Opinion of Enoch Powell

[asexual trans victimologist]

This should be interesting.

[Vasall des Midas]

Arch-HP, though an unusually interesting one.

[Speaker Dereich]

What a strange and interesting man. HP for being a racist and hating America.

[Talleyrand]

What a strange and interesting man. HP for being a racist and hating America.

Agreed. Fascinating that he was a friend of Tony Benn, who seems like a natural arch-nemesis to him in terms of political views, at least from my viewpoint over the pond.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

What a strange and interesting man. HP for being a racist and hating America.

Agreed. Fascinating that he was a friend of Tony Benn, who seems like a natural arch-nemesis to him in terms of political views, at least from my viewpoint over the pond.

Having personal friends from the very other side of the spectrum is not so unusual in politics. To use more recent example: Barack Obama and Tom Coburn.

[Vasall des Midas]

Eh. Members of the tiny minority in Parliament that is actually capable of independent thought are going to be attracted to each other. Even if the results are less than stellar advertisements for independent thought.

[State Comptroller Atkins]

Awful.

[You kip if you want to...]

Brought out the worst in British society. HP.

[Dr. Cynic]

Massively horrible person.

[Supersonic]

A true Freedom Fighter.

[RogueBeaver]

Something of an FF on economics and NI but overall major HP.

[TNF]

HP.

[Leftbehind]

Arch-HP, though an unusually interesting one.

Couldn't have put it better. Even looked liked a stereotypical Hollywood English villain.

Watching footage from the CBC archive the other day, and in their report about Bloody Sunday they asked various MPs and he was one of them. His response was fairly characteristic (at around the 10 minute mark).

[ChairmanSanchez]

A true FF. He was indeed a mega racist, but I admire his ability to speak his mind, even when it cost him. I think Rivers of Blood was a racist, hateful speech attacking Africans (many of whom were British to begin with, seeing as they came from the various colonies) living in Britain, but the context of it (that a national heritage was at risk of being lost instead of the immigrants assimilating) was and is great a great warning to all people in all countries that their cultures are at risk.

I think the speech is highly worth reading, regardless your opinion of Enoch Powell.

[Sibboleth]

On the one hand his racism and race-baiting does have to be seen in context (by the standards of Midlands Tories he wasn't even particularly racist; Frank Griffin - leader of Birmingham City Council in the late 1960s - once proposed officially segregating new housing developments in the city according to 'race', to say nothing of other Black Country Tories like the charming Peter Griffiths and the delightful John Heydon Stokes) but on the other he was rather articulate and helped to make racism respectable in the Midlands, at least for a couple of decades.

[Californian Tony]

A true FF. He was indeed a mega racist, but I admire his ability to speak his mind, even when it cost him. I think Rivers of Blood was a racist, hateful speech attacking Africans (many of whom were British to begin with, seeing as they came from the various colonies) living in Britain, but the context of it (that a national heritage was at risk of being lost instead of the immigrants assimilating) was and is great a great warning to all people in all countries that their cultures are at risk.

I think the speech is highly worth reading, regardless your opinion of Enoch Powell.

I fail to imagine a way for these two attributes not to be mutually exclusive. At least not for a 20th century figure.

[ChairmanSanchez]

A true FF. He was indeed a mega racist, but I admire his ability to speak his mind, even when it cost him. I think Rivers of Blood was a racist, hateful speech attacking Africans (many of whom were British to begin with, seeing as they came from the various colonies) living in Britain, but the context of it (that a national heritage was at risk of being lost instead of the immigrants assimilating) was and is great a great warning to all people in all countries that their cultures are at risk.

I think the speech is highly worth reading, regardless your opinion of Enoch Powell.

I fail to imagine a way for these two attributes not to be mutually exclusive. At least not for a 20th century figure.

I suppose the part I bolded was your point; I was going to argue the whole Lincoln/White Supremacy thing (which is not proven). Even in the 20th and 21st centuries, many of our leaders are racist, but they, for political purposes, do not allow their own bias to influence decisions. It is more common than you would think, but just being called racist is automatic death in American politics these days.

[patrick1]

Arch-HP, though an unusually interesting one.

Couldn't have put it better. Even looked liked a stereotypical Hollywood English villain.

I think the unfortunate Ewart Biggs had him beat in caricatured English villain look.

My opinion of Powell is low.

[Californian Tony]

A true FF. He was indeed a mega racist, but I admire his ability to speak his mind, even when it cost him. I think Rivers of Blood was a racist, hateful speech attacking Africans (many of whom were British to begin with, seeing as they came from the various colonies) living in Britain, but the context of it (that a national heritage was at risk of being lost instead of the immigrants assimilating) was and is great a great warning to all people in all countries that their cultures are at risk.

I think the speech is highly worth reading, regardless your opinion of Enoch Powell.

I fail to imagine a way for these two attributes not to be mutually exclusive. At least not for a 20th century figure.

I suppose the part I bolded was your point; I was going to argue the whole Lincoln/White Supremacy thing (which is not proven). Even in the 20th and 21st centuries, many of our leaders are racist, but they, for political purposes, do not allow their own bias to influence decisions. It is more common than you would think, but just being called racist is automatic death in American politics these days.

My point still stands. If a contemporary personality is proven a racist, there is no way I can consider it a good person.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

On the one hand his racism and race-baiting does have to be seen in context (by the standards of Midlands Tories he wasn't even particularly racist; Frank Griffin - leader of Birmingham City Council in the late 1960s - once proposed officially segregating new housing developments in the city according to 'race'

Wrong Birmingham, lol.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

A villain that possesses all the qualities I'm inclined to hate.

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

Racist = HP.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Now that we have a conversation going (which seems to have a consensus of at least some kind) I'd like to say that I entirely agree with Lewis Trondheim's assessment. He's the sort of person you want played by Christopher Lee in a biopic or something.

[Rhodie]

Better than Tony Benn or Harold Wilson.

[Vasall des Midas]

Arch-HP, though an unusually interesting one.

Couldn't have put it better. Even looked liked a stereotypical Hollywood English villain.

Are you sure he didn't simply define the type?