El Barbudo wrote:
That post didn't contain a single grammatical, spelling or constructional error.
Who is writing your posts for you now?
Others have asked for your definition of Marxism (which I don't expect you'll fulfill without using cut and paste) but I'd like you to tell me what it is about being Marxist that equates with hating Britain.
I think the problem in all this derives from the definition of "Britain."
For example, "Britain" would seem to me to primarily be an areal concept. It seems clear to me that Mr Miliband Snr did not hate that Britain, else he would have moved elsewhere, eg the USA.
"Britain" could refer to the "British" people, ie the nation. It seems clear to me that Mr Miliband Snr did not hate that Britain, or else he would have gone elsewhere and probably not be held in such esteem by people who knew him, including senior Conservatives.
"Britain" could refer perhaps to so called British values of fair play, integrity and free speech. Clearly, he did not hate those. He benefiited from British decency as a refugee, he enjoyed free speech and was clearly a man of integrity because as that great organ of decency and democracy, the Daily Mail, tells us he did not change his views or bend his principles from those he held as a 17 year old. A great virtue in my opinion.
So, maybe "Britain" here means certain instruments of the state and establishment so beloved (joke) of the Daily Mail itself? The thing is those beloved insitutions are in reality exclusive to the elite and wholly divorced from the man in the street. The people who belong to them and love them tend, in my experience, to be hypocritical people and not the sort of people one could rely on in a time of need. If he felt an intellectual revulsion towards that Britain I'd suggest that is one that the majority of our nation feels (whether in a conscious or unconcious way).
Going back to AJW 71, "Britain" of the last 70 years has been, in its reality and its collective mind, defined primarily by WW2, its suffering and role therein. That war, in Europe, involved a fight for survival against the tyranny of fascism. A tyranny that did not tolerate that great British virtue of freedom of speech and thought. What was the Daily Mail's stance on fascism pre-WW2? Was that compatible with "British" values and freedoms? On the other hand, what did Mr Miliband Senior do in his newly adopted country's hour of need?
As to hating Britain and its institutions - as other has said - the Daily Mail on an almost daily basis espouses 'hatred' of the BBC, the Labour party, the trades union movement, recent immigrants, single parents, the poor, the NHS, schools, local authorities, working mothers (where not wealthy), The EU (when it supported it previously) etc, etc. Now, think how many millions of people belong to / work in some of the groups I have mentioned. It would seem therefore that the Daily Mail 'hates' the majority of Britons and the majority of "Britain" whichever way you look at it. On the other hand, is there any evidence whatsover that Mr Miliband Snr "hated" on such a scale? If he "hated" anything it seems to me that it may have been the hypocrisy of a small group of self-serving, smug Britons. Possibly the sort of people who may have senior influence within the Daily Mail?
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