Those Non-Reciprocal Principles

Via Tim Newman and lifted from the comments, a tale of  metropolitan woe: 

A common enough occurrence, especially in London. But Laurie has assured us, repeatedly and emphatically, that opportunist theft – of trainers, phones, laptops and such - is a sign of “desperation” and “a political statement.” Of which she approves. Are thieves, then, only “dickheads” when they steal from her?

I’m so confused.

Comments

[Jen]

Payback is a b*tch.

[Captain Nemo]

Please excuse me while I chortle discreetly into my Earl Grey tea.

[HD]

Karma finds a way.

[Darleen, BS, Mrs., M.O.M.,]

"A conservative is a liberal mugged by reality." Irving Kristol

Too bad Penny is an il-liberal Mao-ling and is congenitally incapable of seeing the contradictions in her assertions.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Are thieves, then, only “dickheads” when they steal from her?

If the thief is anything but a white heterosexual male, it wasn't theft, it was decolonization of property she had accumulated through her white privilege, and she has no call to kvetch.

[Governor Squid]

My book was backed up but I’ve lost a couple of essays’ worth of work...

I'm pretty sure your essays are backed up, dear. Just look at the last hundred pieces you posted, and I'm pretty sure you'll find everything you were planning to include in your next hundred.

[Frank]

Wait, she wears makeup?

[Alberto]

Interesting, the text of that tweet has changed in the past few minutes. It now reads:

Some dickhead just swiped my rucksack with my laptop and my favourite clothes in it. :(((

The original tweet betrayed far too much attachment to mere possessions - the two month old laptop that she worked hard to afford, the clothes that she associated with comfort and good memories, the fact that it's her stuff that nobody has any right to take....

But she's back on message now to shit happens, but it's only possessions (ironic sadface)

[ComputerLabRat]

*snort*

I find this highly amusing, mainly for the reasons our host so graciously has linked/outlined.

Doesn't feel too good when your ideology bites ya in the arse, does it, Ms Penny?

I denounce myself.

[Alberto]

Sorry, my mistake, two different tweets.

[Pogonip]

Governor Squid: 😆

[Governor Squid]

I hope that means you're laughing along with me, and not just constipated or turning Japanese...

[Para Ingles Oprime Dos]

Next time, vote for Trump!

[Pogonip]

Governor Squid: all of the above!

[Q30]

I wonder what color this thief was? If it had been a white dude, I think she'd have said it by now...

[Governor Squid]

Doesn't feel too good when your ideology bites ya in the arse, does it, Ms Penny?

And yet, as our gracious host has observed countless times, she's still protected by her class. This theft is little more than an annoyance, because she has the resources to replace the lost items with a minimum of fuss. She need not even rely upon her parents' openhandedness -- as inexplicable as it may be, she's developed enough of a cult of celebrity that she could make a quick fundraising plea and come out better than she was before.

Ask her if the people suffering the effects of her policy prescriptions have the same resources. Ask her if some starving part-time laborer could just shrug off the loss of a backpack with a thousand quid worth of stuff in it.

But be nice when you ask -- she's your Moral Superior, after all!

[David]

it was decolonization of property

Laurie’s wider thoughts on thuggery and vandalism are not entirely unrelated. Readers will note that, while Ms Penny champions looting, violent harassment and random window-smashing, and says, “I have no problem with principled, thought-through political violence,” she then squeals with indignation when the police react to such violence as one might expect, say, by arresting the people doing it. A response that is framed as proof of a “heteronormative police state” crushing the delicate flowers of revolution.

[David]

it was decolonization of property

See also our favourite expert in “cartographies of protest,” the University of Nottingham’s Alexander Vasudevan. A man who believes that “radical” people are entitled to seize your property.

[David]

she’s still protected by her class. This theft is little more than an annoyance, because she has the resources to replace the lost items with a minimum of fuss.

