This speech by Sean Gabb, from the September 2014 convocation of the Property and Freedom Society, is well worth watching. It’s about the life of Enoch Powell and what happened to him after he made the ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech.
A lot of you are probably familiar with the speech, but I was unfamiliar with the character and background of the man. He was one of England’s leading classical scholars at the time of his denouncement.
The three words that’ll get you fired in the UK, by the way, are “Enoch was right.”
What we saw with the public denouncement of Powell was the denouncement of the old order in the character of one man. He symbolized more than just ‘old stale pale maledom,’ but also Western civilization. The Powells of the world had to be knocked down to make room for characters like the Russell Brands of today.
Or as we say in The #NRx: “You don’t seriously think Enoch was wrong! “
That was excellent.
If you haven’t seen it already, I recommend David Frost’s interview with Enoch Powell from 1969:
I haven’t. Thanks for bringing it to everyone’s attention.
You’re welcome.
An interesting thing is that the socialist BBC host who is telling Enoch Powell that’s he’s a “naughty naughty boy” was knighted, and received various high honors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frost#Selected_awards_and_honours
Strange. I saw Frost/Nixon when it was off-Broadway. I hadn’t really thought of his background either when I attended the play or afterwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MtIF6tw-Io&t=363 I thought this was linked, but any one who hasn’t listened to it should do so.