[Update at end of post]
Religion is, for many in the secular West, something to which they devote very little time outside of Christmas, Easter, acts of Remembrance, births, christenings, marriages, and deaths. Faith is honoured rather more in the identification than in practice. It is for that reason that the supposed religiosity of the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines, aka Guido Fawkes, stands out.
Religion is, for many in the secular West, something to which they devote very little time outside of Christmas, Easter, acts of Remembrance, births, christenings, marriages, and deaths. Faith is honoured rather more in the identification than in practice. It is for that reason that the supposed religiosity of the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines, aka Guido Fawkes, stands out.
Let us not offer one another a sign of peace
Yes, The Great Guido professes piety; he regularly Retweets
the thoughts for the day of the Dalai Lama, and occasionally the Pope.
Moreover, he finds adversely upon those who themselves do not show sufficient
deference to their supposedly chosen deity. This is most noticeable in the
run-up to Christmas, when the party leaders distribute their individually
designed cards.
Yesterday, claiming an “exclusive”,
the
Fawkes blog told “Merry Clegg-mas –
DPM’s Card”, showing Clegg and wife Miriam González Durántez. Despite the holly and other Christmas decorations, along
with the greeting “Merry Christmas”,
Staines concluded that this offering was “Godless”.
Young Dave’s offering, featuring Chelsea Pensioners and shot outside 10 Downing
Street, was
also given the thumbs-down.
Mil The Younger fared
no better: his card, also featuring wife Justine Thornton and sons Daniel and
Samuel, was
again judged to be “Godless”,
despite the card showing the children, with their parents’ help, making, er,
their own Christmas cards. So what is the Staines preoccupation with God? Does
The Great Guido really subscribe to his Catholic upbringing? Or is that a
necessarily selective view?
By his own
admission, Staines aligned himself with the likes of David Hart, one of the
least principled and most unpleasant individuals known to humankind. He ran a
smear operation against anyone on the left who was judged in need of such
treatment. He organised a series of raves, which at the time were illegal. He
took, and apparently encouraged, the use of currently illegal substances.
None of this is, as
far as is known, approved behaviour for God-fearing members of the Church of
Rome. Nor is the distinctly un-Christian series of personal attacks on centre-left
politicians, especially Pa Broon. Nor is the creepy, leering and otherwise
gratuitous approach to women in which the Fawkes blog chooses to indulge. Does
he really confess all these transgressions to his chosen priest?
One has to wonder
how he squares this Godliness with the criminal record, the vindictive and
bullying attitude to others, the unfounded smears the Fawkes blog publishes,
the preposterous claims he makes of the blog, and other acts of summary
personal aggrandisement. The only conclusion is that Staines uses God as an
attempt to clean away the stench – and, it has to be said, without success.
It’ll take more than passing through the eye
of the needle before he goes
upstairs.
[UPDATE 13 December 1510 hours: Staines and his rabble are still making their sniffy "Godless" claim, the latest example being to call out London's occasional Mayor Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
Bozza's card has a star on it - presumably denoting the one that guided the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem - but The Great Guido is unmoved.
So they might have to get someone else to do the comedy turn at their next celebration dinner, then. If, of course, there is one]
[UPDATE 13 December 1510 hours: Staines and his rabble are still making their sniffy "Godless" claim, the latest example being to call out London's occasional Mayor Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
Bozza's card has a star on it - presumably denoting the one that guided the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem - but The Great Guido is unmoved.
So they might have to get someone else to do the comedy turn at their next celebration dinner, then. If, of course, there is one]
God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light.
ReplyDeleteThen Rupert came along and said I will buy it and there was "The Sun" (and NoTW) and suddenly a great darkness fell upon the land.
And Rupert said "Where has the light gone?" so he employed Guido and friends plus a thrown away spare rib named Louise to join with Olivia Newton Dunny to make up the void created by journalists in deep dungeon(s).
And lo a black hole was created out of which light(and not a lot of sense) could escape not even through worm holes. Rupert and friends were lost leaving the sun and its worshippers to live happily ever after.
That is until the Mail arrived the following morning (but that's another myth in the making).
Ah, the absolution of sin through the act of confession is a wonderful thing.
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts come to mind - firstly, this idiot man doesn't seem to realise that overly god-ful cards aren't diplomatic. As a politician, you need to send these cards to ambassadors all over the world, you can't be evangelizing on a card?
ReplyDeleteBut secondsly - There's a hint of dog-whistling here, do you think? Both in Clegg's case (oooh, look at him, he's an atheist!) but especially in Miliband's case. Guido always seems to enjoy attacking Miliband's christmas news? Whether that's the traditional politician's cards or the puff piece interviews he did with his baby sons playing by their christmas tree - apparently, it was not decorated enough, cure sneering about the house decorations and how they must have been put up to appease the photographers. (any parent could probably tell you that if you have small children who are liable to put things in their mouth, you don't decorate a tree all th way to the bottom.) There's a hint of, 'oh, well, he's jewish, all of this christmas stuff is faked, you know, *they* don't get it.' I might be reading into it a little, but this was the same Guido who was so obsessed with 'making an honest woman of Justine' and hiring Simon 'ed miliband doesn't look quite english, he's swarthy' Carr.
Basically, it may be me being overly sensitive to codewords, but I wouldn't put anything past him.
@3
ReplyDeleteCarr has already likened Miliband to a "Spastic Marionette", with a "convulsive string master", so has already crossed the line into forthright anti-Semitism.