Another Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
Liz Upton is as skilled at hitting the PR lines that the British media like to hear as she is wholly useless at social media. Every sentence of hers in the Buzzfeed article is a greatest hits of the classics. A quick breakdown:
1. Blaming the "snowflakes". This bit is a dig at content warnings, which the most tedious people in the world go wild for, with an additional little dig at vegans. Bores love it.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
2. "Dogpiling" is an absolute favourite word of theirs. They don't really know what it means. It doesn't matter. It's *expected* to use that the second even one person says "um, I disagree with you, British person."
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
3. imo this is the most masterful bit in the entire statement. She's killing two birds with one stone, addressing the fact that literally nobody can buy one in the middle of the whinge. And she's managed to be vague enough that it can land with several audiences: some bores will be like "yes, it's Putin's fault" while other bores will go "yes, it's Brexit's fault". Gives the bores space to bang their own drums (and quietly link the drama to Putin)
Show threadAnother Angry Woman
4. A conspiracy theory, naming websites that the British media class have probably heard of but have no idea what they do. A creepy, scary bogeyman. Bonus points for having tried to prime thinking about Putin in the paragraph above, just to add to the "manufactured" attack line.
Dec 10, 2022 at 11:06amWeb
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
5. Claiming to have been doxxed and received death threats is a mandatory element of the "evil abusive social media" line. Doesn't matter that she is literally famous for doing Raspberry Pi's comms. That's doxxing, apparently. Doesn't matter if none of it is true. It's what they want to hear and Liz is supplying it. Worth noting this is highly, highly irresponsible to lie like this and link critics to illegal and violent activities, but they all do that.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
6. This bit is a greatest hits of cop apologia. It is basically a word salad, but it consistently lands among bootlickers, even if it makes zero sense.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
7. More cop apologia (including finally elucidating one or two small good things this spy cop is supposed to have done), but then some more clever bits. She appeals to Britishness, with "American police are bad, not like our good British bobbies", then goes straight onto a bogeyman: culture wars. Culture wars are Bad. She knows this. That's why she used those specific words.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
See point 2 here - "concern trolling" is another one of those phrases where they don't really know what it means, they just like to use it. And it's expected to use it.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
See point 5. The death threats excuse. No evidence it hasn't. This time, with bonus irresponsibility. While she's careful not to say James made death threats, she's very content to literally include a named individual who made mild criticism of the brand right next to a statement about "death threats". This is, I think, deliberate, to punish the guy for daring to make mild criticism and talk to the media (her turf!). And also wildly, wildly irresponsible.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
8. Obviously this is just entirely risible, but it's important to frame your critics as not just evil trolls, but also bigots. This is an absolute classic in the playbook. Misogyny, antisemitism, racism... these are usually the ones in play. Anti-policemanism is, well, it's new and fair play to Liz for inventing a new bigotry.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022

To us, Upton's interview is basically incoherent gibberish, but we, the Mob, are not the intended audience. She's appealing to a different class entirely: the polite face of the right-wing culture war. She's pitching to British journalists, saying their talking points to them, meeting them on their patch. This is deliberate, because it is basically what PR people are trained to do!

And ultimately, I suspect she's succeeded at that.

Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
I think, in giving this interview, Upton will be adopted and embraced by the worst of the British Polite Sensibles. I give it a year before she starts on weird conspiracy theories about Jeremy Corbyn and gets a bit TERFy.
Show threadAntifa Franklin 🇵🇸Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers Rishi Sunak puts Upton in charge of a struggling state comprehensive to turn it into a stem focused free school. Channel 4 to produce fly on the wall series cataloging the ups and downs of its first year.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@yaldi and also, an inevitable BBCQT panellist gig.
Show threadChristine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers The ‘hurt feelings to full right wing package’ pipeline is remarkably short and all you need to join it is an overactive sense of entitlement.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@christineburns Has anyone done any scholarship on it yet, because it is definitely A Thing which has been seen over and over
Show threadThe Duality of XanDec 10, 2022
@stavvers @christineburns In all seriousness, I think some sociologists need to get on that, if they haven’t already.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@XanIndigo @christineburns I completely agree, it's a definite radicalisation pathway
Show threadThe Duality of XanDec 10, 2022
@stavvers @christineburns Tempted to look into this deeper myself, honestly. I’m no sociologist, but a good essay can be a valuable thing.
Show threadgeoff332Dec 10, 2022

@stavvers @christineburns
There's this piece - which looks at the deeper shift in social norms.

I suspect social media has supercharged parts of this process (e.g. creating the moral panic).