Well, indeed. It’s so much easier to be a Marxist – sorry, an anarcho-communist - if one is also middle-class and earning £4,000 a month. And like so many of her fellow travellers, Ms Penny’s theatrical sympathy for criminal predators betrays an utter disdain for the property and wellbeing of the people being preyed upon. As Theodore Dalrymple said in response to the absurd, middle-class Marxist China Miéville, “Leniency toward criminals is not a form of sympathy for the poor, but a failure to take either their lives or their property seriously.”

But such is the moral world of Ms Penny and her peers.

[Hopp Singg]

I thought she only had one essay? Was I mistaken?

[Jonathan]

Doesn't she know that property is theft? And she/xe/zir is being pretty judgmental referring to the taker as a 'thief'. 'Bourgeois property redistribution operative' would be a more inclusive description of our hero.

[Pst314]

“ 'Bourgeois property redistribution operative' would be a more inclusive description of our hero.”

Also “undocumented property owner”.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I thought she only had one essay?

Technically, yes, but it is rather like the shuffle games, but has words instead of numbers.

[David]

Doesn’t she know that property is theft?

According to Laurie’s stated credo, wealth should be “distributed” according to “self-determined” needs.

There’s a joke in there somewhere.

[MsDolittle]

Redistribution of individual hard earned wealth is all for the common good, right? Unless of course, it bites and then it's all a bit ouchie. What a tool.

[Damian P.]

The political journey of UKIP Prime Minister Laurie Penny began that day.

[WTP]

The political journey of UKIP Prime Minister Laurie Penny began that day.

Yes, it's a long shot. But it wouldn't be all that surprising. She missed this opportunity to show how "woke" she really is and perhaps (can't tell from over here) other leftists who covet her position will jump on that. If this results in yet another instance of the left eating its own, where is this little attention whore going to turn? There's not much loyalty, tolerance, or genuine love (hence the polyamorous relationships) in that domain. Contrary to the perception, at its base leftism really is every man/woman/whateverthingy for itself. If she were to be cast out from that group, it's not like she can get a real job or any job outside of punditry. If she were to become poison to the left, a self-serving turn on her former allies certainly seems like a smart marketing move.

[Rob]

Who would have thought that a Leftist would have different standards for crimes committed against themselves and crimes committed against others. I thought they were the empaths. Turns out I am completely amazed.

[Fruitbat44]

A SJW is just a conservative who hasn't yet had their laptop stolen?

[Pogonip]

Is there still a heat wave in England?

My father visited England during WW II and mentioned that (at the time) they served beer at room temperature. “Warm beer? Yuck!” said we. “Room temperature in England,” said my father, “ain’t warm.”

Is it still served room temperature, except for this week?

He also said the Germans had everyone beat in the beer dept.

[David]

Is it still served room temperature, except for this week?

I don’t drink beer, but I gather it’s served cold.

And yes, it’s still unpleasantly warm here.

[WTP]

He also said the Germans had everyone beat in the beer dept.

Had he ever been to Prague/Czechoslovakia/WhateverWeCallItNow?

[Squires]

A SJW is just a conservative who hasn't yet had their laptop stolen?

The problem with applying the ages-old progression from young and naive believer to more seasoned and mature apostate is that the modern, college-schooled wokeling is far less likely than their predecessors to have been taught anything useful that they can fall back on for providing a sense of well-being - or financial stability. Think of it as a form of cultivated welfare dependency, with the hook and bait all front-loaded in student loans.

As usual with statist schemes, the results mirror the conditioning you see in people who’ve adapted to a life history of abusive and/or manipulative personal relationships.

They won’t snap out of it, because if they were to do so they would not belong in any way they’ve been allowed to comprehend.

[pst314]

My father visited England during WW II and mentioned that they served beer at room temperature.

I just read that there is a CO2 shortage in Europe which is affecting brewers. That puzzled me, because I thought that the fizz in beer came from natural fermentation. So has there been a change in how beer is brewed today?

