Gabble on Nostr: There’s also five survivors who’ve said they will quit if Jess Phillips stands ...

There’s also five survivors who’ve said they will quit if Jess Phillips stands down from the role.

There are people who have been gunning for Phillips her entire career, because she has always talked about male violence and femicide. They have always spoken of her with the contempt that men use to speak of women who bring this stuff up: she’s stupid, she should talk about other types of men only, she’s unfit for the job, etc. That is the background noise of most political media talking about her for her entire career, because she opposes male violence and speaks out against it. Most political media, and most political social media, is very male. And, of course, the angry men of the so-called ‘Labour Left’ hate her, because she didn’t support Corbyn.

If she ‘bravely’ speaks out against Islam or makes some comment about different cultures and patterns, and she loses her ‘job’ as an MP for Birmingham, it isn’t just her losing her job: all the women of Birmingham lose her as an MP, and some crazed Islamist man gets in. Who does that help? This is a different sort of decision to making a decision about your own career and life. Staying in her role, running for election, being credible political opposition, is taking a risk with her life. This isn’t hypothetical.

Based on comments Phillips made in interview with Helen Lewis, for which she got a ridiculous amount of flak, I’m pretty sure Phillips is capable of letting the inquiry go where it needs to and finding the truth, even if the way any conclusion gets written up has to be couched in careful language: this is how you get it done. She grew up in Birmingham: she knows. Also, consider again her not supporting Corbyn: she is not in that mindless group.

If Jess Phillips stands down from this role, I don’t think there’s anyone else who can be found who is capable of the role and willing to put themselves out there. The inquiry will collapse, and who will benefit? Everyone who would be implicated by the inquiry will benefit, as will media who benefit from chaos and anger, and bored people online who like exciting outrage to get angry about but who don’t really care about the issues. And, of course, the violent wife-beaters who march in things like ‘Britain First’ will benefit, because they can pretend this is about the establishment covering it up: they’ve always hated women like Jess Phillips, who talk about male violence and try to do something about it. And all the men who have spent her entire career saying how much they hate the stupid bitch for talking about male violence. And all the angry men of ‘Momentum’, who hated her opposing Corbyn and want revenge.