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09579265221095407

Show threadDavid GerardDec 10, 2022
@stavvers @christineburns half of it's done by the two-inch pipeline between complacent white suburbia and full on active supremacist, and how fascism is already encoded in the colonial culture. Etc etc. But this specific example of the pipeline could do with being written up in small words.
Show threadPeeBeeJayBeeDec 10, 2022
@stavvers @christineburns Phipps kinda touches on that looking at white feminism in Me Not You, I think - espec the final chapters
Show threadChristine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers @PeeBeeJayBee I think we’re seeing a very interesting fork of this phenomenon right now among people who became ‘someone’ on Twitter — influencers whose platform relies crucially on their following. They don’t even have to be talked back to ATM to be having an existential crisis in full view at the thought of losing their following in the great exodus. It plays out in denial but also anger and a hunt for people or things to blame. Will they reach acceptance?
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@christineburns @PeeBeeJayBee I think it's probably exacerbated to some extent by the ones who have already gone through the pipeline being pre-emptively banned from the platform. So there's fear of losing the audience, plus a paranoia that the Mob are talking about them somewhere else
Show threadChristine Burns MBE 🏳️‍⚧️📚⧖Dec 10, 2022
@PeeBeeJayBee @stavvers I think you’re right there. Imagine the feeling that (a) your reputation preceded you into the lifeboat, (b) your old tricks for attention and clout don’t work (the magical powers have gone — you’re effectively a nobody) and (c) if you try to set up shop in an instance with attention-hungry mates then you can all be cut off by the nice world and left to yell at each other. It’s like Hell’s customised torments in ‘Old Harry’s Game’
Show threadLeianoraDec 10, 2022
@PeeBeeJayBee @stavvers @christineburns I loved the show Old Harry's Game! Andy Hamilton is hilarious!
Show threadLabrador GirlDec 10, 2022
@christineburns @stavvers @PeeBeeJayBee People who *need* to go viral don’t like this place.
Show threadFen CDec 10, 2022
@christineburns @stavvers @PeeBeeJayBee
👆
I've >20k followers on #TheBird. I've <500 on Mastodon. I hope to find lots of the 20k on here, but I've got to get out of #ElonWorld pretty soon; I can't be tacitly supporting what #Twatter has become/is becoming.
Show threadSmileyRach3 🇪🇺🐟🐻Dec 10, 2022
@fencoul @christineburns @stavvers @PeeBeeJayBee I feel exactly the same. The people I follow are a much broader community than on Twitter. Much more interesting and far less tribal /partisan. Much more comfortable and relaxing. 😊
Show threadRembrandtDec 10, 2022
@fencoul @christineburns @stavvers @PeeBeeJayBee
The people who follow you here are real people; 'nuff said.
The >20k are what? Mostly inactive accounts if I were to believe what seems to be the case for numerous ex-twitters.
Anyways, it's quality over quantity. Cheers.
Show threadNik NickersonDec 10, 2022
@fencoul @christineburns @stavvers @PeeBeeJayBee I’m here - keep up the good work!
Show threadmathewDec 10, 2022

@stavvers @christineburns If anyone has suggested reading, I am seriously interested in the topic of white fragility and what causes so many people to suffer from it. There was a popular book about it in the US, but the author was a white woman and got some significant criticism from the Black community, so I’m wondering if there are better choices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Fragility#Reception

White Fragility - Wikipedia

Show threadVolineDec 11, 2022

@mathew

I think about the arguments in Corey Robin's Reactionary Mind frequently.

"Historically, the conservative has favored liberty for the higher orders and constraint for the lower orders. What the conservative sees and dislikes in equality, in other words, is not a threat to freedom but its extension. For in that extension he sees a loss of his own freedom." ...

"Behind the riot in the street or debate in Parliament is the maid talking back to her mistress, the worker disobeying her boss."

https://www.powells.com/book/reactionary-mind-conservatism-from-edmund-burke-to-donald-trump-9780190692001

The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump: Corey Robin: Trade Paperback: 9780190692001: Powell's Books

Show threadKennethDec 10, 2022
@christineburns @stavvers Impunity is a helluva drug.
Show threadChristopherDec 10, 2022
@christineburns @stavvers I feel like you're starting already having crossed home plate if you've hired the surveilence specialist cop *before* your feelings are are hurt.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@Kichae @christineburns I'm gonna be charitable, some people really are that oblivious as to why most people hate the police
Show threadChristopherDec 10, 2022

@stavvers @christineburns It's not obvious to me why people like American football, or NASCAR, but it's clear that a lot of people do like it, that many of those people have strong feelings about it, and that I'd probably get a reaction by walking into a sports bar in Alabama and proclaiming my disdain for them.

