WARNING: CONTAINS VERY STRONG LANGUAGE.
Many of you should recall VP’s article A few words about respect, in which Yr Obdt Srvt appealed for a little more common decency from commenters – especially those claiming to be supporters or representatives of UKIP, the SNP or the Green Party.
That article was prompted partly by personal experience and partly by that endured by fellow blogger kittysjones, whose Greens: the myth of the “new left” debunked attracted an unprecedented amount of vitriol. When Ms Jones pointed this out, some of her more vocal antagonists challenged her, claiming in effect that she was making up claims about the strength of the attack on her.
One day in the life of a blogger is the result – and makes both grim and humorous reading.
It can’t slip under readers’ radar that spurious claims of libel by Ms Jones (“You’ve defamed the character of an identifiable group of which I am a member”) sit next to genuinely questionable claims by commenters themselves (“And the ‘spook of the year award’ goes to Sue Jones (below). She hosts a blog under the name of ‘kittysjones’ which she uses to disemminate fabrications against organisations on the left. She appears to being ‘run’ by Scotland Yard’s Confidential Intelligence Unit. Remember her role is to collect information about you and to spread lies and plant false stories about the British left, as can be seen in her latest blog entry. Now she’s been ‘outed’ her capacity to do harm will soon thankfully be over – hope she spent her ’30 pieces’ wisely”) – that’s the humorous part.
Also – perhaps unintentionally – humorous is the comment “you deserve a kicking and thats what you get. its overdue. many of us hate you and your lame posts about labour but you never stop. labour are fascists with neoliberal policies and your to stupid a bint to see it. now shut the fuck up”, made by someone hiding behind the pseudonym ‘growsome’. Perhaps this person should take their own advice, ‘grow some’ him- or herself and post under their own name next time.
Other comments from pseudonyms included “You think you seen bulling and threats but you aint seen nuthing yet. thats a promise. you cant hope to get away with drivel like this and not expect a payback. they are coming” from ‘copthis’, and “You dont know when to shut up do you. People like you get what they deserve and you will. We will make sure. Best put your time in looking after that Jones family. You never know whats around that dark corner do you” from ‘peekaboo’.
It seems Ms Jones had to turn to Facebook for comments under the posters’ real names – such as this gem from Francis Farmer: “Sue Jones your full of shit …. fuck you, you lying shit cunt.”
Finally – you’ll be stunned to read this – Ms Jones noted: “Other comments were rather more crass and vulgar, I’ll spare you those.”
So there you have it. Point made, it seems.
However there is another aspect to these comments that needs to be drawn out, which is simply this:
Not one of the comments quoted here had anything to say about the content of Ms Jones’ Green Party article.
And that tends to indicate that the VP article made a very good – and timely – point too.
On that bombshell, VP wishes those of you who are capable of it a very happy – and civilised – New Year.
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