There was an open meeting of the Cambridge Student Union last night at which the Liberal Democratic MP for Cambridge Julian Huppert gave a talk. Tehmina Kazi reports one thing he said (and is fine with my quoting her):
Best quote from Cambridge MP and highly-regarded Lib Dem Julian Huppert at last night’s Graduate Union talk: “The chances of Maajid Nawaz being deselected as a parliamentary candidate as a result of the petition are approximately… ZERO.”
GOOD.
It’s still bad that they issued that very un-liberal statement about not hurting people’s feelings by tolerating satire of their religions, but it’s good that they’re not scouting for a nice cliff to drop him off.
“Drop him off a cliff” ? That’s a very violent metaphor for the democratic process of de-selecting a parliamentary candidate isn’t it? Are you sure it’s the MAB who are supporting the stereotype of muslim violence in this discussion? It looks to me like you’re very much trying to whip up that stereotype, in this case superimposing a violent image on Liberal Democrat party processes of a distinctly non-violent nature. Why are you doing this? What purpose does it serve?
Good.
Now, what about Mike Hancock?
#1 Would you prefer “kick him to the curb” and a nice cup of tea?
[meta]
exi5tentialist @1:
<snicker>
“whip up that stereotype” ? That’s a very violent metaphor for alleged misrepresentation isn’t it?
[eye roll]
I wanted an alternative to the stale overused “throw him under the bus.” Or “stab him in the back.”
You see the problem here? Take it up with the language, not with me.
exi5tentialist, would you have refrained from this idiotic hyperbolic “sensitivity” if Ophelia had used the less creative “not scouting for a nice bus to throw him under”? Honestly, it’s not as though Muslims are stereotyped as throwing people off of cliffs. If she’d said “not scouting for a nice IED to throw at his car” you’d have had a point. As it is, you’re just making yourself look foolish.
We should be glad Ophelia didn’t talk about “give him enough rope to hang himself” or else exi5tentialist would be chastising her for promoting suicide.
Clearly, the language we use is not under our control. It creeps us on us and seizes our fingers as they involuntarily hit the keyboard. The writer has no power to use an everyday word like “deselect”. No, if language itself dictates the author use a violent metaphor to describe the actions Liberal Democrats might take at the behest of muslims, the responsibility lies firmly at the feet of language itself. The author bears no responsibility for it. Or at least, is not prepared to accept any.
Exi5tentialist
You need to look up the word metaphor. One example is “broken heart”. Think about it
[total derail]
exi5tentialist @8:
So you understand it (and presumably) understood it perfectly, and can offer nothing to dispute the OP other than it uses an idiom.
Your contribution so far is but a specious claim and a ridiculous inference.
My own inference from this is that you cannot dispute the OP on any meritorious basis.
(Tantamount to a tacit endorsement)
John Morales #4
Clearly™ the “whipping” was a reference to egg whites.
“Drop him off a cliff” ? That’s a very violent metaphor for the democratic process of de-selecting a parliamentary candidate isn’t it?
When religious wackjobs use the term ‘drop homosexuals off a cliff and throw rocks at him’ they’re not being metaphorical.
I’m glad Julian Huppert said that – I still won’t be voting for him (he is my MP) but it’s good to have a firm statement of support.
@Shatterface (12)
exi5tentialist
Why are you doing this? What purpose does it serve?
To me, Existed5 is frantically trying to hold on to whatever.
If xe axed me, the hint might be: BE FREE! Let go!
Like that’s gonna happen. Yeah, right.