To Soothe the Savage Beast
Posted on May 12th, 2009
by Daniel McCarthy |
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London Mayor Boris Johnson offers his thoughts on a story Freddy flagged up last week — British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s refusal to let Michael Savage into the country. Johnson writes:
Every day the American airwaves are churned by the paranoid rantings of Michael Savage and his kind. Has this stuff warped America, or deformed its political psyche? On the contrary, the Americans have just had the good sense to elect a supremely gifted and eloquent black man – when the prospect of a black British prime minister still seems some way off. What are we, some sort of kindergarten that needs to be protected against these dangerous American radio shows? Does Jacqui Smith think we are all dimwits, who can’t tell when a man like Savage is talking rubbish? Why can America take it, and we can’t?
The answer is that America still has a constitutional protection of free speech, and I have been amazed, over the last few days, to see how few people in this country are willing to stick up for that elementary principle. Across Fleet Street, swords have stuck in their scabbards, swords that normally leap to the defence of liberty.
Hear, hear. If only Britain would take Savage, and we could have Boris Johnson instead…
Filed under: World
Excellent proposal. Hear, hear again.
Boris Johnson does actually have an American passport, I believe. He was born in New York.
Michael Savage has done exacty what he set out to do, piss off the right people, if Savage is banned from entering the United Kingdom, it means that he succeeded in touching a nerve. Michael Savage has constantly warned listeners everywhere of the dangers posed by liberalism, multiculturalism, immigration, which is perfectly displayed in the United Kingdom by the hoardes of Muslims in “Londonistan”
Michael Savage is more than a rebelrouser. He called for arbitrarily killing 100 million Muslim men women and children just to show that he can.
Such extremism, and dare I say a call to commit genocide, doesn’t have to be accomodated by any sovereign nation that seeks to protect peace and order in her land. America banned Tariq Ramadan, Yusuf Qaradawi, and a host of other Muslim intellectuals based solely on their words. Britain did the same thing.
As for ‘Londonistan’, folks should come to realize already that the economic powers of Britain wanted cheap foreign labor to drive wages down to sustain greater returns for owners/shareholders. Same for America and its Mexican labor crisis. Don’t hate the poor laborers for wanting a better standard of living. Deal with your corporate and industry captains first.
Are you fit to carry Savage’s bags to the airport?
What are we to be left with when you trade Savage? Your Parlor Politics? Besides Buchanan (who has been a guest on Savage’s show), what fight are you going to put up for the cause? You guys sit here twiddling your thumbs on the keyboards –at times quite eloquently. But, besides Pat , none of you can get out front and spread the word like it needs to be spread. They may not welcome you on TV or radio, but I just never hear of any of you even trying to get in these positions.
I know Savage goes over the top, and I am in disagreement with him on many war issues, but the guy is good. First , he just provides a damn good coversation. He will discuss literature, food, social trends, even that anger that a lot of older white guys have (he can see it as a good thing) — it is like a bar and he is pouring a lot of the good stuff.
He stands up for borders, language and culture. And you can hear the gratitude from the callers be they professors, cops or taxi drivers. He openely stands up for the white guy and is willing to throw the punches to do it. For those of us who have to sit around work listening to various skin color/nationalities demanding promotion of their skin color/nationalities, it gives us more spine to speak up, to take a stand.
He has attacked Rush, the Neocons, the Republicans. He was pointing out years ago how corrupt Murtha was - a story that is finally getting traction. He has pointed out the business connections of Feinstein and Boxer when no one else was. He was talking about war profiteering even as he supported the troops. The guy does not go on the radio and bray. But he is on radio, he can’t go on and read Russell Kirk for three hours. But he will make the connections with the both the smart and the average, which is what we need to do.
The guy can’t be our presidential candidate, but he can be a great radio show host. He has a show that has more surprising twists and turns than any other show. When he was particularly bombastic once, he said he was a performance artist. He said he had to say things in a certain way in order to be heard — listen for a month and you should hear that.
Savage is attacked by everyone. Your knife in his back may be a tiny surprise to him, but the bloody bastard will keep on talking. If you can get out there and do better, please do it.
Steve
But why all the focus on Michael “Savage” Weiner? Why isn’t anyone coming to the defense of white racialist Don Black or anti-homosexual activist Fred Phelps (both men were also banned from the UK)? I obviously agree with Boris Johnson here, but why has everyone seemed to have rallied around “Savage” to the exclusion of others on the blacklist? If “Savage” hadn’t been on the list would we have seen the same outcry over the banning of Black and Phelps?
Musa,
The US and Britain presumably banned those clerics because they felt there was a reasonable likelihood that some of their followers might actually respond to the speech with action. Past behavior makes that suspicion reasonable.
Savage’s speech is reprehensible, which is why I don’t listen to him, but Britain can feel pretty safe that it is not going to inspire his followers to commit any actual violence.
With Britain’s Muslim community, that is less clear.
The only good reason to prevent a speaker from entering one’s country is actual law-breaking (like George Galloway giving money to Hamas) or the reasonable expectation that the visit will inspire the speaker’s audience to commit violence against others.