Join the new world

Three days ago, IndieKid wrote an article titled "Political dishonesty at the heart of Spectrum?" in which he interviewed former Spectrum party-member Firejon about the infamous re-branding of the former Radical Freethinkers Alliance.

First off, IndieKid jeopardizes the integrity of his entire article by contradicting the title in the very first paragraph.

Quote: “As the nation waited in suspense for the climax of a brilliant PR campaign, RFA members excitedly prepared for a brand new identity. Or so we thought. New revelations show that only an elite few within the party took the decision to rebrand, because they did not trust the party not to leak. A ruling clique who had not been directly elected by the party and had taken power after the resignation of UK’s Finest took the decision to not even bother to inform the party or ask for their opinions before going ahead.”

"Or so we thought."

IndieKid postulates that he was still a member of the party when it was changed to Spectrum. Alas, he was not. At 16:23 (GMT) on March 15th, IndieKid posted on the Spectrum forum that he was leaving the party. The reasons he cited were, and I quote: “Too many trolls in the party, which hasn't done anything radical or interesting in months. Doesn't really represent my views anymore and to top it all, it looks like 70md will win the PPship.”

Eight minutes later he posted a request for access on the TUP forum.

That, friends, is political dishonesty.

First of all, March 15th was election day. So, IndieKid was effectively switching parties while his obligation to those who voted for him was still in effect. Secondly, The Unity Party is (famously) the beloved home of the United Kingdom's absolute best trolls. Also, 70md lost to UK’s finest. But, those are more-or-less anectdotal points. The most interesting reason he cited was the fact that the Radical Freethinkers Alliance hadn’t “done anything radical in months.” Regardless of the fact that IndieKid was PP for a month and didn't attempt to do anything radical himself, the very existence of Spectrum is proof that IndieKid’s most poignant complaint was addressed.

Now, it should be duly noted that UK’s finest left the party while he was PP, but he didn't curiously join the largest party (in fact he has remained unaffiliated since he left). In the midst of the two former party presidents leaving the party one might understand the need for a re-branding. After all, IndieKid and UK’s finest were once synonymous with the Radical Freethinkers Alliance.



IndieKid goes on to say that a friend of his (and RFA member) came to him (like a Catholic in a confession booth) regarding his disillusionment with the party. According to Firejon, he left the party because he wasn’t entrusted with the highly-secretive re-branding campaign.

In a party forum post on April 26th, sonicslice (who IndieKid has himself praised on numerous occasions) spoke of a conversation he had with Firejon. According to sonicslice, Firejon claimed that he was “disappointed at the result (in the South East election) and felt that he had not had the same level of support as other candidates” and that “in his own words he has rage quit.” You can go to Firejon’s profile and see that on April 26th he shouted twice:

“Has had enough, Rage. 2 clicking for a while”
&
“RAGE!”

It’s a particularly poignant point for me as I, myself, felt I didn’t get the proper amount of support in the March election in London (even though I was anointed the choice candidate by UK’s finest). However, I didn’t leave the party as a result. I simply swallowed my pride and waited to suit up again in April.

IndieKid’s article is nothing more than TUP mouthpiece propaganda parading as legitimate “political honesty.” If it was anything else, it wouldn’t have been titled with a loaded question.

He begins the article by hinting to the average Briton that he left the party because of the Spectrum hoopla. He does this to make the interview appear more legitimate by making the interviewer appear more legitimate.

After two introductory paragraphs in which he answers his own question posed in the title (instead of waiting for the person he’s interviewing to answer it), he goes on to actually interview Firejon—where Firejon makes one self-aggrandizing critique after another.

I’m on the first page of Spectrum members; hell, I’m at the top. And, I’m good friends with Andy Millward but I didn’t feel slighted by the secrecy. Granted, I haven’t been a party member as long as Firejon was… but as someone who’s been elected to congress more than zero times and as someone with 322 (and growing) more subscribers than Firejon, I naturally consider myself to be more of an asset to the party than Firejon. Yet, I didn’t get offended when two other RFA members got into Parliament ahead of me in that election. My ego wasn’t shattered or anything. Can you believe it?!

I’d have taken IndieKid’s interview more seriously if it wasn’t just an arm of the TUP recruitment wing. The sixth question was a particular doozy. Only Sean Hannity is capable of asking a more loaded question than that.



The secrecy of the re-branding was absolutely necessary to generate as much publicity as it did. I commended Andy Millward and Joachim von Bremen on the campaign then and I’ll do it again.

They succeeded; and don’t let the exodus from the party of those with egos a size-too-large convince you otherwise. I see it only as a cleansing; which is a positive side-effect of any re-branding campaign.

Firejon didn’t leave the party because of the re-branding. He left the party because he wasn’t elected to Parliament. Maybe he would have been elected if he had ever written a proposal.

Regardless, I predict Firejon will fit in just fine in The Unity Party, where everyone’s office is outfitted with the latest in ego-stroking technology.