I remember watching the documentary when it was released some years ago. I didn't agree that Turkey should join, but I did think that Boris might (in defiance of all the other evidence) actually have been one of the saner members of the Tory party. But now apparently the EU is as bad as Hitler, or something, so I guess he's actually as nutty as he appears. He's a sort of erudite, vaguely-charming Drumpf with a classical education : no principles or beliefs beyond Boris himself. His sole purpose in campaigning for Brexit is his own aggrandisement; he has no actual principles at stake here whatsoever. He will pander to the basest fascist agendas to become King, sort of like an English Alex Salmond.
Just stick to presenting HIGNFY, Boris, you were good at that.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/boris-johnson-turkey?utm_term=.oqYbQaYKj#.bmkGV2RoO
Take no notice, Rhys Taylor - I think you are dead right about Bonkers Johnson.
ReplyDeleteyou think that Boris compared the EU to Hitler?
ReplyDeleteWell, he did. He just did. There's not really any arguing with that, because that's what happened. He said that Hitler and the EU shared the same aims. That's not going to go down well, because it isn't historical fact. It is actually the exact opposite of fact.
He didn't say anything like the EU is as bad as Hitler.
Yeah, but I don't know how to make, "But now apparently the EU is as bad as Hitler, or something" any more blatantly flippant, but my points all stand.
FFS, are we not allowed to mention historical facts without everyone freaking out.
.... really ? You can't understand why people freak out when comparisons are made to Hitler... ?
Oh, and I blocked a certain Billy McAuliffe for a (now hidden) racist comment about Turkey.
ReplyDeleteBupSahn Sunim No, I don't think he did that, exactly. But he's a fascist twat, and if you like him, you are too.
ReplyDeleteBupSahn Sunim I think there is a confusion of aims and methods here. Was it Hitler's aim to create a grand unified harmonious Europe, and his method brutal military conquest, or was the conquest itself his only aim ? Boris may have intended to mean that Hitler's aim was unity and the conquest merely how he planned to achieve that, but that's brushing WWII under the carpet. It's also equating "unity" and "military oppression", which is rather dubious. Naturally, this is going to make a lot of people rather upset. And so it should.
ReplyDeleteI'm about an inch shorter than Hitler, but obviously this comparison doesn't imply I share any of his beliefs. Neither does mentioning veganism or animal rights activism, obviously. When it comes to political authority in Europe, however, people are going to get somewhat hung up on the whole "holocaust" thing. It's just not a comparison from which any good will ever come. Generally speaking I find that Godwin's Law is a thoroughly sensible one because you can prove whatever you want with sufficiently extreme, unusual examples.
You know, Rhys Taylor, I think you may be feeding a paid troll....
ReplyDeleteBupSahn Sunim
ReplyDeleteThe whole getting upset and offended thing though isn't helpful.
Indeed, this may be precisely what Boris intends - "over"-reactions that demonstrate the bias of his opponents. Comparisons of Hitler and the Nazis to the EU aren't done by politicians in newspapers with the expectation that the public will say, "hmm, yes, that was a thoughtful and insightful commentary". This might be possible in a book - where you can clarify in detail exactly what was meant - but not in newspapers. It's done for an emotional reaction and nothing else. As evidenced by Boris' earlier enthusiasm for Turkey to join the EU : if he's done a massive volte-face, he needs to either explain carefully and in detail why he no longer sees the EU as a bastion of civilization, or advocate staying in the EU to fix whatever flaws he sees in it. The change of stance here is so dramatic as to make little sense : in a few years, the EU has apparently gone from being one of the great forces of humanity to something that's so broken as to be comparable to Nazi Germany. This demands explanation, and Boris (amazingly enough) isn't providing it.
By pandering to the morons who think the EU is in any way comparable to the Third Reich, the entirely justified outrage (that's the clever bit here) that results can be painted as evidence of "silly lefty bias", thus enforcing Boris' perceived plausibility at the expense of the Remain camp. At least, that's what Drumpf is doing. It remains to be seen if Boris will own up to saying something stupid (in which case it's just daft Boris as usual, so won't really doing him much harm) or stand his ground and say something to the effect of, "of course I didn't mean that the EU is going to set up death camps, only stupid lefties could think I meant that". A somewhat happier and perhaps not implausible alternative is that it will only confirm Boris' established reputation as a buffoon - someone fun to have around causing trouble, but not actually anyone you'd ever want in power.