I watched that clip of Dr Taylor’s apology – at the moment of his supreme professional triumph – and I felt the red mist come down. It was like something from the show trials of Stalin, or from the sobbing testimony of the enemies of Kim Il-sung, before they were taken away and shot. It was like a scene from Mao’s cultural revolution when weeping intellectuals were forced to confess their crimes against the people.



Why was he forced into this humiliation? Because he was subjected to an unrelenting tweetstorm of abuse. He was bombarded across the internet with a hurtling dustcloud of hate, orchestrated by lobby groups and politically correct media organisations.



And so I want, naturally, to defend this blameless man. And as for all those who have monstered him and convicted him in the kangaroo court of the web – they should all be ashamed of themselves.



Yes, I suppose some might say that his Hawaii shirt was a bit garish, a bit of an eyeful. But the man is not a priest, for heaven’s sake. He is a space scientist with a fine collection of tattoos, and if you are an extrovert space scientist, that is the kind of shirt that you are allowed to wear.

The Mayor of London speaks out in favor of science nerd fashion As for myself, I'm not a fan of either the tattoos or the garish shirt. Dr. Taylor's tears certainly revealed that tattoo sleeves don't indicate any degree of toughness; he would have done far better to give that second interview in a Grand Theft Auto shirt and flipped a symbolic bird to his idiot critics.But #ShirtStorm was a useful reminder of what we've learned from #GamerGate. One cannot compromise with pinkshirts because they don't believe in compromise. They believe in taking eternal offense and staying on the permanent offensive. They are like sharks; if they are not complaining and attacking, they lose their assumed power.I know I've said this several times over the last few days, but I cannot repeat it enough. NEVER APOLOGIZE. SJWs regard apologies as weakness, as leverage, and as a ritual preface to complete submission. I can assure you from personal experience, all their hatred is nothing more than sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing. The only response to their attacks and their attempts to create false equivalences and assign false meanings should be to pour unrestrained scorn on their heads.

Labels: science, SJW