Disgraceful Pandering
Posted on November 11, 2008
There has always been a distinct (and unfortunate) streak of moralism running through the ‘revolutionary’ left. It was as unsurprising as it was painful, to observe so many self-described ‘Marxists’ racing to join in the latest moral panic orchestrated by the Daily Mail, and line up beside the disgusting ghouls Richard Littlejohn, Melanie Phillips and Peter Hitchens. The gitstorm of hysteria was unleashed ostensibly because of a programme on BBC Radio 2, which had attracted two — two — complaints at the time of broadcast.
The Forgers’ Gazette bubbled up a lake of crocodile tears for Andrew Sachs, who was forced to flee Nazi Germany when a child, forgetting to mention, in the interests of full and frank disclosure, that at the time Sachs’ family were refugees, the Mail supported Hitler. Mail proprietor Harold Harmsworth (Lord Rothermere) wrote in July 1933
I urge all British young men and women to study closely the progress of the Nazi regime in Germany. They must not be misled by the misrepresentations of its opponents. The most spiteful distracters of the Nazis are to be found in precisely the same sections of the British public and press as are most vehement in their praises of the Soviet regime in Russia. They have started a clamorous campaign of denunciation against what they call “Nazi atrocities” which, as anyone who visits Germany quickly discovers for himself, consists merely of a few isolated acts of violence such as are inevitable among a nation half as big again as ours, but which have been generalized, multiplied and exaggerated to give the impression that Nazi rule is a bloodthirsty tyranny.¹
Hitler sent Rothermere his regards in December:
I should like to express the appreciation of countless Germans, who regard me as their spokesman, for the wise and beneficial public support which you have given to a policy that we all hope will contribute to the enduring pacification of Europe. Just as we are fanatically determined to defend ourselves against attack, so do we reject the idea of taking the initiative in bringing about a war. I am convinced that no one who fought in the front trenches during the world war, no matter in what European country, desires another conflict.¹
Again, in January 1934 Rothermere described the British Union of Fascists as
a well organised party of the right ready to take over responsibility for national affairs with the same directness of purpose and energy of method as Hitler and Mussolini have displayed.¹
Rothermere was still cosying up to the Nazis in 1938 — sending a telegram congratulating Hitler on the invasion of the Sudetenland, which expressed the hope that ‘Adolf the Great’ would be popular with the British public. The Mail serialised the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and published anti-Jewish articles. It opposed the admission of Jewish refugees — of Andrew Sachs’ family — to Britain, just as today it continues to stir up hatred and fear of refugees and migrants. The Federation of Poles in Great Britain has complained that the Heil is deliberately whipping up anti-immigrant feeling, citing more than 50 articles that ‘contained anti-Polish sentiment’.
Despite the barking Peter Hitchens who hears nothing on the BBC but ‘lavatory words’ and sees ‘dimwit Leftist propaganda’ and ‘compulsory sex in everything except Songs Of Praise’, the Mail’s campaign has nothing to do with ‘morality’. On another day they would have published a ’saucy exposé’ of Georgina Baillie, and the paper did not stint when it came to printing photographs of Baillie in her work clothes, or printing transcripts of the ‘offending’ messages — including portions which had not been broadcast. The Mail’s motivation is commercial, which makes the recent impersonations of Mary Whitehouse even more disgraceful.
¹ The Dictionary of the Turtle
