Stay away from this [censored]

[fpb]

I don't think I have been so furious in years. Gerald Augustinus' Closed Cafeteria, a blog I USED TO read regularly - they can forget about me from now on - has published in full the infamous racist speech that ended the career of loathsome British politician Enoch Powell in 1968. The blog claimed that this piece of filthy black-bashing, aimed entirely at people with dark skins, had anything to do with the current episodes of terrorism in Britain. This is total, complete, unmitigated rubbish, and shows a revolting inability to distinguish between opposition to militant Islam and brute racism with which I do not want to be involved. If anyone else here has ever had the bad idea of reading Closed Cafeteria, I urge you to stop and let him know why.

Comments

[mbs-bookworm.livejournal.com]

He edited the post in question now...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

He should never have touched it in the first place. That a man washes his hands after touching pitch does not alter my view of touching pitch. Considering that the speech in question caused Powell to be expelled from the Tory Party at a time when Tories were Tories, and that nobody in Britain has a good word to say for it - not even Powell's friends - he should at least have looked at it with some attention. And how he can possibly have missed the several allusions to physical difference as determinant of alienation and violence is simply beyond me. I might add that, as I pointed out in a book, the speech, in spite of Powell's supposed Classical education, actually misquotes Virgil: the "river Tiber foaming with much blood" is caused, if you actually take the trouble to read the damn poem (I have, and it is one of the greatests pieces of poetry ever written in any language), by the native Latins actually refusing, under the influence of a demonic spirit, to allow the immigrant Greeks among them. And the moral of the fable is: if you brutally attack strangers who have trusted themselves to your law and your mercy, the Gods will inflict terrible punishment on you.

[mbs-bookworm.livejournal.com]

Having never seen the post in its original form (and not being familiar with the speech in question), I guess I'm at a disadvantage in knowing what it is that is so objectionable.

[filialucis]

I still occasionally return to the Closed Cafeteria as though to the scene of a bad traffic accident, but my visits are becoming less and less frequent. I rather fear, though, that there's nobody there who would understand if one took the trouble of telling them why that blog has so many distasteful aspects. Seems to me that although Gerald Augustinus himself seems to have done at least a small amount (and I do mean a very small amount) of growing up lately, there's still an awfully heavy overlay of ideology obscuring the doctrine over there. In all sorts of ways.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I'd already warned him that one more piece of irrelevant Republican propaganda would see me go. So he has avoided Republicanism altogether and gone straight to the Ku Klux Klan (which is historically an offshoot of the Democratic Party). Great. That is the way to convince people.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Only an offshoot of the old old Democratic Party - and not more affiliated with the Republican Party than NAMBLA is with the Democrats.

Now I'm scared to ask for a link. But I want a link.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I know. I was trying for sarcasm - the sentence should have read something like: "Having told him that the Republican propaganda was out of place, he went and put in some Democrat propaganda. Only it was 1890 Democrat." Well, you can see that it's a hard joke to get exactly right.

The speech has been deleted with all comments. The blog is at http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Oh, I thought you meant that he went all-out with the Republican proganda and ... you're right, it is a difficult joke.

You know, I was this close to being a Catholic ... well, I don't think I would have understood the first thing about it.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

So he has avoided Republicanism altogether and gone straight to the Ku Klux Klan (which is historically an offshoot of the Democratic Party).

You've just listed one of the reasons why I am proud to be a Republican. ;-)

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

I stopped reading that blog after he used profanity. There was just a spirit of meanness and exclusion there... a Catholic Fred Phelps only not so openly crazy. Looks like now the crazy is getting more open.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I am all for rigidity in matters of doctrine, and to a lesser extent of liturgy. But not for mistaking Catholic doctrine with the doctrine of any political party.

On a more general topic

[lyssiae.livejournal.com]

Over the past year or so I've become aware of a real *thing* going on in some Catholic circles in the USA (and to some extent in other parts of North America): sometimes I call it anti-Europe-ness but to give them the benefit of the doubt I'd rather term it blind ignorance instead.

Any which way you term it, at a certain point I just decided not to visit those websites anymore; the hassle takes me away from what's really important in my life. If they want to sit around unduly slagging off Europe to the detriment of their own charity, that's up to them. At some juncture it'll just be them slagging us off to...more of themselves, which will pretty much only have an adverse effect on...them. There's only so much I can do.

Re: On a more general topic

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I have to write an essay on this, but in general I would say that the American right feels very concerned by the rise of Europe as a world power pursuing its own policy - which is very different from what American conservatives find manly, and is best described as passive-aggressive. These remarks may sound rather Delphic, but I hope to become clearer in the future.

What did we expect from cafeteria food?

[daisan.livejournal.com]

I found your blog through The Cafeteria is Closed, but not because I'm an avid reader. Like you, I used to like it, but got tired of him villifying everyone who doesn't share his position. I'm currently involved in a discussion of the Motu Proprio with a Jewish friend and found your excellent comment to Gerald's June 28th post. I hope I can quote your eloquent explanation of the Church's position on the Jewish people. It's nice to see respectful, complete answer. Thanks!

Re: What did we expect from cafeteria food?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I do not remember exactly what I said, but you may find some speculations on the relationship of Christians and Jews from a Christian point of view in this essay: http://community.livejournal.com/fpb_de_fide/1203.html - in a community I run, dedicated to occasional religious essays, which you would be welcome to join if you like. The reader who called it "incredibly interesting" is a committed Jew herself, so your friend might find it worth a look. There also are reflections that take in Hebraic matters here: http://community.livejournal.com/fpb_de_fide/456.html, and here: http://community.livejournal.com/fpb_de_fide/3183.html. There are also a couple of items in my regular blog, which would take me too long to find. In general, I am fond of the Hebrew Old Testament and of Jews in general, and I even wrote a Harry Potter fanfic with a Jewish heroine and Jewish magic (mysticism) as background.