McMac

You couldn't really say that for certain...I can't decide if she's a fantasist, a shameless self-publicist or both. But whatever she is, she's hardly honest about it. Just followed a link to this...it's quite stunning; for its prose and its brass necked dishonesty...

"Around the time that respectable center-left publications began to run hand-wringing features on “the lost generation,” I was living with a coterie of unemployed friends in London’s Turnpike Lane, watching old science-fiction series ripped off the internet and dreaming of a future where we could be proud of ourselves. We tried terribly hard to save each other, in the way that young people do, sharing out whatever meager bits of work and welfare we could get our hands on, nursing one another ineffectually through the shock of walking out of school and college into a world that didn’t want us. It took us two years to realize that we couldn’t save one another, not one by one. We had to do it together, or not at all, all of us, the lost boys and girls of the credit crunch with no jobs, no prospects, no safe places to live, none of the things we played the game for all our young lives."

http://thenewinquiry.com/features/rootless-ruthless/

The weird thing is, the only hand-wringing features on "the lost generation" I recall, were her own in the Guardian. It's fuckin bizarre.
And how many other unemployed people have you ever met that lived in a "coterie"?

I think she's hoping she's regarded as the authentic voice of the UK street over there, since her attempt over here faltered -unsurprisingly- on account of her hyper-privileged upbringing...why not try for "ultra-chic feminist terminator" while she's at it?

All this shit is just a big fantasy in her head...who could say what she actually thinks...about men or anything else...other than looking cool and radical and getting a full-time cushy journalism gig? Maybe self-parody's the way to get it...who knows?

"...overweight boy...used to speculate...how the genitals of the prettiest girl in English class might taste - like bacon? Like beef?"

Doesn't that say it all. He couldn't stop thinking about food. She should of retaliated with a round of 'He's fat, he's round, he rolls along the ground...etc.'.

I admit that maybe I'm missing the point.

Angelica darlin. A dude is a guy. He can be a regular guy, or a non western American whose ensemble is of quality, but inappropriate for his milieu.

@Buckskins

" You know I don't do dudes. "

indeed, locally you are know as the 'receiver'. and you subsequently let your macho guard down when you tell a male poster;

"as red as your butt if I get my hands on you."

ooh er missus!! you little sauce-pot you Buckskins, Broke Back Mountain all the way...

''she's a hypocrite''

You can't call people hypocrites because they haven't discussed issues you would like them to talk about.

I'm not upset, I just like occasionally denouncing people as being others in disguise. Anything can trigger it, in your case it was the probing interest in Buckskins' view of LP.

racist, sexist or homophobic banter is wrong. I agree.

people are repremaanded at times for it too.

Yet, it is absolutely fine for many of our so called top (well over paid) comedians to make fun of the disabled or children with disabilities.
The law, media and comedy audience think that is fine. Ricky Gervais accepted. His Mong joke- totally accepted!!

The double standards make me furious. That we are so low to make fun of disabilities. We worry more about offending religion.

Buckskins, you miss the point my dear. In one article I am led to believe by the author that to give a child a clip round the ear for behaviour that is well below the norm is wrong. On the other hand the same author is now leading me to believe that with a lack of dicipline a child will act without causing offence. Of course this child so the story goes is a boy, fat, and his lack of self dicipline is aimed at a woman. In life Buckskins, and in reality this constitutes in my book,,,,,,,a load of bollocks.
I'm afraid that once again Buckskins, your yoghurt has been waisted on your shirt. ha ha ha.

"You can't call people hypocrites because they haven't discussed issues you would like them to talk about."

Yes you can. If there are issues that need to be discussed in order to stop them being hypocrital. If I set myself up as, say, a paragon in the field of human rights, then spent all my time writing articles about my local Morrison's failure to stock organic ciabatta and citing it as a significant abuse, I'd think hypocrite was the very least I'd expect.

And, I'm not even trying to be funny. I consider that a perfectly apposite analogy.

Jackass, Andy is a dude, and you know darn well he is. What you do is your business, but please quit playing dumb. We live in the enlightened age so don't deny it. To tell you the truth most Dutch guys are sissies. Get out the closet and fess up. You're among friends here...Aintcha...?

Jankaas

"women are unbelievably rude and bitchy about other women. i cant think of such vile behaviour on anywhere near such a scale between men, can you?"

