McCarthyism - Has it Hit the Horror Writers Association?

Quote Originally Posted by James Sucellus

In my country this has been a big problem recently. The former mayor of London Ken Livingstone was removed from the Labour party after claiming certain lobbyists run smear campaigns against those critical of Israel. The media belaboured this with coverage incessantly, running a smear campaign against him for criticism of Israel. He was suspended for 'bringing the party into disrepute', which is odd as he was one of the few modern Labour politicians people actually liked.

I'm admittedly not on-top with UK politics, but wasn't there a recent scandal among a couple Labour Party MPs who expressed actual anti-Semitism?

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Livingstone deserved it. He said something really silly about Hitler, some of his fellow MPs were furious about it, one even called him "a ####ing disgrace" on camera. All the Labour supporters I know on forums were angry too and wanted him gone.
There was another 3 Labour MPs that said genuinely anti-Semitic things and I think they're being disciplined for it or something.

The real smear campaign with no piece of evidence to back it up was the racism from the Tories against the new mayor Sadiq Khan, which fortunately was not effective and the Tories looked like hypocrites for it.

I personally had no issue with anything Livingstone said. At worst his phrasing was slightly daft, but there was nothing anti-semitic about what he said at all. Another petty power play from the Labour right.

Quote Originally Posted by Nirvana In Karma

I'm admittedly not on-top with UK politics, but wasn't there a recent scandal among a couple Labour Party MPs who expressed actual anti-Semitism?

I enjoyed this interview about it:

The American Jewish scholar behind Labour’s ‘antisemitism’ scandal breaks his silence | openDemocracy

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

This is one of the most disastrous interviews I've ever seen. Worth watching even if you guys don't follow UK politics.

YouTube

I can't say what the facts are because I'm not a Hitler expert but Labour MP John Mann disputes the accuracy of what Livingstone said and people generally found the way he brought up the deportation thing tactless and clumsy. On top of that he didn't seem to be dealing with the problems in Labour well enough while his fellow MPs were rightly growing concerned.
I don't think I've got enough evidence to say Livingstone was definitely anti-Semitic but I don't blame them for suspending him. He was really blundering and it's a credit to Labour that so many of them were unhappy about the situation.

If he hasn't said anything anti-semitic then him being thrown out of the party and publicly shamed as an anti-semite is a gross injustice. No amount of clumsiness would change that.

It reminds me of when Lars von Trier was banned from the Cannes Film Festival over that Hitler comment. I agree that the comment was probably in bad taste, but understanding somebody horrible =/= sympathizing with somebody horrible.
He did apologize, even though he didn't particularly have to, so kudos to von Trier I suppose.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Quote Originally Posted by James Sucellus

If he hasn't said anything anti-semitic then him being thrown out of the party and publicly shamed as an anti-semite is a gross injustice. No amount of clumsiness would change that.

It was over the top and people were definitely milking it and I'll concede that maybe a suspension wasn't necessary but I think it was about his overall performance being poor. I don't think it was just the Labour-right/Blairites who were unhappy, I think it was coming from all sides.

Thanks for that link.