John Cleese drops out of Cambridge Union talk

[urban genie]

See he is trending again for cancelling a talk at cambridge Uni after they banned another speaker for a hitler impression in the context of a debate they held on free speech.

He cites he has done Hitler impressions in the past and so has self blacklisted himself before the student president does.

Some think it is for pure publicity for his soon to be aired series on woke culture

Now I think he has a point on this, what is the point of a debating society that blocks anyone who may be not on message.

However he seems to also have become an moaning old git who gets angry all the time over any old shit

Discuss

 

[RobMCFC]

Agreed. Too many people today are intent on getting upset on behalf of other people - second guessing what might upset people and taking draconian action because of it.

It shouldn't be about what people say or don't say, it should be about context. If somebody does a Hitler impression for comic effect or to make a point - which seems to be the case here - then there shouldn't be a problem. If they are spouting master race nonsense or making fun out of the holocaust, then that's totally different.

Just reading the BBC News article, it appears that there were a lot of complaints so maybe he crossed the line, I don't know.

 

[Octavian]

He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.

 

[AlgarveBlu]

It’s all gone very sad really, I strongly encourage my children to study the history to any issue through different sets of eyes and always to use the context of the time frames in play at the time - screw the gammon and woke brigade - do your research and feel free to formulate an opinion that you believe you could hold your own on and then be open to the fact that some issues don’t have right or wrong answers just opinions.

I did piss myself when I read that article as the concept of blacklisting yourself wold have been a prime Basil Fawlty moment after a spat with Sybil.

 

[Blue Mist]

Well Turban Beanie I think you should make up your mind as you have covered just about every angle in your opening monologue.

I am now going to self ban myself from this thread.


Not

 

[talkativesprout]

It’s all gone very sad really, I strongly encourage my children to study the history to any issue through different sets of eyes and always to use the context of the time frames in play at the time - screw the gammon and woke brigade - do your research and feel free to formulate an opinion that you believe you could hold your own on and then be open to the fact that some issues don’t have right or wrong answers just opinions.

I did piss myself when I read that article as the concept of blacklisting yourself wold have been a prime Basil Fawlty moment after a spat with Sybil.

born in 1970, so around 1984-86 i was in secondary school learning history...you can quickly get bored of kings chopping their wives heads off and peasants chopping other kings heads off, so I asked the history teacher when we will be learning about the world wars..."I'm not allowed to teach you about them" was his reply.

Not good this glossing history malarky

 

[snorky]

I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Destruction of culture and society from an indoctrinated younger generation. He's right. We need a dissolution of the universities much like the monasteries back in the day.

 

[blueparrot]

Destruction of culture and society from an indoctrinated younger generation. He's right. We need a dissolution of the universities much like the monasteries back in the day.

The young of today are far less indoctrinated than we were , simply because they have far mor access to other views and information than we had.

 

[AlgarveBlu]

born in 1970, so around 1984-86 i was in secondary school learning history...you can quickly get bored of kings chopping their wives heads off and peasants chopping other kings heads off, so I asked the history teacher when we will be learning about the world wars..."I'm not allowed to teach you about them" was his reply.

Not good this glossing history malarky

sounds like you were unlucky as i was born in 71 and was in that first year to do GCSEs when O Levels were abolished , my History GCSE was on the unification of Italy, WW1 and the Nazis rise to power and enjoyed all topics. My lad is doing his this year and covering the Cold War which I would loved to have covered as well.

Interesting thing is that his History teacher tells the class not to watch any ww1/2 movies due to the heavy biased and distortion of historical facts which is good to hear someone call out but I personally think it's their choice to watch as long as they watch and learn with an open mind - Have suggested he does a dissertation on Rocky IV for a more balanced view of the cold war.