Only in the Houses of Parliament - PMQs for instance.

Experience has taught me to trust less what people say but more what they do. Rugby players bragging about their planned activities on tour is pathetic but it may not reflect what they actually will do. I have met men who genuinely regard woman as mere potential points on score card but they are few and far between. Strangely such men are often very popular with woman. Mere braggarts are more common however

A well made point Laurie,
and tend to agree with you as puerile 'ironic' post political correct humour now becoming acceptable which correlates with recession and a right wing govt. with all the religious faith false equation with 'morality' and restoration of economic and therefore social directional narrowing of hierachy allowing bigots thinking that sexism and racism ok now- one just has to see the US republican primaries for serious evidence, more concerning should be the economic position of women by consequence of austerity and associated stage inequality.
Sadly, multi-culturalism rather than confronting racism with assimilation allowed both religious and cultural sexism to take centre stage.
That 50% of the population as women are referred to as a 'minority' group shows how far equality has to go.
Ironic humour now seems to mean attacking minorities or the powerless and allows divisive scapegoating in attitude to mollify 'respectable' society in terms of political programmed inequality. The same could be said of Greek crisis of how this has been nationally presented.

Mr Divine, may I reming you of horizontal lines. Now would you like to say it again? Besides this beating has embedded itself on Buckskins brain.
I take your point above though and have to say......strongly agree.

A little over a year ago, there was a discussion over at thethirdestate about someone who offended LP being insulted from the platform in a public meeting for laughs. I guess offensive language is okay if you do it in public and get a cheap laugh.

Andy, do you prefer Angelica? What do you teach and at what level. You don't have to answer. I'm just being nosy.

Hi Stuart, you don't like it? we don't give a rats ass. Fuck off to another thread. All they want to do is talk nasty about sweet Laurie anyway.

Buckskins get on your pony and drink your milk but don't make the cows jealous you little old Cowpoker you and make sure mummy can't see what you are doing.

You need to celebrate your diversity!

"..and that's a problem?...because agreeing with somebody you don't like is an issue for you?"

No, I have rather set myself as defender of Laurie, so agreeing with you is anathema. Not that I really care though.

"Why do I feel I'm talking to a 15 year old old?"

Because you're naturally aloof, superior, condescending.

Jankass

"...never heard personal insults at another's appearance/weight/wardrobe/etc as is the norm in most women's magazines."

Fair point. Perhaps it is just that women like belittling each-other, gives them a sense of 'belonging'.

Dunno

I can't believe the NS is now so crap and little read it allows garbage like this to be printed

FFS get some grown up stuff on here

You never know you might improve your circulation

@ jankass

'i think you're being too kind. i think women are far worse to their own sex than men are.'

Totally agree. Just look around you at how women behave towards other women; self-serving and systematic character assassinations are the norm, techniques learnt from tv shows, magazines and books written by women for women.

If Laurie Penny wants to make a more hard-hitting and original point (that will upset people and shake things up, but that's par for the course as a self-proclaimed radical, surely?!) she needs to bring up the fact that the sisterhood is far from being anywhere near what the name implies.

But I guess men are to feminists what the Jews were to the Nazis...

"Orwell while in prison, but this is a masterclass in what not to do if you've read Politics and the English language."

But not a dead metaphor or a meaningless expression amongst them Mitch.

"It's also a load of wank and you don't even get close to explaining yourself:"

But how could you know "It's also a load of wank" if you couldn't understand it?...and it's hardly my fault if your literacy skills aren't up to the job. Then again, you're all together 'dumber-down'..I mean, look at the kinda figure you regard as a serious political commentator.

"Conclusion: fascism (used as a swear-word)."

Yeah, cos it's a word that just isn't thrown around enough untied to its actual meanings. I think you'd find old Eric would be much more likely to take exception to "fascism (used as a swear-word)." than anything I've ever written Mitch. As far as I recall, he was quite exercised on fascism and what it meant.

"The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies 'something not desirable'.....[Words] of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different."

Ah so, I'm not quite sure that I follow Bucky. Are you then saying that I am a man called Angelica, whose assemble is of quality, but who is outside of her/his social surroundings? See my point of confusion Bucky?

Jackass, you are in need of a life old timer. You spend way to much of your time in here.