'Their deepest secrets are spatchcocked open for the public to devour like eagles at Prometheus' liver, these desperate new deities-amongst-men bound to the rock by their own alleged stealing of fire'
Outrage is relative. When I was teaching cultural studies in Istanbul, half of my students were blithely positive about the works of Adolf Hitler, and were amused by my own outrage at that. In return, I was outraged at their mocking of the theory of evolution. It's all about whatever you've been indoctrinated to think, regardless of its veracity.
Separating the art from the artist isn't a problem for some, but is a major stumbling block for others. The fearful, cautious, neurotic, depressed or risk-averse will respond more poorly to stories of Pablo Picasso or Lucien Freud's alleged womanising than the more bold, reckless, casual, positive or risk-taking types. The latter group, however, also commit more violent crime, and in order to minimise this social fact, emasculation is a ready natural remedy.
The Anglosphere has been rampantly emasculating since at least the turn of the millennium, and now here we are. Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio's fountain of youth, for example, has been made verboten by a semi-outraged Twitter, which can't seem to bear the evolutionary fact that a successful middle-aged man might enjoy the company of younger, positive, more energetic women.
Retaining a balance of impulse, reaction becomes more difficult as the shrill cries of outrage resonate around social media, and through the various channels used by those sitting on devices - not out there taking the actual risks. Then, the increasingly ubiquitous Double-Bind takes over. The double-bind in social media rhetoric starts with an accusation, for example:
'You're racist.'
The response is : 'No I'm not, how dare you!' to which the original accuser replies:
'You say that because you've internalised your racism.'
Exchange racism for any other label to suit: the accused is bound by a gaslight.
Was UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab falsely accused of bullying? He discontinued veteran radical feminist Victims Commissioner Dame Vera Baird from her position, and was suddenly besieged by over thirty allegations of being apparently 'overly-assertive'.
One politico's bullying is another civil servant's perfectly justified assertiveness, and in a snitch-complaint culture mixing of the private and state-educated is going to result in a new form of behavioural sieving. Just ask ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel, found guilty of similar behaviour.
Patel's loyal boss Boris Johnson's reluctance to snitch was one of his more celebrated qualities, but it was this very unpolitical loyalty that eventually did for him when he seemed to ignore allegations of Whip Chris Pincher's drunken same-sex gropings, which proved to be the last straw for the Parliamentary Conservative Party (even if the regions largely still loved the then-PM).
Kindness-with-Benefits is the name of the game in many progressive circles, as being kind is the panacea to those with pronoun woes - at least with regards to finding the right ones - leading to the cardinal sin of misgendering a self-identifying woman with beard and testicles.
Meanwhile the commercialisation of sexual assault rolls on merrily as Operation Soteria, seemingly named after its US for-profit namesake, lowers the bar for the prosecution of sexual allegations in the UK, ensuring convictions go up and the radical feminists keep these kind of complaints out of the headlines – the writers of which are either other RadFems (or their facilitators in specs).
In the same way as the increasingly industrialised promulgation of sex allegation myths, Prince Harry and Amber Heard share something else in common. Written, implied and published, their deepest secrets are spatchcocked open for the public to devour like eagles at Prometheus' liver, these desperate new deities-amongst-men bound to the rock by their own alleged stealing of fire.
In defence of sensuality, light-hearted ex-prisoners are presented as admirably resilient by heavily left-leaning justice reform activists, and the police as institutionally conspiratorial.
Freedom of Nonsense is given free reign on social media, as Laurence Fox and Harry Miller threaten the authorities with social embarrassment, and Drs Shola Mos and Charlotte Proudman deepen the culture wars with knowingly controversial, emotion-based opinioneering.
In prisons, as in the community, the 'racism' to which Shola-Mos deathlessly refers is expressed in group terms, rarely individually. "Derek's got no time for the Asians, but Sandeep's all right, because he knows him and he's sound."
Will 'vexatious Self-ID' become a new offence? As identity politics becomes truly subjective, and the threat of a purely case-by-case, zero precedent legal system looms; how we feel about ourselves at any given moment – let alone the time of the alleged offence – may become paramount.
The end of the belief in both Free Will and personal responsibility is nigh, as well as the necessary end of de-colonists using English as the lingua-franca. Morality is now more blurred and dependent on expedience than it's ever been.
By Sean Bw Parker
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