The Boss spoke today on the manufactured Jane Lewis controversy. Just as important, Jane Lewis spoke too and her comments should frankly embarrass some of the tub-thumping morons who spent yesterday trying to turn Brendan Rodgers into a sexist.
His comments today were brilliant. He feels “sad for society” he said, and that’s an appropriate sentiment. I think a lot of us have felt that way over the last 24 hours, as Rodgers was dragged into the cesspit of the culture wars where people on both the left and the right beat each other relentlessly over the most pointless, insignificant garbage.
I was a political activist a long time, and I don’t miss it and especially not at a time like this. It’s full of this. Look at the state of debate in Westminster. The culture is full of this. Somewhere along the line, whole segments of society have left the path of common sense and some aren’t even connected to sanity any longer, and at the worst possible time.
There are real issues facing this species and this planet and we’re having debates over things that in the grand scheme of it could not be less important.
I detest identity politics and I always have.
I think most of it is about social groups selfishly trying to carve themselves a bigger slice of the cake at the expense of everybody else, although they always dress it up as egalitarian and principled.
No wonder the main political parties are lobotomised jokes, and everywhere moderates are scared to speak their minds for fear of being labelled bigots. The worst thing about it all is that this stuff emboldens the extremists on all sides. The ultras of identity politics always want more, and that pisses off the right and their rhetoric becomes crazier and so the whole debate toxifies and drags people ever closer to the fringes and the insanity.
Two feminist organisations got their names in the papers yesterday attacking our manager, which I’m pretty sure was their sole intention, since it didn’t advance the cause of women even a millimetre. I took a look at one of them and its actually a grouping of dozens of other activist groups.
They’ve got their own little Peoples Front Of Judea thing going on, and I’m willing to bet if you took any major issue facing women to whatever passes for a general meeting you’d get a debate that lasted six hours, no agreement and a postponement on the decision until the next meeting, just as you used to get at those tiresome conferences the left used to have in the 80’s where they’d fall out over the definition of socialism and release separate statements slagging each other off.
Yet this umbrella group was able to get acres of media coverage after it labelled our boss a sexist not long after the words were out of his mouth.
Jane Lewis, exactly the sort of high-profile woman they should aspire to be, and who came up in a male dominated culture (football sports journalism; maybe Monster Truck reporting is harder for women to get a foothold in but I doubt it) without any help from the ranks of political feminism, released a statement today which ought to leave them embarrassed.
“I don’t believe there was any offence meant by Brendan Rodgers – and for my part, there was none taken,” she said. Working in her industry I can virtually guarantee that she has seen and heard a lot worse, and most of it without a single comment in support of her.
I get what the women’s groups were doing though. I think it’s a bit of a militant, even extremist, stance to claim that comments like those constitute sexism, but their role is to highlight this stuff even if they are looking a little too hard to find it.
The mainstream media knows better, and the number of them lining up to have a boot at the boss is where the real embarrassment should be. And you have to laugh. For years these same people have ignored – blatantly ignored – actual racism and bigotry on their own doorstep, with some of them going so far as to praise it at times as “fantastic atmosphere”.
Which is to say nothing for how contemptible the double standard has been for some of these people. When Scottish football’s female journalists walked out of the Scottish Football Writers Awards dinner in May 2022 when their “guest speaker” got up and told racist, homophobic and, yes, misogynistic jokes, how many of them walked out in solidarity?
Cause if you sat there applauding, or stayed to finish your drinks, then what goddamned business do you have uttering or writing a word condemning Brendan Rodgers?
When your own moment came to step up you stayed with a Scotch in your hand and listened to the bigot. Which won’t exactly be a new experience considering some of the speakers (and even guests) who must have haunted that event and many others in Scottish football over the years.
So much coverage was given yesterday to this complete non-story. The feeding frenzy over it was unreal, and in the end nobody even thought to ask Jane Lewis for a full 24 hours how she even felt about it. That’s the worst thing about the culture wars, so many people speaking “on behalf” of others without really giving a toss what they think of that.
But here’s the thing; the folks who indulge this stuff always find themselves accruing allies they normally wouldn’t want to be near.
You had the feminists and Scottish football sports writers on the same side although these people are polar opposites and the whole industry is a sexist cesspit. And without even realising it the women’s groups have jumped into the middle of a whole other, and very different culture war, the one between our side and the Ibrox one.
Because of course that’s what the last 48 hours were really about; just another battle in the war against Celtic which some of these Peepul have relentlessly waged since this season kicked off.
So, to the women’s groups, welcome. You might not realise it right now, but you will hear from us again. Now that you’ve jumped into it you are in it for real and the time will come when we’ll be asking you where you are and why your voice is silent. Mark my words. You might not have advanced the cause of women, but you’ve opened a new front in another conflict … and in due course we’ll see how much you enjoy your combatant status.
As to the media, you really will have to do better than this pitiful effort. Rodgers owned you lot today, and that’s another sign that this man has his swagger back.
Yep – well done to Brendan – He’s handled this well both on Sunday and today…
Credit to Lewis also for not keeping the kettle boiling so to speak !
The shame is on the Scottish Media…
The shame was on them then, The shame is on them now, The shame will be on them forever !
I’m liking this new version of Brendan, straight from the hip.
As for the mainly white British middle class women it would be nice if you could give a shout out occasionally to the issues of women from the many countries that don’t allow them a vote, to drive or chop their hands and heads for daily male practices or the so-called ‘Third World’ countries the promote slavery, underage marriage, FGM, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, or the bigotry of Catholic women in Scotland
Lest we should forget your blindness. HH
I as a woman always use this good girl comment,it’s a way we express ourselves as woman say good boy, the media and certain groups need to get a life.