This is why they think we're a joke

Elisa Allen, Vice President of Programmes for PETA UK, wrote to The Sly Old Fox Pub in Birmingham asking them to change their name to ‘The Clever Old Fox’. She claims that:

The words we use matter, and perpetuating negative stereotypes about foxes makes it easier to justify hunting or poisoning these unique and intelligent beings.

I don't think robust evidence exists to support Elisa’s claim. Specifically, I don’t think robust evidence exists linking a reduction in negative language to a reduction in animal mistreatment. I'm happy to be corrected.

I also don't think there's any theory for change behind this initiative, and if there is, I don't think the leap of faith between ‘pub changes name’ to ‘foxes saved’ will stand up to scrutiny. Again, happy for PETA to put me in my place.

The broader point here, however, has become painfully clear to me in the weeks following the US election: we, as progressives, are a laughing stock.

Trump didn’t win because his supporters flooded the streets or because Democrats stayed home. He flat out, fair and square, shifted swathes of people to vote for him. Name any demographic, he got it. Anyone on my side of politics who chooses to blame the uneducated rednecks or racism needs to wake 👏🏻 up 👏🏻

I accept that during the campaign Kamala Harris didn’t mention gender, or trans people, or pronouns, or any of the woke playthings that the Right likes to throw in our faces. However — and I really can’t put it any other way — do you think Kamala just fell out of a coconut tree? The reason she told Oprah she’d commit cold-blooded murder if anyone broke into her house and became BFFs with Liz Cheney was precisely out of a necessity to disassociate from the toxic, batshit, laughable brand that progressive politics has become.

We’re officially out of touch. We fell asleep at the wheel. Our views are no longer representative. We’re everything they said we were: a bunch of elitist, snobbish, holier-than-thou, feelings-over-facts, latte-sipping, petition-signing, avocado-toast-munching, virtue-signalling, addiction-normalising, victim-complex-ridden Chardonnay socialists. Chin-chin.