A British Spanking
Bill McGurn ·
June 26, 2012 at 6:46pm
This comes courtesy of Ron Radosh's Facebook page. It's a video of a conference in which David Starkey -- a gay, atheist conservative historian -- goes at it with a left-wing journalist who accuses him of racism. The event was Sunday Times Festival of Education on Saturday. Judge for yourselves. The glass of wine in Mr. Starkey's hands is a wonderful touch.
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May '12
Re: A British Spanking
Francisco Franco, after having been helped so much by by Germany and (to a much lesser extent) Italy, was asked to join the Axis alliance.
How do you say no to Hitler? Not directly, certainly. Franco was clever. He demanded so much to join the Axis alliance that Hitler and Mussolini left the table in disgust. Franco lived to be an old man. He had a state funeral, and his remains remain undisturbed.
Laurie Penny felt so threatened by David Starkey that she had to pull a Franco? Perhaps she is a tad too sensitive to heat to even approach the kitchen.
Dec '10
Re: A British Spanking
Well, the good professor didn't show the best form with the in-your-face finger pointing. But that didn't stop me from enjoying it thoroughly! I'm sympathetic to needing a good stiff drink to get through a panel discussion with a leftist. Even when one isn't sitting on the panel!
Huzzah! to the audience members responding, "you started it!" Didn't expect that would happen in Britain in defense of a conservative.
Jun '11
Re: A British Spanking
It's a perfect video for our times: the leftist accuses the conservative of racism. The conservative defends himself forcefully. And then the leftist gets her feelings hurt by the way the conservative defends himself.
But the best part of this highly entertaining video is seeing the extent to which people on the left, when forced to actually confront intelligent conservatives in public and defend their allegations, are reduced to stuttering gibberish. Just beautiful.
Re: A British Spanking
One thing about the British is that they don't shy away from confrontation. Very boisterous proceedings there!
May '10
Re: A British Spanking
At 4:24, my response was, "Don't. Just don't. It won't end well for you."
Apr '11
Re: A British Spanking
Western Chauvinist: Well, the good professor didn't show the best form with the in-your-face finger pointing. But that didn't stop me from enjoying it thoroughly! I'm sympathetic to needing a good stiff drink to get through a panel discussion with a leftist. Even when one isn't sitting on the panel!
Huzzah! to the audience members responding, "you started it!" Didn't expect that would happen in Britain in defense of a conservative. ·
It's at Wellington College, my alma mater. It's a high school with a strong military emphasis, and a public school in the British sense of a top private school (in the top ten, but not the top three). Lots of leftists graduate, but despite Starkey being state educated and Penny being public school, he would have had a good dose of class solidarity supporting him. Add to that the imperviousness of the very privileged to suggestions of personal fault making charges of racism problematic and her whiny tone and it's not surprising that Starkey had a friendly room. It also probably helps that he's likely much more familiar with this type of audience than she is.
Edited on June 26, 2012 at 8:07pmRe: A British Spanking
If you Google Starkey and Penny, you'll see lots of different takes on the spat. For myself, my sympathy is always going to be with the fellow who, even in the heat of debate, takes time to refill his wine glass.
Mar '11
Re: A British Spanking
Haha - but, sadly, Prof Starkey is in the same minority as Mr Delingpole, and the young lady represents the majority of what the UK has become.
Anyway, I am off to the UK this evening to check it out and see if it is still there :-)
Apr '11
Re: A British Spanking
Googling as Mr. McGurn suggests, I note that attacks on Starkey and Penny both miss the fact that her initial response (that she didn't demand prohibitive fees) was dishonest and that she later admitted this. That struck me as Starkey's greatest debate success; the most credibility and sympathy destroying thing you can do in a debate is demonstrably lie.
Mar '11
Re: A British Spanking
Yeah, the left largely summed it up as "Penny gets the best of old white racist", etc. Who got the best of who largely depends on which side you're rooting for.
Jun '12
Re: A British Spanking
OK, I've been thinking about joint Ricochet for some time, and now I've finally decided to do so in order to comment on this video... specifically, on a salient point I'm surprised no one has noticed yet.
But first: at 5:01 she admits to having attempted to charge a "ridiculous amount of money" to compensate her for a debate that she considers being "attacked" in her opinion... I'm sure Professor Starkey appreciated the admission.
... and after 4:25 her language devolves to the "umm... like" level of disjointed stream-of-consciousness that tells us she is perhaps a bit flustered? Notice in contrast Professor Starkey's clear, elegant, and eloquent language. The benefits of a classical education are apparently not to be found in the "xxx-Studies" department where she studied.
But the best part is at 5:29 where she laments the "violence inherent in this, this [the system?] discussion..."
Dennis the Peasant lives!!!! If you haven't seen it, for more info watch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaWvVFERVA
Kindred souls, apparently.
Apr '11
Re: A British Spanking
My favorite part is the point at which she catches herself spouting a Pythonism and has to change the word from "violence inherent in the <system>..." to, er, "process..." She literally (in the truest sense of that term) becomes a parody of herself at that point.
Apr '11
Re: A British Spanking
Beat me to the punch, Mike! Ach!
Jan '11
Re: A British Spanking
Yet again we see the mindset that you may accuse someone of racism, and be horrified at being accused of racism yourself, because ... well ... you're right.
If you're convinced that you're right, you're entitled to any breach of decorum, any need to be civil, and any need to show respect. Those are pleasantries that can be ignored when you're convinced that you're right.
The fact that others might also think that they're right? Who cares? They're wrong.
Dec '11
Re: A British Spanking
What a completely unnecessary exchange.
May '12
Re: A British Spanking
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14513517
I saw this link on
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/
It is the basis of Laurie Penny's accusation of racism.
I have to say, I met people in Baltimore who would probably have been more in sympathy with Starkey than the other two in the conversation, because they worked very hard to get out of The Projects and away from the life lived there.
Wouldn't you know it, the Stop Snitchin' campaign started in Baltimore.
Dag!
(You know, I temped with a nursing student who began a complaint that the CD player it turned out she'd purchased from someone who got himself fired from an electronics store for boosting things to sell to people like her. She started her complaint with that exact word.)
Edited on June 26, 2012 at 8:44pmJun '11
Re: A British Spanking
Douglas
Yeah, the left largely summed it up as "Penny gets the best of old white racist", etc. Who got the best of who largely depends on which side you're rooting for.
I would modify your second sentence. Who you believe got the best of who largely depends on which side you're rooting for.
Who actually got the best of who seems to be objectively beyond dispute: the gibbering, whining, obfuscating ("I asked for money as a pretense to avoid the debate because I knew it would be like this") person pretty clearly got her clock cleaned.
And I totally agree with Bill's point: the fact that Starkey guzzled wine while cleaning her clock just makes it all the more enjoyable.
May '11
Re: A British Spanking
I'm glad to see Ms. Penny publicly bested, as I've had a strong dislike of her ever since this. You can find Charles Cooke's excellent satire of the incident here.
Mar '11
Re: A British Spanking
Then at least one concrete, useful good emerged from that exchange. Welcome to the conversation Mike.
Dec '10
Re: A British Spanking
It's really sad, because she's kind of cute. I imagine Starkey might have felt, afterwards, like he kicked a kitten by mistake.
An ill-tempered and rude kitten, though. So perhaps with another glass of wine he'll muddle through.