman schtick, and that he has utterly reprehensible taste in friends and professional allies.
You’ll have your own personal reasons for loathing the man, I’m sure, but, for me, it’s his patronage of disgraced flabby fabulist Johann Hari, who bullied female journalists using sockpuppets on Wikipedia and littered his columns with dozens of lies, misquotes and stolen material–crimes for which he has still not apologised–that most sticks in the craw.
That, and his late summer love-in with this man, which tells you all you need to know about his judiciousness and integrity. Anyway, that’s it for 2014. See you next year!