[PiperPaul]

Commercial CO2 is an industrial gas produced by companies like Praxair and Air Products but in Europe probably mainly by Air Liquide or Linde. One major source for CO2 raw feed is fertilizer plants, so you could start your search there.

But wait - isn't CO2 causing ClimateChangeGlobalWarmingOMGWereALLGonnaDie or something? You'd think there'd be tons of it hanging around...

[garretso]

Over here in America, we would say that getting your rucksack stolen while having tea (or coffee) means that you aren't very "street-smart". Is the lovely Ms. Penny a resident of one of those quaint English villages featured in British television murder/mystery programs? Had she come to the big city to see a friend and subsequently got taken advantage of by ne'er-do-wells? This makes me a little sad.

[Governor Squid]

Your neighbor's homebrew should be fine. Commercial beer is usually filtered before bottling, removing the yeast that produce CO2 and alcohol. Without the natural fermentation of the yeast to carbonate the liquid in the sealed bottle, one needs to charge it with CO2 before putting the cap on.

I would imagine the kids at CAMRA must be having a field day with this.

[Daniel Ream]

If this results in yet another instance of the left eating its own, where is this little attention whore going to turn?

If history is any guide, sugar baby web sites.

[champ]

So now, just about everything is racist/white supremacist...

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=11065

[David]

Is the lovely Ms. Penny a resident of one of those quaint English villages featured in British television murder/mystery programs?

Until recently she lived in London, before moving back to Brighton, where she grew up. I don’t think Brighton counts as quaint.

[CJ Nerd]

What? She grew up?

[David]

She grew up?

I chose my words poorly. I see that now.

[Richard Cranium]

No doubt the heat confused you for a few minutes.

It's almost 38C here in Dallas. :)

[Ted S., Catskill Mtns., NY, USA]

And yes, it’s still unpleasantly warm here.

It could get up to 38C/100F here on Sunday.

[Hal]

Until recently she lived in London, before moving back to Brighton . . .

Not that it matters very much where you live south of the river now, because as you know, under the new London plan, they're lumping all those areas together. They're going to call them Brighton.

[Spiny Norman]

We had some 40°C/104°F days a week ago, but temps have returned to the unseasonably cool (for June) weather we've been having. Last year, June was very hot, while July was comparatively cool. Globular Warmening is fickle, I tells ya.

[Hal]

And yes, it’s still unpleasantly warm here.

The Middle Eastern town of about 50,000 residents clocked in at a low temperature of 42.6°C (108.7°F) on June 26, 2018.

That was the lowest point of the temperature over a 24-hour period,

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Had he ever been to Prague/Czechoslovakia/WhateverWeCallItNow?

WTP knows the score. If you like a drink (I like a drink) CZ is ace.

As for PennyRed, a Nelson Muntz meme will suffice.

[Killer Marmot]

Apparently she had just written an essay on Jordan Peterson on her laptop.

Is every progressive obligated to write an essay denouncing Peterson using analysis so shallow that if it were a swimming pool, you couldn't dampen your toenails?

[jones]

"Is the lovely Ms. Penny a resident of one of those quaint English villages featured in British television murder/mystery programs?"

As long as it isn't hideously white.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12748293

[Randy]

I'm always surprised at the lengths some women will go to to make themselves unattractive.

[Nigel Patrick]

Given that it is a fictional place, it's impossible to say what that community's true racial make-up is

Fiction is grounded in reality. Pretending that you couldn't possibly guess who lives in an English rural community is a globalist fantasy of rootlessness by mass demographic reshuffling, a fantasy which is coming true in England's cities, but hasn't yet reached the countryside.

And whether you're claiming it as fiction, fantasy, or realism, don't be too enthusiastic about casting non-whites as murderers in Midsomer Murders. That could turn out to be problematic.

[Pst314]

Governor Squid: thanks for the explanation.

[Kevin]

Imagine some eager little scrote's face when he opens up the laptop hoping for some penny dreadful porn and all he gets is Penny Dreadful's views ON porn.