David Toube, for those of you with the luck not to know or care, is one of the guiding lights behind the “Harry’s Place” blog, best described as the clubhouse for what calls itself the “decent left”, mostly numpties and wingnuts who still have some sentimental attachment to being seen as leftwing, even if their opinions would put them comfortably on the rightwing of the Republican Party. Toube then is a bit of an ass, as also seen in the video above. An inflated ego and an desire to be a latter day Orwell, to take part in a fight againmst modern day fascism has led him to troll other leftie blogs, which has now gotten him into trouble. In particular, he has gotten into trouble for this comment on a Socialist Unity post.
Aaronovitch Watch has more details, with the discussion there focusing on how bizarre it is to sue Toube for a comment he left at the Socialist Unity website, but not Socialist Unity itself. To be fair, even if this is 2010 and everybody should be used to blogs and the internet already, it wouldn’t be the first time a lawyer got confused about these matters, if it actually was a mistake and not deliberate. You could argue that since Toube is the source of this comment, it is no more than right that he gets sued for it…
There’s also some soulsearching about it all, as people balance their loathing of Toube with the reflex antipathy any blogger feels against law suits threatening free speech as well as the loathing many have for Galloway himself. I can understand the dilemma, though do not share the mistrust of Galloway. However, as Aaronovitch Watch itself has shown over and over again, there are quite a few decent leftists who feel free to be bullies, not too careful with the truth and who think calling people nazis or Hamas supporters or whatever is consequence free. Perhaps this might persuade them to be a bit more careful with their accusations…