Tim Blair: How Dr Matt Taylor’s loud shirt created momentum for woken swarms

Ten years ago, a loud shirt provided an instructive guide for politically correct pile-ons, writes Tim Blair.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of a momentous scientific achievement. It also marks the 10th anniversary of a politically correct scolding so powerful that it set a pattern for years to follow.

In late 2014 a European Space Agency team successfully landed a space probe on a comet. Given the comet in question was a mere four square kilometre speck hurtling through space at 135,000km/h, this was something worth celebrating.

Just by-the-by, men are especially prone to rejoicing over target accomplishments. We also deeply despair if those accomplishments are not observed by others.

Men will desperately scan an office for impressed witnesses after, for example, casually tossing a scrunched-up ball of paper into a bin five metres away.

Dr Matt Taylor wearing the shirt in question.

Two rules of office life: there are never any witnesses and a triumphant throw is impossible to replicate if anyone is watching.

But the European Space Agency isn’t exactly your typical office environment so its comet probe bid had no shortage of onlookers. In terms of verification, an abundance of cameras was obviously a good thing.

In terms of the ESA’s mission project scientist Matt Taylor, however, it turned out to be a very bad thing indeed – despite his very best intentions.

Realising that international media attention would fall upon him as the comet landing was confirmed, Taylor decided to use the moment as a promotion for his friend’s little online shirt business.

Dr Matthew Taylor British astrophysicist employed by the European Space Agency in another loud shirt.

But the shirt he selected was covered in images of – gasp! – cartoonishly exaggerated images of scantily-clad women.

At this point the rules become unclear. In certain circumstances real-life women in such clothing are celebrated as exemplars of female empowerment. In Taylor’s case, though, he was immediately demonised as a sexist brute.

His friend who designed and sold the shirt, Elly Prizeman, happens to be female. This didn’t calm the critics, whose social media shrieking was even joined by some of Taylor’s fellow scientists.

Victory to the haters was declared when Taylor tearfully apologised for wearing his friend’s colourful gear.

“I made a big mistake,” the British space wizard told a media conference.

“I offended many people and I am very sorry about this.”

Artists impression shows The European Space Agency’s billion-euro Rosetta spacecraft caught up with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko more than 400m km from Earth as it streaked towards the sun at around 55,000km per hour.

Then London mayor Boris Johnson, prior to becoming a pointlessly woke and green British Prime Minister, justifiably slammed Taylor’s tormentors.

“It was like something from the show trials of Stalin, or from the sobbing testimony of the enemies of Kim Il-sung before they were taken away and shot,” Johnson wrote of Taylor’s televised apology.

“It was like a scene from Mao’s cultural revolution when weeping intellectuals were forced to confess their crimes against the people.”

If only that Boris had occupied 10 Downing St instead of the soft, sooky version Britain copped in his place.

“He is a space scientist with a fine collection of tattoos,” better Boris continued, “and if you are an extroverted space scientist that is the kind of shirt that you are allowed to wear.”

Good call. The matter really should have ended there, with those who’d piled on against Taylor feeling more than slightly embarrassed for their pack-protected bullying.

Instead, as every year has since shown, the torment of Matt Taylor serves as an instructive guide for woken swarms.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the astrophysicist at the time. Picture: Getty Images

They don’t merely aim to take down political or social enemies. They’ll happily take down some bloke of whom they’ve never previously heard merely for a fashion violation – merely, in Taylor’s telling example, for dressing like a 1980s hair metal album cover.

We’ve seen so many people since be smashed by online stormtroopers who in almost every case are only pretending to be upset.

This fakery became obvious following another 2014 pile-on featuring gentle, peaceful me.

Manners police from the ABC and the then-Fairfax papers joined forces with screaming social media misfits after I’d compiled a list of Australia’s top 10 feminist frightbats.

The sisters weren’t happy – or at least so they claimed. For a good few days their woke collective did everything they could to force an apology or get me fired.

They got nothing. And here’s the thing: exactly one year later I presented another top 10 frightbat list. If my first anti-woke violation was unforgivable, surely a second would see me out the door.

Instead there was total social media silence. Silence in the traditional media, too. Their pretend panic hadn’t worked the first time and they had no fight left for a follow-up.

The old fake it ’til you make it just didn’t kick in. Nice try, though.

The lesson here for anyone who finds themselves in a leftist-driven social media storm is that the storm isn’t real. Pay it no mind and it evaporates.

This also applies to the employers of those targeted by woke activists. Don’t surrender to dumb noise. Hold your ground and stand by your people. Dig in and defeat dishonesty.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an important costume selection to make for this week’s Sky News appearance with Chris Kenny.

A certain colourful shirt beckons.