Dear Mr. Editor...

Alright people, I'm about to do a Jeanne D'Arc and get myself burnt at the stake (metaphorically of course, I'm no fan of the death-by-smoke-inhalation and melted-eyeballs outcome).

I am so gosh darn cowardly that I shied from posting the proper title of this. Shied like a horse. Anyway, the title was originally going to be addressed to one Sunny Hundal.

This is the bit where, greasing up like a Hollywood agent, I clasp my hands together, tilt my hand and go 'Honey. Baby. Sugar-lips. You know I think yer the bee's knees, but fer real, sumthin gotta give.'

I am a Pickler on Pickled Politics, where Sunny is the editor. He is an awesome man, and having met him in person, let me say that his head is not that shiny. In fact, it didn't shine at all when I saw him last, AND it was sunny. Like his name...

Now, for my 'Et tu, Brute?' moment.

Sunny has had a 'blog war' bubbling under with Harry's Place for a while. This has very recently escalated over a perceived attempt to smear The New Statesman's Mehdi Hasan. I say 'perceived' because I lost the will to live about 3 lines into the relevant article on PP and failed to gauge how much smearing was going on. Personally, I'd like all those involved to just meet in person and smear each other with paint, but that's because I'm childish.

I don't want this to sound bad, but I think Sunny (and other prominent lefties) sort of don't know what exactly to do at the moment, because the left in Britain are going to be well and truly in opposition soon enough, and well, what can you do? The persistent attempts to point out that New Labour are not 'of the left' appear to have been met by selective deafness/blindness by many, and the kowtowing by Brown et al. to the evil tabloids hasn't helped the cause in any way.

So, y'know, that big ugly question:

What should the left DOOOOOOOOOOOO?!

is bobbing around like Duckzilla.

Now I'm hardly well-placed to answer that Q, but in the spirit of time-honoured busybodiness, I'm going to make a suggestion to Sunny about what to do:


Dear Supreme Leader, you claim to be a feminist. You do realise this isn't easy, right? Many feminists refuse to admit men as feminists proper; they are generally considered to be 'allies' until/especially if they haven't especially DONE anything to shore up the alleged feminist credentials.

No-one is saying you've done NOTHING, but um, agreeing with the fact that women should have certain rights isn't really enough to make a man a feminist. Quite rightly, men who want to be considered feminists have had to work to prove that they deserve the title.

As a feminist of Indian descent, I am calling on you now to step up and take the lead. It was you who organised the Liberal Conspiracy 'Blog Nation' event and posed the question of 'what can us male bloggers do to engage with the feminist blogosphere?'

Penny Red made the all-important point at the time (albeit indirectly) that language has a lot to do with this, pointing out the cruel hazing that many female bloggers face when raising 'women's issues.' The excellent Rowenna Davis pointed out how little has changed just earlier this year and promptly got this kind of comment: 'If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.'

I'm sorry, what the fuck? Since when was the default setting for serious political debate and decision-making some kind of playground mentality? Women have come forward to complain about this macho atmosphere in the City, in politics and online. The thing is, the 'blogosphere' is ENTIRELY about communication. There is no body language, no facial expression. The importance of good communication is paramount.

So, as a 'feminist', Sunny, I'm calling on you to do something truly revolutionary. Men tend to respect the behaviour of other men more than they do women, especially online, where anonymity offers prickfaces all the encouragement they (don't) need to go wild.

BREAK THE MACHO CHAIN. If you want a blog war, fight like a feminist. Take the moral high ground. It was all very well and good to use right-wing tactics in the American elections, but the blogosphere is not the American elections. The British left have no charismatic Obama figure.

Feminists understand the importance of using language carefully and clear communication. Abuse is always going to pop up in some shape or form, but why not try to avoid pre-empting it? Blog wars like the ones with Harry's Place might be important, but they don't have to be fought in such a rude, macho, aggressive way. If you challenged the political blogosphere by NOT resorting to the sort of tone and language that is commonplace, that would be truly feminist.

As a feminist, I could by all rights abuse people all the time. Feminists get some of the most unpleasant and persistent trolling and abuse, but YOU KNOW WHAT? It achieves nothing. It only makes you look pathetic, egotistical and tells your opponent what they want to hear. As a long-time Pickler, I beseech you humbly to give it a rest already. Most of Harry's Place are loons; I'm not politically savvy and I worked this out upon ONE VISIT many years ago.

You don't need to stoop to their level. Point and laugh. Fight with evidence. I have noticed that when people are concise and refrain from pointless abuse, they are (even subconsciously) afforded more respect. I've always rated Cath Elliott, Unity, Rumbold, Don Paskini, Conor Foley and others because of this very reason.

Please, as a feminist, I call upon you to help make the blogosphere a more bearable place for those of us (male and female) who find the heated macho posturing petty and infantile and to take back your place standing on the shoulders of loons - not shoulder-to-shoulder with them.


In timid anticipation,

Le krazed jelly bean.