Wednesday 13 February 2013

Hell Hath no Fury like Jemima Scorned


“He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad”, so says the Gospel according to Saint Matthew.  It’s a sentiment that finds fulsome echo in the Gospel according to Saint Julian.  You know who I’m talking about, surely you do?  It’s our very own Saint Julian Assange of Wiki; our own – worse luck – because he’s still holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. 
Apparently Jemima Khan, a former acolyte, recently went to Utah’s Sundance Film Festival, the showcase for independent film makers.  She was there to see the launch of We Steal Secrets, a documentary about WikiLeaks.  Much to her chagrin, Saint Julian of Wiki denounced it without having seen it (Perhaps it came to him in a vision?).  He didn’t like the title, you see, tweeting that it was “unethical and biased...in the context of pending criminal trials.  It is the prosecution’s claim and it is false.”
Jemima was just a bit miffed.  Stealing Secrets is her baby; she executive produced it into life.  The title, as she pointed out to the Holy One, is actually an observation by Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA, that it was the US government that was in the business of stealing secrets from other countries.  To this He replied “If it’s a fair film, it will be pro-Julian Assange.”  Yes, yes; always beware those whose egos have grown to third person grandeur!
Hell hath no fury like a Jemina scorned.  An executive editor of the New Statesman, she took to its pages last week in a major exercise in apostasy and iconoclasm.  Oh, how are the mighty fallen in the midst of leaking!  From a prophet of new age honesty, Julian has degenerated into an Australian version of L Ron Hubbard, he of scientology fame, who spread the gospel of abject devotion...or else. 
How the scales have fallen from the Khan eyes.  She once stood bail for Assange after he was arrested on allegations of sexual assault in 2010.  It was all a fabrication, she was convinced, all a conspiracy, a plot by the Pharisees and the Sadducees to bring down the new Christ.  Now she’s not so sure; now the Swedish women who raised accusations of sexual assault against Assange actually may be worth a hearing.  Most important of all, she concludes, there is no evidence that extradition to Sweden would automatically be followed by on onward extradition to the United States, a narrative that does not fit the Assange script at all. 

I was never a disciple, so I was wise before the event.  I always saw this man as a self-publicising, egotistical fraud, who’s only objective was the greater glory of Julian.  It amused me to see all those leftist guardians of moral rectitude and women’s rights, all the Jemima Khans of this world, lining themselves up behind their prophet.  Oh, no; he could not possibly be guilty of sex crime; the women in question were obviously lying, rape fantasies, no doubt.  Or at the most Julian’s forced and unwelcome attentions were, in the words of George Galloway, no more than “bad sexual etiquette.” 
Last summer the Saint, fleeing those who would crucify him, or send him to Sweden, took sanctuary in the Ecuadorian embassy.  At the time I asked, why Ecuador?  I suppose the reason might be that this banana republic – are there bananas? – is a bastion of truth, justice, human rights and panama hats. Or it might be that Rafael Correa, its leftist president, is almost as childish a narcissist as Assange himself, a little man who wants to cut a figure on a bigger stage.  
About this time Jemima asked Julian to respond to the view of the New Statesman’s legal correspondent that he was no more in danger of extradition to the US from Sweden than he was in England.  Answer came there none.  That’s not quite true; answer, of a sort, came from one Mark Stephens, speaking as Assange’s lawyer, saying that Sweden was “one of those lickspittle states which used its resources and its facilities for rendition flights" - that is, sending suspected terrorists to bad places where they got worse treatment.  Actually, says Jemima, the lickspittle state stopped rendition flights in 2006, a fact inconveniently pointed out by WikiLeaks itself.
My pity always went to the poor women who had the temerity to accuse Saint Julian of rape.  At once his wretched army of left-wing disciples got to work, naming and defaming them on the internet.  If they hadn’t been raped they were now threatened with rape.  Pictures of them were also posted with bull’s-eyes through their faces. 
As I say, Jemima now thinks there may be a case to answer.  I always thought that there was a case to answer. Assange, as I wrote last year, is fleeing from Swedish justice, O. J. Simpson style, which I take to be a measure of his innocence. Quite right, too. Sweden is notorious for its lack of democratic accountability, its biased system of law and its atrocious abuse of human rights. Then there is Correa’s Ecuador, the victim of another campaign of spite and misinformation. It’s simply not true that the country has no culture of human rights and freedom, not true that dissidents are jailed on trumped up charges, not true that journalists are arrested and TV stations shut down for daring to criticise El Presidente. Assange really would be at home there.
Jemima doesn’t regret, she writes, putting up bail for Assange.  Oh, yes, she does!  “WikiLeaks – whose mission statement was 'to produce ... a more just society ... based upon truth' – has been guilty of the same obfuscation and misinformation as those it sought to expose, while its supporters are expected to follow, unquestioningly, in blinkered, cultish devotion".  That sounds like regret to me. 
Hmm, I might be charitable enough to say that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and so on and so forth, but I won’t!  Assange was never more than an L Ron Hubbard manqué and she was a simple-minded devotee.  I’m minded to quote Kaiser Bill, of all people.  He, in his wisdom, said that stupidity was also a gift of God, but one musn’t misuse it.  Jemima, I fear, is overdrawn at this particular bank.  
Oh, the scorpion simply can’t resist one final sting.  Jemima, the poor little rich girl, writes for the New Statesman, that ancient castle of left-wing rectitude.  This is a publication graced in the past by such lions of English letters as Cyril Connolly, H. G. Wells, J. B. Priestly and George Orwell.  Now, aside from Ms Puddle-Duck, it's a showcase for the likes of John Pilger, Will Self, Mehdi Hasan and, best of all, somebody called Laurie Penny. 
The latter is especially noteworthy.  If ever there is a museum of bad prose and political idiocy Penny Red – her stamp on the world - will be a cherished exhibit; I feel sure she will. Formerly shortlisted for the Orwell prize (poor George!), she was apparently included on a Tatler list last year of the top 100 people ‘who matter.’  My; is Penny what matters? It seems to me that she would be best placed on a list of fashion victims and ugly women.  Alas, this truly is the age of Asses, Pennies and tiresome mediocrity.  

