A UK Independence Party (UKIP) spokesman has been much mocked on social media for comparing the party’s disastrous performance in the English local elections to the Black Death.

Actually though it’s a perfectly good analogy. And the fuss being made tells us more about the progressive mindset than it does about UKIP. In fact, it’s ugly SJW bullying straight out of the Alinsky playbook.

The story began on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme:

UKIP's general secretary @PaulJamesOakley compares his party to the Black Death. ☠️ He claims that's not a bad thing and says it's not over for his party. #Election2018 #r4today pic.twitter.com/dJ0Tim3Mns — BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 4, 2018

Paul Oakley’s analogy was a fair and honest one. Indeed, it’s the sort of blunt language that attracted many of us to UKIP in the first place: such a refreshing change from all that virtue-signalling, arse-covering spin in which all the other parties specialise.

It’s obvious what he meant: “Sure we may look like a spent force at the moment but write us off at your peril. Never forget that we are the force that terrified the Conservatives into agreeing to a Brexit referendum – and if you don’t deliver the Brexit our people want then we will be back with a vengeance…”

But, of course, that’s not how the usual suspects decided to take it:

https://twitter.com/helenlewis/status/992313619491840001

Two minutes into the interview, chat with Ukip chap is going well. 'Just give us one aspect of the black death you'd like to emulate' — Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) May 4, 2018

10 Reasons why UKIP is like the Black Death. pic.twitter.com/xjkMivmboE — Mike StuchberyὈ🍷 (@MikeStuchbery_) May 4, 2018

UKIP is less like the Black Death, more like a catastrophic anal injury. Those suffering from UKIP have lost the ability to take a seat — Omid Djalili (@omid9) May 4, 2018

What?! Did I just hear the UKIP spokesman on @bbcr4today say that UKIP were like the Black Death? — Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry) May 4, 2018

None of these responses is honest. Their mirth is affected, their jokes are strained, their smiles are a rictus. We need to recognise this behaviour for what it is: a textbook Social Justice Warrior “point and shriek” bully mobbing. [As anatomised here by Vox Day]

The reason I mention this is not because I particularly hold a candle for UKIP or feel that it is a precious jewel that needs protecting.

Rather, it’s because this is how the liberal-left advances its agenda: through smearing and belittling and misrepresenting its opponents; by imputing to them incompetence and bad faith. And if we are to counter these tactics – as I believe we should because they are ugly and because they distract from the real issues – then the first step is to reveal them for what they are: not honest debating but dirty trick cheap shots.

UKIP lost in these elections because the times are currently against them. They did not lose them because everyone who works for them is a risible incompetent who can’t help making the kind of stupid gaffes that have turned them into a laughing stock. Yet the latter is the narrative currently being dishonestly imposed on them by the progressive chattering class – and cheerled by the BBC itself. That is the sole point of this Black Death/UKIP furore: it’s a “gaffe” whose gaffeness exists only the imagination of progressives determined to kick their enemies when they are down.

Here is the man who started it, BBC reporter Nick Robinson:

You can't accuse UKIP's @PaulJamesOakley of spin. He's just compared his party with the Black Death on @BBCr4today. When I checked that I'd heard him correctly he replied : 'What's wrong with that?" — Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) May 4, 2018

And there you have it: the yawning gulf that still divides those of us who voted Brexit from those who voted Remain.

The Brexit side is about speaking your mind, telling it like it is, however unpalatable.

The Remain side is about turd polishing, cheap point-scoring, and spin.

Well I know which side I’d rather be on.