Peter Reynolds and the Corby By-election

Author: James Collins

CLEAR UK has finally decided to field a candidate in an election, as was promised so long ago. The detractors of Peter Reynolds have been waiting for this day for quite some time, and it’s going to be fun to watch. I suggest you keep some popcorn and other refreshments on hand for this fiasco, it promises great returns of both comedy and tragedy.

Peter has a fairly selective memory, one which the internet is useful in dismantling. He likes to remember his own version of history and the truth, one in which he plays a great hero for cannabis, instead of a bumbling alcoholic fool lacking dignity and general human decency. He likes to think he is some kind of politician and leader, but let us stop and consider the facts concerning his eligibility. Is Peter Reynolds a man suited for public office?

The smallest of sexual scandals can ruin a political career. Not just when the candidate is married, but under any conditions where they are shown to lack circumspection and restraint. Anyone who is interested in the matter is aware of his online dating profiles on swinger websites. Naturally, Peter claims these profiles are “fake”, because apparently psychic troublemakers knew back in 2006 that they wanted to defame him in this way five years later. Posting pictures of himself obviously intoxicated, wearing a bath robe and exposing his genitals, Peter demands in his ads that one or more young women worship his manhood. He says he likes pigtails and schoolgirl types, showing sexual predilections that are one baby step short of overt pedophilia. Now just stop, for one moment, and pretend that David Cameron had been caught making a similar display online. Would he be laughed out of the running in the early phases of an election, or would the reserved and somewhat socially conservative British electorate give him a free pass? I don’t need to answer that for you, because it is obvious. No sex please, we’re British.

Showing your willy online means you can’t run for office in the industrialized world. It’s that simple. Perhaps sexual morays will evolve and candidates will one day be implored to expose themselves in this manner before entering public office. This is not the case now, and Peter is disqualified from the outset for bad form.

Now let us discuss Peter’s rather inflammatory views on race and gender. Amongst other choice quotes from Peter is the now famous “I curse the evil Jews” in reference to the actions of Israel. There are many different viewpoints on Israel. I myself think the government of this nation is completely paranoid and reactionary, often violating common sense in response to specious and non-existent threats. I also have the basic sense to recognize there is more debate in Israel than outside it about the actions of the state. Jews are anything but unified in their opinion of Israeli foreign and domestic policy. To lump everyone in Israel into a single category is decidedly ignorant and hateful. It’s hateful in the most politically unpopular way. It is anti-Semitic in the true sense of the term, rather than a nuanced examination of the complex issues in the Middle East today. “The evil Jews” is language that belongs in the writings of Nazi sympathizers rather than cannabis campaigners. Peter has a real hurdle to get over here, the fact he engaged in the most socially unacceptable form of bigotry one can embrace in a post Holocaust world. Peter will naturally deny these statements, but his date-stamped online ranting cannot be erased by taking down his blog. The internet has a long memory, and Peter will not be able to avoid that fact.

Recently Peter also decided to join George Galloway in expressing the sentiment that once a woman has consented to sexual relations with a man once, she must withdraw consent proactively rather than offer it with each sexual encounter. He seems to believe, and has expressed as much publicly on the CLEAR website, that women become the property of men upon their first coupling, and should expect they will be used for sexual gratification in whatever way the man who has claimed them sees fit. It’s a 1950’s mentality of sex and gender, it is inappropriate in this day and age, and I would argue it verges on counselling to commit rape. Yes, I will state that so plainly. When you tell men that any woman they have had sex with who has not yet dissolved that relationship formally is open to being used like a blow up doll in their sleep without overt consent to this activity, you are encouraging them to commit a sex crime. It’s beyond audacious; it’s absolutely repugnant and inhuman. I guess it is no wonder that dear old Pete is single and posting ads on swinger’s websites seeking vulnerable young women. Anyone his own age wouldn’t be likely to tolerate his attitudes about sexuality and gender roles, so I guess he figures he has to seek gratification from naïve young women. Fortunately for those young women, they aren’t as naïve as Peter thinks and hopefully will not put themselves in a position to be victimized by his disgusting attitudes towards their gender.

There is plenty to be found about his view on homosexuality, politics, religion and just about everything else. I recommend you check you the blog of Sarah McCulloch at www.sarahmcculloch.com. She has rather studiously documented some of his more choice statements, and to repeat it all here would be redundant. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed, if you’re looking to get offended that is.

I, for writing this, will be labelled a “mendacious troll”. That’s Peter’s favorite expression for people who question his statements and positions on major issues. I suspect he heard it in a movie and felt that its usage would make him appear sophisticated in some manner. Anyone who exposes his attitudes and beliefs for what they are is a “liar”. He isn’t able to document precisely how it is I and others managed to create such an online paper trail of witless, racist and sexist garbage years before we had heard his name; that doesn’t seem to matter. The more you speak truth, the more he claims you lie; it’s downright Orwellian.

Once his name is on that ballot the game is on. His works will be forwarded to the press, and to antidefamation groups. I have personally been in contact with certain well-known groups who work in the defence of Jews and homosexuals. Now that he is running for public office, his views present a genuine threat rather than an irritation which isn’t worth expending resources to get rid of. The fight to expose this man as the sickening excuse for a human being that he is has only begun, and by entering public elections he has escalated the stakes considerably.

I have no doubt that Peter will eventually read this (Hi Pete! Remember me?) and threaten lawsuits and police action. Fortunately for me I am versed in both Canadian and British laws concerning the freedom of expression. By entering a public election he has opened himself up legally to satire, critique and all other manners of expression which he might find ruffles his bath robe a little. There is no law he can hide behind. There is no police complaint to be filed, and much as he is within his rights to file a specious lawsuit for defamation of character, he wouldn’t win and can’t afford to sustain such a campaign anyway. If you donate to CLEAR, you donate to Peter’s lawyers, which he openly admitted were retained by his parents to defend CLEAR.

Seriously Peter? At your age you ran to your mommy and daddy because the other kids called you names? Is that behavior indicative of the thick skin of a seasoned politician, or that of a spoiled brat who is used to getting his way with a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get the flavor of ice cream he wants? Think about it before you register for that election Peter Reynolds, because your days of being held accountable for your speech have only begun. I for one hope you don’t have the good sense to withdraw your candidacy, I’ve already made the popcorn and there are no good movies on the idiot box today.

http://peterreynoldsinhisownwords.tumblr.com/ – comments, responses and other total nonsense from the man himself.