Oh Look, A Riot...

In artistic representations of conflict- paintings, movies, TV shows- everything is purposeful. Even the extras know what they're supposed to be doing. The attackers attack, the defenders defend, meaningful gestures are made, sinews are stretched. If an important historical figure is present he has a space cleared round him so we can better admire whatever it is he is doing. No-one just wanders through the scene, no-one stand idle, no-one has their hands in their pockets.

Reality is otherwise.

Yesterday I was watching unedited drone footage of the action in central London. In one sector a bunch of protesters had been kettled by the police. We were at a height from which people look like ants so it was impossible to be sure which faction they were from. They had formed into a sort of clump- and swirled and drifted amorphously, like industrial pollution on a pond. They pushed at the thin yellow line (the cops were wearing high vis jackets) seeking advantage, but when the line parted as it sometimes did, no-one broke through because they were leaderless and had no idea where they wanted to be. People who were just going about their business crossed the camera's eye. Some ran to be sooner clear of the unpleasantness, but others strolled, sauntered, took their time about it. "Oh look, a riot, how interesting..."

Oh No, There's A Troll In The Girls' Toilet

Dear J K Rowling,

You are asking us to fear the bogeyman.

To whit: a transwoman who visits public toilets with the aim of raping cis-women.

I'm not saying your bogeyman is an impossibility (because human beings are infinitely various) just that if I came across this character in a detective novel I'd mark it down as unlikely.

As you know- and as anyone knows who has given it a moment's thought- the most dangerous place in the world is the family home. That's where you're most likely to meet your abuser, rapist, murderer.

And they won't be a transman or a transwoman but someone you know and thought you could trust.

Bogeymen belong to fiction. They're vanishingly rare in everyday life.

When members of a minority are demonised by a fearful member of the majority it's called a witch hunt.

There was a time when I had you pegged as being on the side of the witches. I'm sorry your fears- your unreasonable fears- have tipped you into the opposing camp.

It's very Muggle of you.

Fear is the worst possible basis for a philosophy, a religion, a public policy, a Tweet.

Fear causes the innocent to suffer and deforms and twists the person who projects it.