"Dad, Dad you've made it onto Urban Dictionary!" said the kids.

"Oh good. Nice, I hope?"

"Er, not exactly," they sniggered. "Have a look."

And what I saw was - well, if you're strong of stomach have a look for yourself at the two definitions of "Delingpole".

"Gosh," I said. "However did they know?"

No not really. I suppose actually I'm quite flattered by the attention. But the thing I'd like to know is this: why on earth did they bother?

I mean, if I were Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Barack Obama or George Soros or Al Gore I could understand the hate. Here are men with real power to change people's lives - almost invariably for the worse. Me, I'm just a blogger. A fairly outspoken blogger, admittedly. But it's not like I'm going to nuke Israel any time soon; or destroy the US economy; or use my massive wealth to collapse the markets and engineer a sinister New World Order of one world government; or make millions of dollars from "Climate Change" hysteria - the biggest and most expensive scam in history.

That question I asked earlier, though, it was purely rhetorical.

I know exactly why it was that those two individuals took the trouble to post on Urban Dictionary derogatory remarks about my personality and my wedding equipment; just as I know why it was that a member of that tireless global warming activist body the British Antarctic Survey felt compelled to play some dirty tricks with my website address; and why it was that Sir Paul Nurse - a left-leaning scientist associate of George Soros - was given carte blanche by the BBC to make a hatchet job documentary, completely misrepresenting what Climate "Skeptics" like myself believe about "global warming"; and why so many of the trolling comments below my blogs focus on autobiographical irrelevances like my depression or the fact that unlike my Oxford chum David Cameron (whatever became of him, I wonder) I never gained access to the legendary drinking society the Bullingdon.

It's because I'm right wing. And therefore evil.

Several you reading this, I know, suffer from a similar handicap. Not the "being evil" bit, necessarily. But the "being assumed to be evil for no other reason than that you're not on the political left", part.

And you're probably as puzzled as I am. Why is it evil to want people to be allowed to keep more of the money they earn and enjoy more freedom? And why is good to believe that the government's job is to take more and more taxpayers' money, borrow still more, and squander it buying stuff that nobody wants for people who don't deserve it?

When you put it like that it's a no brainer. And this I think is what answers my question.

The problem with the ideology of the left - and I include all its variations from socialism, Marxism and Fabianism to its most virulent modern forms eco-fascism and communitarianism - is that it has no rational basis. It is based on raw emotion, abstract theory not empiricism. Wherever it has been tried - Lenin's and Stalin's Soviet Union; Castro's Cuba; Mao's China; Pol Pot's Cambodia; Hitler's Germany; Obama's America - it has failed utterly, making people poorer, unhappier and very often more dead. So what's the only thing you can do when you have no evidence to support your argument, when indeed the facts of life and history are entirely against you?

You can't play fair, so you play dirty.

Comments:


Give Me Liberty
Joined
Apr '11
Give Me Liberty

James I enjoyed your recent visit with the podcasters and your contributions here on the site.  I hope they decide to remove the guest tag from your title and make you a regular.

James, simply put, your are a bad man.  Metaphorically speaking, you not only told the children there was no Santa but you proved it with pictures of mom and dad loading up the tree, with credit card receipts, and so on.  You ruined the magic of Christmas; you're a buger-head, a poopie face, stinky, and a bad man!  You made children cry and because of this anyone is justified in their attempts to injure you.  Why  are you such a mean guy? 

I love you though, thanks for your courage, for your willingness to seek the truth and to teach that truth to anyone willing to learn.

God bless you Mr. Delingpole.

grotiushug
Joined
Jul '11
grotiushug

It's a pleasure having you here, Mr. Delingpole.  Please stick around after you've finished your stint as a "guest contributor."

Think So
Joined
Aug '11
Think So
Barkh Herman: ...Galileo was poisoned for pursuing science - and in your case, as of others who speak up for science, character assassination...

Just to clarify, I think it would be better to say Galileo was poisoned for threatening the proposition of the scaffolding of those in power... that their application of scripture to reality may be wrong. Sounds familiar to the earth worshiping faith community doesn't it? It's a granular distinction but this example is so often used to argue that science and religion (read Christianity) are opposed. Science was the vehicle in this instance, but heretics were branded and killed for numerous other reasons, most typically theological reasons - Martin Luther's 95 theses.

Diego Sun Devil
Joined
Apr '11
Diego Sun Devil

Let's fix this.  Why don't we agree on a kinder, gentler definition for "delingpole" and submit that to Urban Dictionary?  Once it's on there, we can all give it a thumbs up and it will vault to the top.  I think this is better than complaining and trying to get it removed.  Best of all, the libs will hate it.

