The Regurgitation Of Slogans

Lifted from the comments, where Mr Muldoon directs us to,

There is a dull mediocrity, a predictable trajectory:

I think it’s fair to say that, whatever her creative limitations, Liberal Jane, aka Ms Caitlin Blunnie, does like her slogans. One might say incantations. Almost all of which have an air of self-satisfaction, as if some previously unregistered profundity had been heroically unearthed.

One creation extols the radical virtues of skiving in the workplace and not doing the work one is being paid to do. “Craft is resistance in a late-stage capitalist society,” reads another. Also, “Self-love is self-care.” “Riots, not diets.” “Hex the imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy.” “Fantasy is for everyone.” “Abortion builds new futures.” Oh, and “Smash the state and masturbate,” and “Stretch marks are ubiquitous to the human experience.”

And if even more excitement is called for:

The item below is a recent and fairly topical example of Ms Blunnie’s morally corrective offerings to the world:

Happy #InternationalWomensDay! 💜 pic.twitter.com/8LEdvZDeSj

— Liberal Jane (@liberaljanee) March 8, 2024

At which point, readers may note just how often progressive posturing seems to require a fairly high tolerance of contrivance and short-cuts, internal contradiction, and the kind of begged-question soundbites that are all but designed to shut down thought. A kind of pre-emptive short circuit.

For instance, in Ms Blunnie’s X feed, a professed concern for “bodily autonomy” appears alongside the slogans “Abortion builds new futures,” and “Funding abortion is an act of radical empathy,” along with a jolly pink poster for “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day,” which suggests that the bodily autonomy of some people, very small ones, doesn’t count.

And even if “bodily autonomy” applies only, and rather conveniently, to women, or a subset of women, one might have thought that it could extend to concerns regarding creepy, mentally ill men barging into women’s intimate spaces for a furtive wank.

But apparently not. Because “a woman is anyone who identifies as one.”

Update, via the comments:

Stephanie adds,

Ms Blunnie’s output does, I think, lend itself to parody.

It’s basically mediocre illustration, of the kind one might expect from a b-stream teenage girl, hiding behind modish but stupefying slogans. (There’s also the assumption, very much in fashion, that indifferent art somehow becomes better, and indeed profound, if you stick a black woman in it. A pattern seen practically every week at sites like This Is Colossal.)

And again, the thoughts expressed as slogans are implausibly unfinished and riddled with lurking contradictions. Ms Blunnie extols the importance of “bodily autonomy” – but only for women, it seems – while simultaneously championing abortion, the utter rejection of someone else’s bodily autonomy. (The topic of abortion crops up many times, almost as a kind of leisure activity or some personal affirmation.)

And then we get “No Pride for some without Pride for all.” But what if championing gender woo – that “Pride for all” – is at odds with the interests of gay people, and especially lesbians, who may prefer not to be accosted by bewigged men? What if the social contagion of gender fabulism results in gay youngsters being drugged and mutilated? What if the very premise of gender woo, or Gender Scientology, is regarded by many gay people as homophobic?

Oh, and “Protect people, not borders.” As if a lack of border enforcement – and the lawlessness and social alienation that follows – couldn’t possibly degrade the lives of many people. But what if a society’s borders should prove to be rather important to the protection of its inhabitants? What if a society without borders is unsustainable and destined for disaster?

These are hardly esoteric questions, and yet they don’t appear to figure in the radical education on offer. Instead, we get the posturing of an adolescent. And we’re expected to applaud it. And to propagate it, in schools, as some New Woke Testament: “Free digital downloads for educators.”

Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.