Confused man on Radio 4
by Scoop Shachtman, 18 November 2007
For some reason I find myself listening to Tony Benn on Radio 4, wittering on about pieces of prose he feels have influenced him. He has just talked about peace and Gandhi, and then leapt to a quote from Bobby Sands, a provisional IRA member who was convicted of firearms offenses. The man is the most shallow of intellectuals.
Monday 19 November 2007 at 0:11
The man is the most shallow of intellectuals
What made you consider the man to be an intellectual in the first place?
Monday 19 November 2007 at 16:57
whatever he was, he has now lost his marbles. perhaps it was all that oral sex with ms kaplinsky.
Wednesday 21 November 2007 at 23:50
I don’t know a lot about Tony Benn, being a yank and oblivious, but the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve liked. Hadn’t heard of this prose thing, but if he’s talking about prose that influenced him, he’s neither endorsing Gandhi or Bobby Sands. If, as it appears, Sands was a murdering fuckhead, does that make it impossible for him to have ever said one good quote?
Your argument would’ve been better off had you posted the quote from Bobby Sands he referenced, and not just ‘omg no he quoted a murdering Irish fuckwit.’
Also, cursory research tells me that Sands probably at least fired at police in Northern Ireland and was caught with one of the weapons used. And that he was elected into Parliament while in prison. Oh, and more important to Benn’s reference, had letters from prison published. Thus, prose that could be influential.
Yes, Benn is a political figure, and yes, Sands is an offensive subject, but he quoted one line from all of Sands’s contribution to the world. How does that make him shallow or insane?
Half the time I want to agree with things said on this site, and then something like this happens.
Saturday 24 November 2007 at 19:35
I don’t know a lot about Tony Benn, being a yank and oblivious
You don’t know much about fucking paramilitary scum either. The first thing Benn parrots is that he has always been interested in ‘peace and human rights’, and then compares the IRA man with Ghandi after some blathering about ‘the power of non-violence’. Obviously the searing irony is lost on halfwits.
Half the time I want to believe that Yanks possess some grey matter between their ears, and then something like this happens.