Western Chauvinist
Joined
Dec '10
Western Chauvinist

Let's identify first causes, Mr. Delingpole.  The Left would say they're playing dirty with you because you're on the Right.  In truth, the Left is under the influence of Evil.  It's an evil which must not be named, the evidence for which is its many, many names:  leftism, communism, socialism, fascism, environmentalism, feminism, utopianism, liberalism, Marxism, progressivism, ...

I'm listening to David Horowitz, an agnostic, talking to Dennis Prager about his new book, A Point in Time, in which he has apparently made the religious/political distinction between Left and Right as between those seeking redemption on Earth through human agency and those seeking redemption in Heaven through the power of God.  Since humans are generally the first cause of all the disorder, chaos, and suffering in the world (apart from Nature, which the Left also worships), the Left is living a lie.  The Great Lie being "you will be as God... you shall not die."

"Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." -- Mt 5:10

I'd ask God to bless you, Mr. Delingpole, but I see He already has you covered.

James Delingpole, Guest Contributor

@diego sun devil. Great idea! Please do it guys. Write me a NICE definition for Delingpole in the urban dictionary. That would be the best revenge. Plus it might make my kids respect me more...

Diane Ellis
James Delingpole, Guest Contributor: @diego sun devil. Great idea! Please do it guys. Write me a NICE definition for Delingpole in the urban dictionary. That would be the best revenge. Plus it might make my kids respect me more... · Sep 13 at 12:19pm

Delingpole

noun chiefly Brit., a person who is always right

Barkha Herman
Joined
Jul '11
Barkh Herman

Done. :-)  It needs to be reviewed before you can mark it as correct.

Diane Ellis, Ed.

James Delingpole, Guest Contributor: @diego sun devil. Great idea! Please do it guys. Write me a NICE definition for Delingpole in the urban dictionary. That would be the best revenge. Plus it might make my kids respect me more... · Sep 13 at 12:19pm

Delingpole

noun chiefly Brit., a person who is always right · Sep 13 at 12:25pm

Percival
Joined
Mar '11
Percival

It was during the Climate-gate brouhaha that I first ran across your work, Mr. Delingpole, and I added a bookmark your blog to my growing collection of "thought criminals": Daniel Hannan, Melanie Phillips, Tim Blair, et. al.

Keep up the good work.  When you are taking flak, it means you are over the target.

flownover
Joined
Aug '10
flownover
Percival:   When you are taking flak, it means you are over the target. · Sep 13 at 2:37pm

brilliant that !

Diane Ellis

Barkh Herman: Done. :-)  It needs to be reviewed before you can mark it as correct.

Diane Ellis, Ed.

James Delingpole, Guest Contributor: @diego sun devil. Great idea! Please do it guys. Write me a NICE definition for Delingpole in the urban dictionary. That would be the best revenge. Plus it might make my kids respect me more... · Sep 13 at 12:19pm

Delingpole

noun chiefly Brit., a person who is always right · Sep 13 at 12:25pm

Sep 13 at 12:44pm

Hopefully yours makes it through, Barkh. I submitted this, and the editors rejected it!  The nerve.

Delingpole
A person born with the curse of being right about pretty much everything.
He's such a delingpole; I've never known him to be wrong about anything!

Barkha Herman
Joined
Jul '11
Barkha Herman

Diane Ellis, Ed.

Barkh Herman: Done. :-)  It needs to be reviewed before you can mark it as correct.

Diane Ellis, Ed.

James Delingpole, Guest Contributor: @diego sun devil. Great idea! Please do it guys. Write me a NICE definition for Delingpole in the urban dictionary. That would be the best revenge. Plus it might make my kids respect me more... · Sep 13 at 12:19pm

Delingpole

noun chiefly Brit., a person who is always right · Sep 13 at 12:25pm

Sep 13 at 12:44pm

Hopefully yours makes it through, Barkh. I submitted this, and the editors rejected it!  The nerve.

Delingpole
A person born with the curse of being right about pretty much everything.
He's such a delingpole; I've never known him to be wrong about anything!

Sep 13 at 3:47pm

Rejected!!!!

kylez
Joined
Sep '10
kylez

I had a feeling that delingpole wasn't really a slang term being used by people enough to be an entry in the Urban Dictionary. I spent a little time doing a Google search, using just the last name with a lower-case d, which i figure is how it would be used as a slang term. In the first 500 entries there is not one mention of the name in that context, other than two or three hits on the Urban Dictionary itself. Obviously i am not going to go through all 441,000 entries, most of which are about James, but we get the idea. That should be removed from the UD for the same reason the new ones created here were rightly rejected. 