18 comments:

  1. How many women is Assange alleged to have raped, just wondering? As far as whistle blowing and stealing secrets all governments do this as well. Admit it, not making the Tatler list! a woman scorned!

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    1. Two.

      OK, guv, you've got me bang to rights. :-)

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    2. Only two? is that enough for him to be classified as a serial rapist?

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    3. Has he been so defined? I don't believe so. Anyway, the matter is, or should be, sub judice.

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  2. Interesting juxtaposition of posts, Ana. Hitchcock has been subject to his own little notoriety, and so have the actors in the drama about his making of the film, 'Psycho.' Now we return to the subject of Assange and his supporters and detractors - another cause celebre where works are overshadowed by accusations of personal failings.

    We are human, and it is natural for us all to be interested in the human characteristics of others . . . but such focus may not always be in our best interests. I ask myself "What does the personal life of this individual matter to me?" I also ask "Why is the personal life of this individual trumpeted in the media - to the exclusion of his professional actions?" The answer to the second is usually more interesting than the answer to the first.

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    1. Good questions, Calvin. My own feeling is that here the medium is becoming so much more than the message.

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  3. A good expose of the double standards, muddled thinking, delusions of grandeur, lack of decency and ridiculousness of the left. It is not just the left who suffer from these unfortunate traits we all do to a greater or lesser extent. However what stops all of us from becoming left wing or one of the other assorted loons is some of us have a greater capacity to think clearly and rationally. If this was just a case of Wiki leaks and their right to whistle blow then I would have to come down on their right to publish with some reservations. Reservations about whether they should publish such sensitive information. Information that exposed arguably wrong doing of government but put national security in jeopardy and even lives at risk. Yet another one of life's dilemmas of which there are many where there is a conflict between what is morally right and what is the expedient and/or prudent thing to do. We should always do the moral thing because that is right and by doing so lead the rest of the amoral world by example would undoubtedly be the cry from many. In the manner that we are leading the charge for cleaner but exceedingly costly energy. In our rush to implement wealth sapping social democracy(socialism through the back door), as that is deemed to hold the moral high ground, policies and practices. Yes indeed there would be some success in leading by example but would/will quite probably destroy ourselves in doing so. So pick shall we be moral but impoverished and unsafe or shall we not and be prosperous and secure?

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    1. Gosh, Antisthenes, the clarity of your mind is impressive.

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    2. Do I detect a hint of sarcasm because if so I will sulk.

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    3. No, absolutely not. It's a sincere observation.

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  4. It's because I like your blog I sincerely wish you'd lay off the "...and she's ugly" string on your harp. Quite apart from not being an argument, it makes you sound twelve years old.

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    1. Lysias, first and foremost, I’m glad you like my blog, just as I’m glad to see you here. But surely if you’ve been here before it can’t have escaped your attention that I go in for a certain amount of invective. It’s in my nature; I can do no other. I offer opinions and I offer arguments, and my opinions are arguments.

      I’m sure you know the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Well, then, I’m the little girl who shouts that the monarch is naked. Tatler defines this women, with laughable absurdly, as one of the 100 people who matter. Matter for what and to whom? Certainly not to me. I’ve read her work and I find it predictable, tiresome and mediocre, really not worthy of any particular note. I look at her with her paint red hair and she seems to me to be ugly, one of the many who cultivate the cult of ugliness. Should I not say what I think? Sorry, I have really no wish to upset you, but I simply can’t do that. Just think of me as a bitchy twelve year old. It suits my character.

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  5. A ten ton meteor hit Russia and another exploded over Cuba and there was one over Alabama on the same day.

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    1. Yea, I saw the Russian footage. It was really something.

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    2. Or over California but being reported by someone in Alabama .

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    3. I'll have a peek at that also.

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    4. The Russians initially stated that their air defense missiles had hit the meteor but then retracted the statement, who knows? they lie a lot about their capabilities. For some time now world government's space agencies have been doing research on means of diverting or destroying incoming cosmic objects and hazardous 'space junk' which periodically fall to earth and are a space navigation hazard.

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    5. I think they would have to make that claim, true or not.

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