Also, if I had a lengthy statement to make to the press the very next day, someone might, rightfully, believe that I did it knowingly so that I'd have a reason to be in the press.

Show threadKennethDec 10, 2022
@stavvers “I view with alarm ... ”
Show threadThette (they/them)Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers I miss the RemindMeOfThis bot on Twitter for cases just like this.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@thette yeah, thinking of setting a reminder in my calendar to check lol
Show threadPeter BronezDec 10, 2022

@stavvers great analysis. It’s very interesting to watch these early sparks as the Fediverse gains mainstream cultural relevance for the first time.

Personally I’m baffled by Rpi’s handling of this situation. I have no objection to the hire at all. Heck, I like that they want to stand by their employee! But their media strategy around has been astoundingly counter-productive.

And yes, as someone in the market for an SBC already frustrated by the supply chain, it’s off-putting.

Show threadDave "Wear A Goddamn Mask" Cochran Jul 5

@stavvers you and aaron sorkin must never, ever be on the same plane - like the coke execs with the recipe.

(this is a reference to this scene from "the newsroom" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOlPsUbAHJo - in which basically the exact same sort of breakdown occurs)

The Newsroom - Casey Anthony

YouTube
Show threadbigiainDec 11, 2022
@stavvers On the other hand, Upton and @raspberrypi.social (both the commercial arm and the foundation) by showing us their intended audience, we can now assume “we”, the people who’ve been buying their boards for a decade and supporting their open source and community and recommending them to others and helping others use their products, at least partly out of altruistism towards their mission, we are not longer the people they care about. So let’s stop doing that.
Show thread¡a!nDec 10, 2022
@stavvers “are you equating being Chinese with being a spy cop?” No no, absolutely not but now you mention it…
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@iain 
Show threadTattie (old account)Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers well, maybe not *that* new; isn't this just a new way of saying "blue lives matter"? Absolutely risible of course.
Show threadThe BreadmonkeyDec 10, 2022

@stavvers

When I first read the interview I made this. Still makes me laugh, although I can't escape the feeling it's probably faintly inappropriate somehow.

Show thread¡a!nDec 10, 2022
@stavvers ‘he identifies as a policeman’ has blown my mind and I can’t stop thinking about how the right co-opt the language of the oppressed and use it against them
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@iain it is the most astounding sentence I have seen in a while, I can't get over it
Show threadjollyrogueDec 10, 2022

@stavvers So she confirms the cop is a cop is a cop who does cop things and will continue doing cop things like everyone is concerned about.

Definitely upped the suspicion factor of all this considering where RPis are used.

Show threadAnathemaJaneDec 12, 2022
@stavvers ACAB means Assigned Cop At Birth
Show threadKennethDec 10, 2022
@stavvers “...should not have been blocked” stands out for me .
Show threadEmber ​Dec 10, 2022

@stavvers a "surveillance officer getting drugs out of schools"

does that, uh, mean what i think it means

Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@Ember spying on kiddies? Yeeeep
Show threadEmber ​Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers ech. gross.
Show threadchris@strafpla.netDec 11, 2022

@stavvers

It will be interesting to see if the group of people she‘s addressing with this is a relevant group to do business with for #raspberryPi

Or if burning the last bit of good will in this specific over here segment of makers and tinkerers will influence their over all business perspective on the long run.

Show threadAnathemaJaneDec 12, 2022
@stavvers see, my take is if he's been a cop for thirty years he's DEFINITELY done some dodgy shit. Probably had tea with Savile.
Show threadflere-imsaho 🇺🇦Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers yeah, he was catching people who were doing really, really bad stuff is such a generic cop support phrase.
Show threadAnother Angry WomanDec 10, 2022
@mawhrin absolutely no specifics, just "baddies!"
Show threadelizabeth veldonDec 10, 2022
@stavvers @mawhrin indeed. what constitutes 'baddies' changes based upon who you ask.
Show threadInternets DairyDec 10, 2022
@stavvers @mawhrin I'm just imagining the police's faces when I call them in because some very bad men broke in and stole my Raspberry Pi.
Show threadflere-imsaho 🇺🇦Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers …and then you learn that the dude was doing surveillance for thirty bloody years.
Show threadMuradDec 10, 2022
@stavvers for me, there's also an entitled arrogance to the whole thing that makes it even worse, a sort of "do you people know who I am?" smell...
Show threadAngela Glansbury 🚽Dec 10, 2022
@stavvers
I'm not even going to give buzzfeed a single click. May I assume what he did was so awful and undermining for this narrative that they don't dare report a single specific thing he was decorated for or a single specific "baddie".