Why Joan Bakewell must be right about anorexia » The Spectator
I like Rod Liddle's take
You can always tell when a public figure has said something with the ring of truth about it by the abject apology and recantation which arrives a day or two later. By and large, the greater the truth, the more abject the apology. Often there is a sort of partial non-apology apology first: I’m sorry if I upset anyone, but I broadly stand by what I said, even if my wording was perhaps a little awkward. That, however, won’t do — by now the hounds of hell are howling at the back door. Social media is beside itself, wrapped up in its moronic inferno, the cybersphere splenetic with self-righteous outrage.
People who feel themselves to be a victim of this truth are the first to go berserk, then the multifarious groups who depend for their living on giving succour to one another’s victimhood get in on the act — charities, academics, specialists and so on. Witless liberals in the media start writing damning criticisms of the truth and the person who was stupid enough to tell the truth. Sooner or later even that cornucopia of incessant whining, Radio 4’s You and Yours programme, will have got in on the act.
By now there will have been the properly abject apology from the truth-sayer, all the more abject if it is someone regarded as being otherwise politically correct. But it may be too late. Already the truth-sayer’s employers are looking closely at his or her contract. The universities or quangos where the truth-sayer holds honorary titles or non-executive directorships are urgently convening meetings to discuss what this foul besom has said and what can be done about it to quieten the clamouring mentalist hordes out there. Sometimes — quite often — the police get involved. There is nothing more damaging to a career than telling an unfortunate truth. Even if it is only a partial truth.
So it is with the thinking man’s crumpet, Baroness (Joan) Bakewell. Poor Joan. She delivered herself of one or two opinions about anorexia nervosa, which was probably an unwise thing to do. There is nothing more likely to send liberals on the internet into a frenzy than to question the orthodox shibboleths of a primarily middle-class illness, which is of course what anorexia is.
I like Rod Liddle's take
You can always tell when a public figure has said something with the ring of truth about it by the abject apology and recantation which arrives a day or two later. By and large, the greater the truth, the more abject the apology. Often there is a sort of partial non-apology apology first: I’m sorry if I upset anyone, but I broadly stand by what I said, even if my wording was perhaps a little awkward. That, however, won’t do — by now the hounds of hell are howling at the back door. Social media is beside itself, wrapped up in its moronic inferno, the cybersphere splenetic with self-righteous outrage.
People who feel themselves to be a victim of this truth are the first to go berserk, then the multifarious groups who depend for their living on giving succour to one another’s victimhood get in on the act — charities, academics, specialists and so on. Witless liberals in the media start writing damning criticisms of the truth and the person who was stupid enough to tell the truth. Sooner or later even that cornucopia of incessant whining, Radio 4’s You and Yours programme, will have got in on the act.
By now there will have been the properly abject apology from the truth-sayer, all the more abject if it is someone regarded as being otherwise politically correct. But it may be too late. Already the truth-sayer’s employers are looking closely at his or her contract. The universities or quangos where the truth-sayer holds honorary titles or non-executive directorships are urgently convening meetings to discuss what this foul besom has said and what can be done about it to quieten the clamouring mentalist hordes out there. Sometimes — quite often — the police get involved. There is nothing more damaging to a career than telling an unfortunate truth. Even if it is only a partial truth.
So it is with the thinking man’s crumpet, Baroness (Joan) Bakewell. Poor Joan. She delivered herself of one or two opinions about anorexia nervosa, which was probably an unwise thing to do. There is nothing more likely to send liberals on the internet into a frenzy than to question the orthodox shibboleths of a primarily middle-class illness, which is of course what anorexia is.
Comment