When the interviewer literally celebrates with drinking champagne that the "right-wing racist homophobe" he interviewed is fired from a position thanks to his interview, I think the objectives for the interview are quite evident. — ssu
Well, I assume that the whole response that people give to something should be considered. You don't think so: uttering the J-Word means you are a bigot. As I've already said, the alt-right does indeed talk of a Soros empire. Just how you talk about it is important. But if Scruton mentions Soros, is obviously he is part of the alt-right, not the traditional right. — ssu
Eaton made the article that got Scruton scrutiny so much that he was fired from a committee.I don't know who George Eaton is; never heard of him prior to this — Maw
So your argument why Scruton is islamophobic is the wording "huge tribes" basically.to say things like, "The Hungarians were extremely alarmed by the sudden invasion of huge tribes of Muslims from the Middle East," — Maw
I already earlier did note this that we can argue if this is really so. Yet I think that Scruton referred more to one way that the word Islamophobia is used, not that there hasn't been fear of Muslims earlier than the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood. And he does have a point, at least partially: Pascal Bruckner has argued that the term emerged "At the end of the 1970s, Iranian fundamentalists invented the term ‘Islamophobia’ formed in analogy to ‘xenophobia’. The aim of this word was to declare Islam inviolate. Whoever crosses this border is deemed a racist." Yet it was Claire Berlinski in 2010 that argued of the use of the term by the Muslim Brotherhood:or that Islamophobia was “invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue” — Maw
Now here’s a point you might deeply consider: The neologism “Islamophobia” did not simply emerge. It was invented, deliberately, by a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, which is based in Northern Virginia. Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a former member of the IIIT who has renounced the group in disgust, was an eyewitness to the creation of the word.
Insofar I've noticed, you are unwilling to approach my point that Scruton isn't spreading anti-semitism, but is simply a scruffy old conservative. And I agree 100% with what fdrake:Insofar as you're, once again, unwilling to directly confront Scruton's remarks that I've highlighted and the loaded antisemitism that they contain, I consider this conversation over. — Maw
I don't think Scruton is actually as prejudiced as the connotations suggest. — fdrake
I think it is more the word 'invasion'. To describe a stream of desperate, terrified, hungry refugees as an invasion strikes me as heartless at best and quite possibly dog-whistling. The current government in Australia has form in using that word to try to garner the racist vote. Then when challenged they claim that their harsh border control measures are only for the benefit of the refugees - 'to save them from drowning at sea'.your argument why Scruton is islamophobic is the wording "huge tribes" basically. — ssu
He's also really got a thing against the Roma. The settled/unsettled distinction that runs through the essay is unpleasant and has unpleasant implications. — csalisbury
Scruton wrote several articles in defence of smoking around this time, including one for The Times,[71] three for The Wall Street Journal,[72] one for City Journal,[73] and a 65-page pamphlet for the Institute of Economic Affairs, WHO, What, and Why: Trans-national Government, Legitimacy and the World Health Organisation (2000). The latter criticized the World Health Organization's campaign against smoking, arguing that transnational bodies should not seek to influence domestic legislation because they are not answerable to the electorate.
The Guardian reported in 2002 that Scruton had been writing about these issues while failing to disclose that he was receiving £54,000 a year from JTI
Scruton further argued, following Burke, that society is held together by authority and the rule of law, in the sense of the right to obedience, not by the imagined rights of citizens. Obedience, he wrote, is "the prime virtue of political beings, the disposition that makes it possible to govern them, and without which societies crumble into 'the dust and powder of individuality'".
Burke was a leading sceptic with respect to democracy. While admitting that theoretically, in some cases it might be desirable, he insisted a democratic government in Britain in his day would not only be inept, but also oppressive. He opposed democracy for three basic reasons. First, government required a degree of intelligence and breadth of knowledge of the sort that occurred rarely among the common people. Second, he thought that if they had the vote, common people had dangerous and angry passions that could be aroused easily by demagogues; he feared that the authoritarian impulses that could be empowered by these passions would undermine cherished traditions and established religion, leading to violence and confiscation of property. Third, Burke warned that democracy would create a tyranny over unpopular minorities, who needed the protection of the upper classes.
This is my view also. But no, you are willing to go with sentence that Scruton is a right-wing racist anti-semite islamophobe, which is so obvious to you that you want to stop the conversation now. — ssu
The Guardian reported in 2002 that Scruton had been writing about these issues while failing to disclose that he was receiving £54,000 a year from JTI
So not much scruple about spreading damaging propaganda for money, under the guise of political philosophy, which to my mind is a step or two beyond selective quoting to embarrass a political opponent. — unenlightened
But no, you are willing to go with sentence that Scruton is a right-wing racist anti-semite islamophobe, which is so obvious to you that you want to stop the conversation now. — ssu
helping to create a tyranny over unpopular minorities. — unenlightened
It is not like people voted purely on immigration (which wouldn’t effect immigration from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh in the slightest as they’re not EU countries). — I like sushi
You mean of an irritating, non-institutionalized sort. — frank
A great number voted simply because they wanted complete sovereignty — I like sushi
Not entirely. — unenlightened
That adds up to power in the hands of the whistlers, which inspires the question: who fired him? And why? — frank
... about as functional as a thing that has no function and is broken. — Unenlightened
“All errors which he is likely to commit against advice and warning, are far outweighed by the evil of allowing others to constrain him to what they deem his good.”
- John Stuart Mill, ‘On Liberty,’ ‘Of the Limits to the Authority of Society Over the Individual’ (Penguin Books, Great Ideas p.112)
What do you think the catalyst was for this resurgence in sensationalism and identity politics? I can't think of a single event or trend that would have given reactionaries so much pull. — Not Steve
I consider this conversation over. — Maw
Interesting to end the conversation and then continue. Well, I've tried to make my point that Scruton is a scruffy old conservative and tried to explain why and you stick to your line that I'm evading the issue.Interesting how much mental gymnastics ssu... — Maw
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