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Trevor Phillips, PC Turncoat

A left-wing black Englishman has stopped mouthing progressive platitudes to fit in
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Trevor Phillips is a prominent Englishman who was once at the cutting edge of diversity:

October 2000 saw the publication of a report commissioned by Phillips, then chair of the Runnymede Trust, called The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. It marked perhaps the high-water mark of multicultural thinking, and suggested that Britain should become a “community of communities” in which each community would respect the other by avoiding causing offence.

This, says The Guardian, was an expression of the belief that controlling discourse would result in social harmony. And now?:

“Well I think it would be fair to say that I made a big mistake,” he says now. “It was a clear statement that some groups can play by their own rules. That to me runs counter to my own political beliefs. Why I am still a supporter of the Labour party is because I believe fundamentally in solidarity and reciprocity, and I think most on the left have forgotten both of those things.”

Remaining a man of the Left, but refusing to live by PC cant, has cost him. But not as much as living by lies:

I ask Phillips if the threat of expulsion from his political tribe does act as a disincentive to speak out about what he really thinks.

“Depends how much of your life you want to spend lying to yourself,” he says. “I think it’s pretty wearying to get up each day and tell yourself to go advocate for something that you know not to be true. And what is even worse is if you’re in public office or politics and everyone you’re telling this to also knows it isn’t true. Not only are you a liar, you’re also an idiot.”

Phillips blames left-wing elites for the rise of illiberalism in the US and Europe, saying that ordinary people got sick and tired of not being able to say what they thought without being accused of being History’s Greatest Monsters. I also found interesting what he says about how progressive elites police access to their own circles:

“A ruling elite maintains an idea of what’s good and reasonable by a whole series of methods,” he counters. “Who gets advancement, rewards and status? If you don’t hold to the orthodoxy, you stop being invited to meetings. There’s a phrase that people in centre-left politics use: oh he’s very good. What they actually mean is: I agree with him.”

Isn’t it funny how progressives fret mightily about how social and religious conservatives supposedly cannot bear to be in the presence of people unlike themselves, when in fact it is the most woke progressives who agitate for “safe spaces” within which they can dwell without ever having to come into contact with an idea or a person that challenges their delicate sensibilities?

Anyway, read the whole thing. Thanks to reader Tom S. for sending this in.

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