The hounding of a Scottish poet by trans activists

For a witch hunt to begin extremists must so dominate a movement any sin, however slight, becomes a heresy the faithful must denounce for fear of being branded heretics themselves.

The current issue of the literary journal The Dark Horse contains a grim and resonant essay by the poet Jenny Lindsay, which shows how Scottish poetry allowed the extremes to define it. In Anatomy of a Hounding she describes the process of humiliation and denunciation she has recently experienced. Like Salem Massachusetts, Scottish poetry is a small world. But the disputes that have torn it apart would be recognised by citizens of a dictatorship, trapped members of a religious sect, or workers under the control of a megalomaniac CEO. The urge to worship power is universal; as is the willingness to go along with the persecution of dissent when a part of your mind knows the persecution is outrageous.

To begin at the beginning, Lindsay is a poet who makes what living she can by performing live, organising events and mentoring young writers.