Not for the first time, the loathsome Toby Young has attempted to be jolly clever, only for his clumsy bigotry to backfire and leave him covered in rather more than confusion. After a gunman was successfully tackled by a group of fellow passengers on board an Amsterdam to Paris Thalys high speed train service, it was revealed that three of those doing the tackling were United States citizens. Another was British.
Not such a grown up take on the Entente Cordiale
This diversity was only to be expected, given that the train traversed the Netherlands, Belgium and France, but for Tobes, it presented an opportunity for him to demonstrate why someone else teaches History at his West London Free School. Yes, he would write a piece for the Spectator magazine, where he would paint the dastardly French as cowards and assert that they need Brits and Yanks to save them.
“Once again, the French rely on Yanks and Brits to save them from murderous fascists … The cowardice of Frenchmen knows no bounds … If I was a Frenchman, I'd be ashamed by the reaction of my countrymen on the French terror train” wibbled Tobes. As Sir Sean nearly said, I think we got the point. What was the reaction of his fellow Tweeters? “Full Katie Hopkins … Toby, you’ve gone all Katie Hopkins” were typical.
There was more. Tobes was reminded “Yes, because an unarmed, untrained Frenchman was first to attempt to tackle the gunman. You should be ashamed … Do you know that this despicable article is based on a lie. First attacker was French man”. Also it wasn’t a “French Train”, but an international one with its destination in France.
Still, factual details, eh Tobes? Another comment suggested “the incident actually took place in Belgium”. Moreover, Tobes has no idea what nationality the other passengers were - he just insults the French, because that kind of thing goes down jolly well with all those Clever People Who Talk Loudly In Restaurants. It was left to another Tweeter to put him straight: “Your article is disgustingly xenophobic”. Got it in one.
His sneering claim of “cowardice” was also put into perspective: “Never fully understand how this myth of ‘French cowardice’ started; 1940 was command failure not cowardice by rank & file”. Plus most of the British were evacuated at Dunkirk, of course. There was a reminder of the Great War: “I can't help but contrast this with the vast number of names on French WWI memorials. France carried war for 2 years”. Quite.
The condemnation kept on coming: “come on you can celebrate three or four individuals bravery without calling everyone else a coward” was one comment. Another had peeked at the Speccy article: “even the Spectator readers left comments saying how awful your piece is”. Sadly, that will make no difference: Tobes is naturally unpleasant.
Toby Young is a childish cretin, a veneer of respectability on a dribbling bigot. Worse, misguided souls like Fraser Nelson at the Spectator give him a platform to demonstrate one thing loud and clear: Tobes is not known as Captain Bellend for nothing.
Another poorly researched article by Captain Bellend. Did he expect that the French people on the train (if there actually were more than a couple in the carriage) to rush forwards and push all the other nationalities out of the way to prove their "courage". What a complete tosser.
ReplyDeleteTim, your final paragraph got it into proper perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is not the long-acknowledged ranting righty crackpot Toby Jug, but the editorial policies that promote his evil lunacy.
Then again, it was the Spectator......so what did you expect? Intelligence, fairness and decency?......I think not.
French losses in the Battle of France, a relatively short campaign, were as many as 120,000 killed and as many or more wounded. I dont think Capt Bell-end can lecture the French on bravery. He should hang his head in shame for that piece, but he wont, and neither will the Spectator.
ReplyDeleteHe just doesn't engage his brain before commenting - ever.
ReplyDelete