Dave Molinari
Joined
Jun '10
Dave Molinari

If we're going to exonerate Mr. Delingpole in the Urban Dictionary, at least correct the "wedding equipment" reference. The man has honor, after all!  (Uh, but not that I would know)

jonsouth
Joined
May '11
jmarksouth

OK, here's my UD submission: 

"Delingpole: A long, thin appendage of truth upon which false prophets are gibbeted for the amusement of the thinking public."

Let's see how many of these can pass muster with the editors... looks like this one has replaced the original two now. Good-o.

Edited on September 14, 2011 at 2:21pm

Joined
May '10
Steve MacDonald

You have a serious disadvantage in that you live in Britain, where the populace has grown accustomed to the Government thinking for them and taking responsibility for their lives. I just spent the last 3 years turning around a transport company in Northampton. When the avian flu scare was on, NHS sent out a 13 step illustration on how to wash your hands that was mandatory to post. Only one other person in my office felt it was offensive......no one else even thought it in any way remarkable.

In all of the people I met during my time there, I found no one who seriously questioned AGW - which is one of the reasons my first stop in the AM was Telegraph Blogs looking for Delingpole. Even when the new Govt. announced austerity measures and half a million out of work, no one even commented on the commercial carbon sequestration "investment," or GBP 1.2 Billion in green whatevers.  

Your environment makes you such a miniscule part of the collective thinking that attacking you is a no risk proposition. While the left attacks in the USA, your supporting philosophical support group is hugely larger, so the resulting impact is less.

James Delingpole, Guest Contributor

Thanks everybody for your heroic attempts to reconfigure my Urban Dictionary entries.

@stevemacdonald. Yup. If any of you guys can suggest a way I can get my family outta here to the safety of a land I still believe has a future (that'll be YOU America), please let me know. I genuinely fear we are entering a hideous new era of Liberal Fascism - and i don't know how much longer I'll be allowed to say the things that need to be said.

Pseudodionysius
Joined
Sep '10
Pseudodionysius

Think So

Barkh Herman: ...Galileo was poisoned for pursuing science - and in your case, as of others who speak up for science, character assassination...

Just to clarify, I think it would be better to say Galileo was poisoned for threatening the proposition of the scaffolding of those in power... that their application of scripture to reality may be wrong. Sounds familiar to the earth worshiping faith community doesn't it? It's a granular distinction but this example is so often used to argue that science and religion (read Christianity) are opposed. Science was the vehicle in this instance, but heretics were branded and killed for numerous other reasons, most typically theological reasons - Martin Luther's 95 theses. · Sep 13 at 10:51am

Lord have mercy. Galileo was not poisoned. He lived out his days in a very nice (even swanky by Renaissance standards) villa in Tuscany with a servant for heaven's sake.

Pseudodionysius
Joined
Sep '10
Pseudodionysius

James Delingpole, Guest Contributor: Thanks everybody for your heroic attempts to reconfigure my Urban Dictionary entries.

@stevemacdonald. Yup. If any of you guys can suggest a way I can get my family outta here to the safety of a land I still believe has a future (that'll be YOU America), please let me know. I genuinely fear we are entering a hideous new era of Liberal Fascism - and i don't know how much longer I'll be allowed to say the things that need to be said. · Sep 14 at 4:36am

James, I live in Canada, and I can tell you that you best start brushing up on your Broadway musicals in hopes of Mark Steyn's fleet of amiable black helicopters airlifting you out of Her Majesty's Secret Funeral Service for Western Civilization.

Think So
Joined
Aug '11
Think So

Pseudodionysius

Think So

Barkh Herman: ...Galileo was poisoned for pursuing science - and in your case, as of others who speak up for science, character assassination...

Just to clarify, I think it would be better to say Galileo was poisoned for threatening the proposition of the scaffolding of those in power... that their application of scripture to reality may be wrong. Sounds familiar to the earth worshiping faith community doesn't it? It's a granular distinction but this example is so often used to argue that science and religion (read Christianity) are opposed. Science was the vehicle in this instance, but heretics were branded and killed for numerous other reasons, most typically theological reasons - Martin Luther's 95 theses. · Sep 13 at 10:51am

Lord have mercy. Galileo was not poisoned. He lived out his days in a very nice (even swanky by Renaissance standards) villa in Tuscany with a servant for heaven's sake. · Sep 14 at 5:10am

Sorry, didn't fact check, should've said persecuted. Thanks for the correction.


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