Kathleeen Stock and I obviously have our differences but today reminded me that the bullying she regularly recveives at the hands of her jealous, misogynist colleagues was one of the early reasons I got into this mess. I even offered to return my honorary degree from the University of East Anglia when they cancelled a talk by her. Dennis Kavanagh’s thread is a cheering sign that the tide may be turning and I’m reposting it here with his permission.
Social media today lays bare the anatomy of a botched cancellation. The target was Professor Stock, respected academic, LGB Alliance trustee, author of the excellent book "Material Girls". The impotent would-be assassin, a University colleague, Francesco Ventrella.
He's a beard and pronouns sort of chap with the mandatory ludicrous claim to compassion and now obligatory rainbow-borg claim to "queer" in some capacity and a far more dubious claim to some sort of "feminism". This morning it seems the green-eyed monster arrived.
Francesco posted a three-tweet thread explicitly NOT calling for Professor Stock's sacking in the same way the Kray twins aren't explicitly saying they will burn your shop down when they say "Nice business you got here, shame if anything were to happen to it".
This much was done on the basis of a vague and spurious claim to Professor Stock being some being of pure hate making persons unknown "unsafe" on the basis she is guilty of thinking for herself while in possession of a vagina, the worst offence in the wokebro criminal calendar.
18 months ago there his involvement might have ended. Having let slip the dogs of the culture war on the Professor the normal trajectory is a disciplinary for wrongthink, casual defamation, hit pieces in Pink News, disgrace and a sacking. You know the story.
A lot can change in 18 months. Particularly in a country with a lively debate with courageous GC people in it. Thanks to Maya Forstater’s case, what Francesco tweeted was an out and out call for unlawful discrimination and harassment.
His cause was hardly helped by some of the more volatile "LGBT" organisations, now appalling and extreme rainbow borg cubes full of fanatics spewing all sorts of libels and untruths ably assisted by the gullible and the cunning in national media.
By some point in the afternoon or thereabouts people had mobilised. Women pointed out they'd had enough of this, men (particularly GC Gay men) did the same. In a reversal of the normal course of things, it was Francesco who retreated and protected, not the Professor.
He must have wondered at that point how he had come to misjudge this so badly. Surely beardy pronoun thugs just need to attack prominent lesbians and they go through hell while he pretends virtue. This easy assassination must have begun to look more challenging than at first.
It should have been so easy? Never mind that Kathleen Stock speaks in a measured and reasonable fashion, never mind that is a respected thinker, she's a prominent lesbian and they're easy to cancel are they not?
Not any more it would seem. Francesco's earlier faux helpful joshing tweet begins to look like an envious nobody enjoying her being attacked. Note the reference to "her power as a professor" here. A rank she has earned and he has not.
Following a public outcry at Francesco's casual attempt to whip up trans anger out of his own envy the coup de grace was landed by the institution that (presently) employs him. An unequivocal statement of support.
Seems cancel culture isn't what it once was Francesco. Seems casually riling up social media mobs for points might not be the easy gig for beardy pronoun mongers it once was. Seems fellow academics see the green eyes at the heart of all this.
18 months ago this would have been a different story. Any spontaneous show of support would have been drowned out by extremists. There could be no claim to unlawfulness. There would have been a woman on her own attacked, degraded by process and isolated.
Things have changed for the better. The anatomy of this failed cancellation is instructive and powerful. This is a tipping point. If you're watching this and you're undecided know this. Today was about one man threatening one senior woman's job. Choose if you think that's ok.
Reflect on this too if you would. Professor Stock, like so many women targeted in this way is a lesbian. Today, when gay men were apparently attacked for standing with lesbians shows us we have every reason to do so. Not that it matters now, but I stand with @Docstockk.
The uni were altogether far too slow to issue that statement in support of Kathleen. I know for a fact that female teachers left messages for the VC stating that they were no longer recommending that their pupils apply to Sussex Uni. Could that have prompted his statement, do you think? But, at least, the statement was unequivocal. They now need to discipline those responsible for the campaign of harassment, both students and staff.
Is it tempting fate to believe the tide might be turning?