Thread 1: Perfectly willing to be the only person defending #DavidStarkey and the inevitable firestorm, but for those aghast at his interview please consider this:
Thread 2: The criticism against him appears to be twofold – he doesn’t think slavery equates to genocide, and he used the term ‘damn blacks’ and is therefore racist.
Thread 3: I also don’t agree that slavery equates to genocide, since slavery is a business which you would instantly put yourself out of if you killed all your slaves.
Thread 4: Starkey is perhaps the most eminent British historian of the age, it is therefore more than possible that A) he knows what he’s talking about, and B) even if he’s wrong, he’s entitled to his view.
Thread 5: The point re ‘damn’ I think is a linguistic problem. While ‘damn’ is often pejorative, it is also used as a term of emphasis – Starkey is contrasting the fact that blacks more than survived slavery, and thereby refuting the genocide argument.
Thread 6: Assuming you know his intention in his use of the word is something the left are particularly prone to, and it is expected but unfortunate to know that they always give conservatives zero benefit of the doubt whatsoever.
Thread 7: Starkey could clear this point up for us – and indeed, if he meant it in the pejorative sense, I will stand corrected. Incidentally, I would still think him perfectly entitled to his view on the matter.
Thread 8: If you genuinely find yourself apoplectic at Starkey’s statements, I think you need to ask yourself the following questions:
Thread 9:
1)Would you have cared if Dr Gopal or David Lammy had made those statements, and if not why not?
1)Would you have cared if Dr Gopal or David Lammy had made those statements, and if not why not?
Thread 10:
2)Why are you not protesting in defence of the many other groups Starkey ‘attacked’ during the interview: the white working class, thick school children, white upper class toffs, privileged, entitled white women?
2)Why are you not protesting in defence of the many other groups Starkey ‘attacked’ during the interview: the white working class, thick school children, white upper class toffs, privileged, entitled white women?
Thread 11:
3)Are you not troubled at all that the man’s life’s work and livelihood has been all but shot in the blink of an eye for the crime of free speech?
3)Are you not troubled at all that the man’s life’s work and livelihood has been all but shot in the blink of an eye for the crime of free speech?
Thread 12:
4)Do you not find it concerning that Fitzwilliam College, Harper Collins, Mary Rose Museum, and even Grimes himself have felt the need to so publicly denounce him?
4)Do you not find it concerning that Fitzwilliam College, Harper Collins, Mary Rose Museum, and even Grimes himself have felt the need to so publicly denounce him?
Thread 13:
5)Are you not the least concerned that hate speech against whites is being publicly extolled, while non-pc language from whites is tantamount to treason?
5)Are you not the least concerned that hate speech against whites is being publicly extolled, while non-pc language from whites is tantamount to treason?
Thread 14:
6)If Starkey really is racist, so what? Why does that bother you, when not only are you of course the embodiment of virtue, but you know full-well half the commentariat openly despise whites?
6)If Starkey really is racist, so what? Why does that bother you, when not only are you of course the embodiment of virtue, but you know full-well half the commentariat openly despise whites?
Thread 15:
7)Finally, isn’t the real problem with Starkey that he is an old, unrepentant, un-pc white man, who doesn’t give a shit what you think?
Come get me!
7)Finally, isn’t the real problem with Starkey that he is an old, unrepentant, un-pc white man, who doesn’t give a shit what you think?
Come get me!
