Media storm

There were a lot of news articles today about a Conservative councillor in Birmingham who apparently wrote on Twitter
'Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death? I shan't tell Amnesty if you don't. It would be a blessing, really.'

This was a foolish thing for a professional politician to say to the public in general. However, the coverage that it has generated is ridiculous. It is not racist to express dislike for someone who is dark-skinned. It is not racist to express dislike for someone by referring to a culture-specific punishment. For a start, it conflates race with culture, so the person calling it racism is clearly ignorant of the distinction between discrimination and racism.

The Leader of the Commons managed to imply that this councillor had threatened stoning! Now it may be that his short post is very different from the one I have quoted, but the councillor has threatened nothing of the kind. He has asked someone to stone her, and offered the persuasive reward of not being reported by the councillor to Amnesty International.

Saying that you'd be happy that someone else is dead expressed extreme dislike, or else is hyperbole. Neither is an offence (either in law, or, as far as I am concerned, in feeling). I wouldn't want people to express hope about my death, but it's not offensive. Insults are offensive: dislike is not.

It's not a threat either. He has not said that he'll do anything nasty to her; just that he'd be happy if something were to happen. It is just about plausible that a man of some power over others, in the presence of like-minded people, could make something happen with this statement, when combined with other statements. It is also far more likely that this statement is simply bombast. It's certainly not a threat in any traditional sense of the word.

So it's not racist, sexist, offensive or threatening. Why the news stories? Oh, wait: a man said something not very nice! Yes, that makes for a great title and quotation. Just think of all the better news stories out there: what the council have done recently, what they've failed to do, how council tax is changing this year, how this councillor has contributed to the council's successes and failures...

but no, I forgot. Politics isn't about running the country. It's about temper tantrums and throwing mud.

So let's look at Yasmin Alibhai Brown, who says she found Mr Compton's attitude 'loathsome' and that a 'flippant apology' would not be enough.
'If I, as a Muslim woman, had said about him what he said about me then I would be arrested in these times of the war against terror. He does not have more of a right to say these things about me that I do about him and I think words matter when you are in public life.'

So she's a saint of propriety, who would never say something as close to being offensive, or expressing dislike, as this councillor has done? Let's look at an article of hers in The Independent:

'But even Jesus wouldn't go this meek in the face of the hard, well-planned demolition of the post-war British welfare state.'
Hey wait! Isn't this taking The Lord's name in vain? How can she be so flippant about something so sacred? If this were Mohammed being thrown into conversation there'd be a stream of letters complaining about it, and she'd be preaching respect for other people's values.
'...straight men feel they "disgust" women, who only have sex because that "is a price they are willing to pay for a relationship".

I suppose Fry is absolutely sure that rich and famous gays like him pull young, beautiful boyfriends because there is mutual attraction and no more.'
I suppose she can point out to me where he says anything about his own relationships? Oh sorry, I'm supposed to allow her to read whatever she wants into other people's statements.
'Immediate response: shut up Fry, why don't you, about stuff you can't know anything about? You clearly have odd and unhealthy feelings about the body and its needs. Sex to be good doesn't have to be really bad, filthy, grubby, disgusting and dislocated from the emotions. '
Two things here. Firstly, if considering things of which one has no experience is not allowed, I assume that all human imagination is pointless? The great works of fiction (as well as lesser ones), thought experiments, biochemistry and physics should all shut up?
Secondly, isn't calling Mr. Fry odd and unhealthy just a tad homophobic? GAY HATER! Am I not allowed to read implications I want to from her comments? Then why can she do it to others... sorry, I forgot. Double standards are a healthy form of commentary.
'You can't dismiss this controversial interview as just publicity whoring to shift the latest instalment of his autobiography.'
I'm sorry... did a supposed feminist just diminish the sacred (sorry, awful) meaning of 'whore' by using it in a metaphorical sense? Dear oh dear. What would the world be like if people were allowed to express dislike and disapproval with colourful language? It'd probably contain councillors expressing the possibility of pleasure at the death of newspaper columnists.
'Richard, for example, a colleague, ... said he felt sick when he thought about "the juices and soft flesh" of a woman. There has never been much open conversation about these ugly attitudes'
Sorry to reiterate a point, but a personal feeling is not an ugly attitude. Unless he treats women unfairly as a result of not wanting to know their juices, 'Richard' is expressing a perfectly acceptable sentiment.
'Most disturbing is how Fry's odious tirade now makes it acceptable, even cool to express sexist views.'

Sexist? Where? Oh, sorry. Aren't men allowed to talk about their desires, pleasures and observations about sex? Is it sexist to want pleasurable sex without emotional baggage? It's clearly not what Yasmin Alibhai-Brown wants ('really bad, filthy, grubby, disgusting') but I'd call it intolerant and offensive to dismiss my desires in such a way. Why can't we have an open conversation about her ugly attitude without odious tirades such as hers? Before I finish, I just love the phrase 'sex to be good doesn't have to be really bad...' Who swallows this trash?

Really, I have some sympathy for the man. This woman either doesn't think enough, or else thinks too much about selling articles to idiots and not enough about writing sense.