The other evening I came across
this quotation from Auberon Waugh; although dreadful to contemplate, it's hard not to draw the conclusion that he might be an Assange supporter, if still alive today:
"I begin to have the feeling that the time has come for another war. We have done the Germans and Japanese, but Swedes are particularly annoying people. They have no body hair and never stop grumbling about all the acid rain and atmospheric pollution we send them. Their behaviour in the last war was not distinguished, and now they have started a fashion for arresting any of their citizens guilty of sexual impropriety abroad. There are obvious attractions in the idea of a short sharp war with Sweden. After it, the Swedes will be required to apologise, pay compensation and put abstract sculptures on the theme of Reconciliation in all their public places."
On the other hand, great as Waugh's loathing for Swedes undoubtedly was, given a chance to consider Assange in all his glory, he probably would have recognised an even more awful phenomenon than the Swedish populace (awful in his opinion, I hasten to add - some of my best friends are Swedes et cetera) when he saw one. Also, of course, he was joking.
Well, as Waugh was apparently a bit of a 'sexual tourist' himself, he would say that.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of Waughs:
Auberon Waugh,
Is a terrible bore.
But I'd much rather,
Have him than his father.
(Atilla the Stockbroker)
As for Assange...
After watching that interview with Waugh on your blog, I watched a documentary about interviewing by David Frost and realised that that Waugh interview was part of a series where that interviewer set himself up as some kind of inquisitor/psychoanalyst and his main aim seems to have been to break people down and, if possible, get them to cry - the prog contains a clip where he does get someone to and another where he tries his best to break Tony Hancock. Made me see Waugh's performance in a slightly different way - he actually handled himself pretty intelligently as it was more of a contest of wills than I'd realised.
ReplyDelete