Another kicking for Boris Johnson

[*End Is Forever*]

So why aren't you deferring to Mrs. Lawrence and Diane Abbott on this issue then? Both are black and live in London...

I read the comments from Mrs Lawrence with interest. I also read James Cleverly's response to them. I agree with Cleverly.

Diane Abbott is a partisan Labour MP and a colleague of the incumbent Mayor. She's been in Parliament with Boris Johnson for years and yet (surprise, surprise) has only now seen fit to comment.

If she thinks Johnson's views are so unacceptable, surely they were equally unacceptable for him to hold when he was (a) MP for Henley, (b) shadow culture spokesman and (c) shadow higher education spokesman?

[Dauphin]

I like Boris. He's the British equivalent of Dubya in many ways.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by molly bloom
I don't think quoting a buffoon's own words counts as a smear.

true. however taking quotes out of context from a 5 year old article, in a lame attempt to paint someone as a racist clearly is.

[*End Is Forever*]

Originally posted by Dauphin
I like Boris. He's the British equivalent of Dubya in many ways.

Now that is a smear...

[Lazerus]

I think you'll find some of us in the big gay community have criticised Livingstone for his support of some Muslim 'leaders' and also for his comments to the Jewish reporter of the Evening Standard.

I was unaware that Livingstone being foolish on occasion precluded Johnson from being a bigger idiot, or an hypocrite, or a racist.

Why is Boris a racist in this case and not just "foolish on this occasion" ?

[DinoDoc]

Why is Boris a racist in this case and not just "foolish on this occasion" ?

He isn't left wing?

[Lazerus]

Touche

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by DrSpike


I agree with most of your post, but there is a clear difference between quoting and quoting out of context. The whole article the watermelon quote comes from is a joke. You might still argue it's unacceptable, but I'm sure you'd agree it's a far cry from saying the same words in the context of a serious opinion piece.

I haven't read the picaninnies one.

I agree.

[Agathon]

So the Tories are so desperate that they have to rely on a comedian.

I enjoyed Boris' book, but he should be on television, not holding elected office.

On the other hand, at least he's honest about his Tory beliefs. The rest of them seem to think that no-one knows what a bunch of chinless racist neanderthals they are.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by DrSpike


I agree with most of your post, but there is a clear difference between quoting and quoting out of context. The whole article the watermelon quote comes from is a joke. You might still argue it's unacceptable, but I'm sure you'd agree it's a far cry from saying the same words in the context of a serious opinion piece.

I haven't read the picaninnies one.

It's in the same article.

[DrSpike]

Excellent!

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by *End Is Forever*
You could always read the article Butler and Abbott were referring to. The entire first half of the article is quite clearly parody.

Actually I did read it. I'm also a keen afficionado of parody and satire, and what really baffles me is that, when taken in context with the entire article, there is no obvious reason why it suddenly descended into 1950's style casual racism. It's utterly at odds with the subject matter.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me? Sure, there's a ready market for "daring" use of gratuitous racial epithets, and if that's Boris's aim would you be so keen to defend the following alternatives?

1- ******s
2- ****s
3- Pakis
4- Wogs?

Etc.

Come on Iain. Saying "it was a joke" as a cover-all get-out clause went out in the 1970's. This isn't the first time Boris has done it either- check out the Papua New Guinea issue from earlier this year.

You aren't a racist, so why do you defend this?

James Cleverly thinks so too, and presumably as a black Londoner he's in a far better position to judge whether to take offence than either you or I.

As far as black Londoners expressing a public interest in this issue go, so far he appears to be in the minority.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

The right-wing blogs commence the smear campaign against Doreen Lawrence-

Doreen Lawrence savaged by Tory bloggers
by Lester Holloway
6/8/2007

DOREEN LAWRENCE suffered a torrent of hate-filled insults after daring to criticise Tory would-be mayoral candidate Boris Johnson.


Just weeks after Tory-leaning blogs threatened Blink with legal action after we launched a “No to Blog Racism” campaign, message boards were teeming with hostile comments directed against the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.

