Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

this is about a previous incident but aside from a few specifics is relevant to more recent stuff too

https://newsocialist.org.uk/on-the-guardians-transphobic-centrism/

liberal UK media’s deafening silence over the US right wing funding of UK transphobia as an anti-gay, anti-feminist wedge issue needs to be thrown in their faces at every opportunity

also touched on is the deep connection between trans issues and the issues around sex work, policing, prison, borders, capitalism, that these people (guardian & fellow travellers, plus a lot of the ‘actual’ left) do not want to address in any serious way

all of these articles get at part of the picture but the best explanation and analysis of this whole phenomenon probably (hopefully) yet to come

xp

when so much of what binds the community is “we’re so much better than these idiots who don’t understand science” it’s not surprising that so many went on to target people who troubled their junior school understanding of sex/gender. the men mostly targeted feminists at first- at the time many seemed to think trans issues were just another part of the whole feminist ideology that they wanted to debunk. some later changed their tune on feminism when they realised how they could use it

xps to onimo, I have always been deeply suspicious of the sceptic movement due to their attitude towards women and Muslims, so it’s not as much as a leap for me. But a lot of these groups out there will cloak their intentions in reasonable sounding language, or dogwhistles, so you sound insane pointing it out.

that nytimes piece was v good, i've never heard of sophie lewis before but it did manage to wrangle in a very good overview of the rise of terfism in the uk while resisting being drawn into terfisms frames of reference

the nyt one is good. i was wary of the other one, which didn’t really stack up for me but i haven’t got time or energy today to really understand why.

it seems very reductive tbh

I have the NS in my rss feed and so this is the first time I've seen the page itself, text is pretty unreadable!

yeah that layout was yuck but i think it can be adjusted?

That their own heinous rhetoric does not, in fact, match the scientific data they purport to draw upon has not occurred to these enlightened folks, it seems.

And yeah, that NYT piece was an excellent summary.

Another normal one.

There is literally no UK newspaper that stands up for trans people and especially kids. Here are the liberal lions of the Observer - an editorial, so the view of the paper itself - spouting fringe talking points and anti-science garbage. https://t.co/h6KfWCHPWU

— James Mackenzie (@mrjamesmack) December 6, 2020

i guess they'll keep doing this as long as people keep clicking its depressing

I don't see it as click-bait. The people who wrote it would hold onto that view regardless.

i guess i meant more that as much as i'd like to buycott the guardian (and for us all to buycott it, and for them to come begging us to read their stupid weekend guide section on outdoor swimming) and think its an awful pile of shit i end up reading it all the time (with adblocker on ha!)

puff piece on MLC today is it

Oh look, it's Sunday again.

freedlands smug fucking face pushing the standard concern trolling liberal wankers party line over the phrase 'defund the police'. all the right people are just terrified of these words

FWIW in Australia the local version of the Guardian is one of the best outlets around, which is partly because it's not as fucked as the UK version, and partly because all the competition is Murdoch sewage.

No newspaper is going to run an editorial opposing that high court judgement, get real.

Because?

Who or what is MLC?

mlc is marie le conte, a writer many dislike or distrust

She's a dangerous right-wing politician, President of the National Rally political party (previously named National Front) since 2011, with a brief interruption in 2017. She has been the member of the National Assembly for Pas-de-Calais's 11th constituency since 18 June 2017.

that's marine le pen, she's also bad

in fairness probably slightly worse than maire le conte

No, I'm pretty sure she's better

only one way to find out...

Oh! I always get those two mixed up

What's the only way to find out?

elect marie le conte prime minister of england AND president of france iirc

im assuming the union has to sunder before this is possible

The Auld Alliance might help there though!

its great to see everything show up to snidely defend transphobia as usual

(xp) I think we've given up on that now, after hanging around waiting on the French to hold up their side of the deal. Unless you mean the pub in the Bastille district.

Xp

Despite the moniker they are clearly not all that.

Really can’t stand transphobic liberals’ rhetoric around speaking for women, when most women support trans women as women.

context-free, i think everything's post is correct? we have a rightwing press that primarily concerns itself with pressing the red-button marked 'culture war' repeatedly every day and cackling. its is as futile to expect that the guardian would be critical of this high court ruling just as it would have been to hope that it would have opposed the war in iraq. it is still possible to be disappointed that we have a such a cruel and vindictive press but i doubt, too, agree that no newspaper is going to run an editorial opposing the high court ruling.

i think that's true but poster everything has form for gently suggesting they agree with this state of affairs

The context is that poster everything has clearly shown their arse on multiple occasions on this particular subject, though.

oh i agree with both of you and im not in any way trying to charitably reinterpret their words. i just think a closer reading, in this instance, shows something useful. their post doesn't engage with the actual content of the ruling (or indeed the appalling criteria it used for hearing evidence, allowing hate groups a voice but not young trans people who will be most affected by the ruling), rather it (approvingly) nods to the various factions of power lining up against trans rights right now. the entire content of the post in fact is appealing to the vindication of being aligned with "mainstream newspapers" in this country. if this is the moral company you wish to keep i feel sorry for you.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/dec/08/dominic-cummings-gag-voted-christmas-cracker-joke-of-the-year

Dessau said during one of the “strangest and most turbulent years yet, we can always rely on British humour to pull us through”.

I have an actual paper copy of a Guardian in my hands for the first time in years.

(delivered by a friend of a friend in the NHS who's been sneaking me in coffee and breakfast rolls. She got me a Herald yesterday.)

Now... is it worse than it used to be?

honestly the paper version is not as bad as www.theguardian.com

I agree! It works better on paper.

Is Onimo in a hospital?

I miss breakfast rolls.

I am in the hospital. I have the Guardian and you lot to help me pull through.

gulp

Yikes, Onimo!

I like the Tree of the Week feature:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/tree-of-the-week

“These places began to fall to the Tories in 2017 before leaving Labour en masse in 2019"

Really?

Must have imagined Labour losing Shipley, Manchester Withington, Rochdale and Scarborough in 2005
And Dewsbury, Redditch, Redcar and Bradford East in 2010https://t.co/4Yo536XzHV

— Andrew Fisher (@FisherAndrew79) December 9, 2020

the Graun's northern correspondent mindlessly parroting Kieth's nakedly factional slant on the decline of Labour in the north shocker.

fictional/factional

I used to like those scouse bastards for their stubborn anti-Tory hatred (even though they used to historically vote for them along sectarian lines and were still voting for the fucking Liberal party up to the late 80's!) But I want them to abstain on Starmer Labour and help bring about the demise of this fuckers' political career.