Alex Webster@alexmaccaroon
If you’ve seen any of the footage coming out of Syria today (don’t) you’ll realise what a naive pillock this man is. People dragged from homes, humiliated, tortured and summarily executed. Old men, women and children.
An orgy of murderous recreational sadism.
Here’s the thing. Journalistically, I don’t actually see a problem with interviewing such people. It’s the job after all, getting insight is important.
BUT it’s the sycophantic, faux-Lawrence of Arabia bullshit. Totally blind to the volcano that Syria has become - similar to the volcanos other Arab governments sit on by the way. HE WAS IN IRAQ. HE SHOULD KNOW. All this nation building crap before the army legged it and a vast swathe of the country fell to ISIS.
To think, a man who was travelled so extensively in the region could be so hopelessly naive about the reality of what was coming, so easily foreseen.
My degree was Arabic, I travelled the region a fair bit. You could see his type coming a mile off. They never said, but it was obvious they were always disappointed that the typical Arab on the street was much more interested in playing FIFA than discussing 12th century Arabic poetry. Edward Said was right about Orientalism btw - a five minute conversation with so many poncy Arabists and you can tell they live in a fantasy land of magic carpets and belly dancers. Western Djinn-brain.
The man calibrates everything he does to social proof. Everything. Lied to the country that he supported Brexit and did everything he could to undermine it. Co-presents a podcast with one of the most disgusting and vile men to foul British politics for a generation.
His is filth. Filth. There isn’t enough bile to describe this pretentious pretend intellectual. The fact that his wank podcast with a title that doesn’t even make sense is the most popular in the country is a stain on the nation.
Maybe I’ll delete this because I try not to be so hateful on twitter, but fucking hell this takes the biscuit. Argh!
