As the motley and dwindling convocation of saloon bar propper-uppers at UKIP continues its swerve to the far right, rather too little attention is being given to what passes as the philosophical underpinning of the casual racism now infesting the party. But that is about to change, as one Carl Benjamin, who pretentiously styles himself Sargon of Akkad, is having his back catalogue reappraised. And it is making for lamentable viewing.
Carl Benjamin (right) with Gerard Batten (centre), and Battersea bedroom dweller Paul Watson of InfoWars infamy
Benjamin has not been backwards in coming forwards to shoot his mouth off about a range of subjects on which he might have been best advised keeping schtum. As one Tweeter has now revealed, “Carl Benjamin aka Sargon of Akkad, who regularly uses the n word, defends pedophilia, says the Nazis were ‘cool’ and ‘successful’ and is a member of UKIP, says that ‘racism reduced crime and poverty in the black community’ and was therefore ‘unironically good’”. Genocide, and laying waste to your country, is “cool”, eh?
But that was a mere hors d’oeuvre for a much more pungent entrée: another recent recording hears Benjamin going full-on gobby bigot. This is what he said.
After showing a Hispanic woman saying “It’s not acceptable to call me a Spic”, he responds “Yeah OK, but it’s not like I’m walking down the aisles of my local grocery store and I see a Spic and go ‘Hey Spic … hey Spic’ … I don’t know you, I don’t really want to talk to you, I don’t need to get your attention by calling you a Spic. I don’t even know why you would bring this up … but as with the previous guy, I won’t call him a N*****, and I won’t call you a Spic”. Is this an exception? Er, brace yourselves.
A young Asian woman tells “It’s not acceptable to call me a Chink”. Benjamin is off and away. “[laughs] It’s actually fine, it’s actually just f***ing fine, and I’ll tell you why. Because Asians are privileged. In almost every walk of life, Asians make more money [what does that remind you of?], they have better results, and they do better in life than me, just a dumb-ass cracker. So when Asians are filling up all of those top spots in better proportion than white people [?] you have to understand you have institutional privilege”.
He wasn’t finished. “You’re using your platform to lecture me now. So f*** of Chink, it’s OK for me to call you this, because racism is power plus prejudice. I don’t have the power in this situation. The Chinks do. Sorry. I don’t make the rules”. There is more.
A gay man says it is not acceptable to call him a Fag. Carl isn’t having any of that. “Oh f*** off you Fag. That’s not racial discrimination. That’s not even sexual discrimination. That’s just you being a f***ing Fag. I don’t even know that you’re gay. You might not be gay. But you’re still a Fag. Shut up and f*** off”. Homophobia? Check!
Benjamin does agree with one characterisation, though: it is not acceptable to call a Jewish man a Kike. Pity he already used a well-known anti-Semitic trope, but transferred it to abuse of an Asian woman instead (see above). But he wasn’t done being abusive.
A child with Down’s Syndrome tells “It’s not acceptable to call me a retard”. Clever Carl is on the case immediately. “Fair enough, you can’t change that you’re a retard, and it’s not very nice for me to call you a retard. I won’t do it”. But when the child then adds “Or call yourself or your friends retarded”, well, that’s different.
“Woah! What are you talking about, retard? I will call my friends what I like … you’re talking as if a standard medical term, to retard something, to prevent the growth or advancement of something, is not an applicable word when it is actually a very accurate observation”. He’s so clever he could almost soil himself.
Benjamin then transfers his attention to the woman with the Down’s Syndrome child. “It was obviously your f***ing dopey tracksuit wearing friend who did this”. This neatly cues up the woman’s observations so that clever Carl can gob off about them. And she duly obliges The Great Man: “The R-word is the same as every minority slur”.
Off goes Benjamin. “Well, great job trivialising minority slurs, you N***** Spic Fag Chink Kike Retard. Who the f*** do you think you are? Do you think you’re my f***ing mum?”
But enough. Although Benjamin continues to ramble on pretentiously about how, in his esteemed opinion, words do not cause injury and we should therefore not police their usage, it’s all too clear that he’s indulging a whole range of racist and other minority slurs, except for direct anti-Semitism. He clearly believes this is terribly clever. It is not.
This is what is driving UKIP, together with Adolf von Batten’s Islam paranoia and the remaining has-beens, never-weres and those for whom finding gainful employment is too much of a challenge. This is no longer a serious political party. It is a cesspool of bigotry and hatred - but dressed up as something clever. Except it isn’t.
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Whenever that kind of muck is (re)peddled I am reminded of a Gore Vidal story.
ReplyDeleteHe was delivering a lecture to an audience of varying nationalities and colours. At one stage he pointed out the overwhelming majority of the Earth's population was non-white and that logically at some stage in near or far events this must tell in the governance of human affairs.
When he looked up from the lectern he saw in front of him a small group of glum white faces surrounded by a vast sea of various coloured faces grinning through brilliant white pearly teeth.
History shows white people have a lot to answer for. We must hope that when the account falls due it isn't paid in the same way it was opened. Time and credit are running out.
Tim's blog shows there's still an awful long way to go for the worst racist morons.
Clever? Being given a platform and using it to say 'Bum tits willy wank shit piss poo'
ReplyDeleteIt says almost as much about us as it does about him.
I'm reminded of Richard Herring and his "Ah, but who is the REAL villain/pervert/monster here?" routine, which would see him launch into a tortured rant about how he was harmlessly indulging in some vile behaviour, but the real villain was "...the BUSINESSMAN...in his SUIT AND TIE!", before Stewart Lee would point out that no, he was the villain.
ReplyDeleteCarl of Swindon has also been a raging, raving misogynist for a long, long time, documented over many years by We Hunted the Mammoth, which I can certainly recommend.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/?s=Sargon
His other vile actions include openly laughing at another video maker's suicide, and participated in online terrorist campaign Gamergate. There's a wealth of things this vile creature has participated in and done.