Doreen Lawrence spoke out after a mountain of controversial articles penned by Tory higher education spokesman Boris Johnson came to light.

Johnson called black children “piccanninies”, said Africans had “watermelon smiles”, attacked the Stephen Lawrence inquiry as a “witchhunt” against the police and accused Nelson Mandela of leading South African towards a “tyranny of black majority rule.”

In response Doreen Lawrence told The Guardian: “Once people read his views, there is no way he is going to get the support of any people in the black community.”

Her comments unleashed a wave of hate-filled personal remarks in the blogosphere. One blogger called C4, writing on Iain Dale’s site, said: “Stephan [sic] Lawrence would be so ashamed of his mother.

cabal

“Mrs. Lawrence has shamelessly exploited her son's brutal and barrbaric [sic] death to create a fascist politically correct apartheid system where a small and evil cabal of ethnic minority Islamofascists terrorise the libertarian majority with their failed socialist ideology.”


On the same site, Wrinkled Weasel said “Poor Doreen has been transformed into a media tart” while Chuck Unsworth accused her of having a “vendetta.”

Ross F compared Mrs Lawrence to an American mother campaigned against the Iraq war after losing her son, claiming: “Doreen Lawrence is the Cindy Sheehan of race baiters. Judging by some of her other comments it is clear that she has a rather fascistic mindset.”

Iain Dale, who runs one of the most popular right-leaning blogs and who threatened legal action against Blink over use of an image from his site in a collage of blogs from across the political spectrum, posed the question “Who put Doreen Lawrence up to it?”, before claiming Mrs Lawrence was “accuusng [sic] someone of being a racist on completely spurious grounds.”

Labour MP Diane Abbott, who joined fellow MP Dawn Butler in criticising Boris Johnson over the weekend, intervened by writing on the blog: “It is a little patronising too assume that Doreen could not form her own opinion on Boris's articles on the Lawrence Inquiry without someone "putting her up to it."

snivelling

“She is actually a highly intelligent woman. And the last politician to call black children "grinning picanninies" (apparently Boris's favourite phrase) was Enoch Powell.”


The insults against Mrs Lawrence got even worse on other blogs. Mike Cunningham, writing on his own site, claimed that Stephen Lawrence was “drug peddling”, before adding: “So there we have it, Boris for Mayor, and to hell with that snivelling ***** who thinks she is entitled to speak for many, when in reality she doesn’t speak for anyone but herself; not even her dead druggie son Stephen.”

James Cleverly, a Conservative candidate for the London assembly, refused a plea to remove a similarly odious comment from his own blog.

An anonymous contributor writing on Cleverly’s blog said: “I have spoken to one of Stephen Lawrence's mates... far from being the church going saint made out by the family he was part of a particularly odious inner city black gang who took particular delight in beating other rival gang members to within a minute of their life. Those who live by the sword....”

Another poster, Chris Paul, asked Cleverly to remove that comment but the Tory candidate refused to delete it citing “free speech” and insisting “I have no idea whether what you say about Stephen is true or not.”

Cleverly’s site also contained other insensitive remarks. Simon Newman, writing on Cleverly’s site, says Doreen Lawrence “seems like a person damaged and embittered by the racist murder of her son. That makes her a victim to be pitied, but not necessarily someone to be admired.”

http://www.blink.org.uk/pdescription.asp?key=15286&grp=66&cat=442

[Lazerus]

I agree with the media tart comment. Her opinion is less valid then the bloke who runs my local fish and chip shop since she'll be clouded by emotion and yet she's held on a platform and used by anybody who wants a figurehead to further their cause.

[Agathon]

“Mrs. Lawrence has shamelessly exploited her son's brutal and barrbaric [sic] death to create a fascist politically correct apartheid system where a small and evil cabal of ethnic minority Islamofascists terrorise the libertarian majority with their failed socialist ideology.”

What a bunch of raving lunatics. Anyone who uses the word "Islamofascist" is automatically a moron.