Militant students at Warwick

[Richard Barrett]

You seemed to be proud of not condemning the violence .... ?

How exactly did I "seem" to you to be "proud"? I merely stated that I didn't condemn it. Of course violence is regrettable whoever is doing it for whatever reasons. What I condemn is the class system and the inequality (and the political "thuggery" that maintains and defends it) that makes such civil unrest inevitable.

[MrGongGong]

Well you are certainly one of the foremost forum practitioners when it comes to expert fabrication Mr GongGong ... :-)

It's all made up innit

[P. G. Tipps]

I think the gist of monkeyboys argument ...

Be very, very careful, Mr GongGong ... some of my best friends are in the politically- correct police ...

[MrGongGong]

Be very, very careful, Mr GongGong ... some of my best friends are in the politically- correct police ...

Is that a threat or a promise?

I don't trust the police, and neither should you.

[Bryn]

Mr GG, it is about time you learned the difference between monkeys and apes.

[Richard Barrett]

I don't trust the police, and neither should you.

What are you, some kind of anarchist?????

[ahinton]

This almost completely echoes #190, the only real difference being your somewhat belated, if welcome, condemnation of the violence.

So why are you addressing this to me and not, say, Mr Barrett?

I'd have thought that this was obvious; it was you, not Mr Barrett or anyone else, who wrote "not a word of condemnation of those who did cause the trouble", hance my addressing that response to you and "not, say, Mr Barrett".

[P. G. Tipps]

I'd have thought that this was obvious; it was you, not Mr Barrett or anyone else, who wrote "not a word of condemnation of those who did cause the trouble", hance my addressing that response to you and "not, say, Mr Barrett".

Well, I was correct, wasn't I?

You hadn't condemned the violence at that point and you only saw fit to do so when challenged!

So we now have you (however belatedly) and I who have condemned the violence and Mr Barrett who has condoned it, so take the matter up with him, not me!

[MrGongGong]

I wonder what the people of Romania would make of mr PG and his views on demonstrations?

[Richard Barrett]

I wonder what the people of Romania would make of mr PG and his views on demonstrations?

Or the people who brought down the Berlin Wall, or those who brought down the Milošević government, etc.

[ahinton]

Well, I was correct, wasn't I?

In what? In not condemning violent acts in such demonstration, Mr Barrett clearly did not condone them either and he has clarified his regret at their occurrence when they do occur, so I don't see what your problem is here.

You hadn't condemned the violence at that point and you only saw fit to do so when challenged!

I hadn't been asked; only you, it seems, expect that everyone should either overtly condemn it or overtly endorse it and only you appear to take omission of mention of it as endorsement of it, though by what kind of logic you do this I have no idea.

So we now have you (however belatedly) and I who have condemned the violence and Mr Barrett who has condoned it, so take the matter up with him, not me!

Mr Barrett did not condone it as such and, as I have already told you, he has made his position on it quite clear, as indeed have I; I therefore have no need to take up the matter with him and I do so with you only in an attempt to put you right on it.

[ahinton]

Or the people who brought down the Berlin Wall, or those who brought down the Milošević government, etc.

Indeed; one might likewise wonder what PGT made of them, so I wonder if he will tell us?

[P. G. Tipps]

I wonder what the people of Romania would make of mr PG and his views on demonstrations?

I doubt they would be at all interested and they toppled a brutal communist dictatorship not a democracy.

Not that I could possibly condone the savage way the dictator and his wife ended their days at the hands of the mob. Equally, the savage deaths of Mussolini and Gaddafi and even Saddam tend to revolt me when I think about them ....

[ahinton]

I doubt they would be at all interested and they toppled a brutal communist dictatorship not a democracy.

Not that I could possibly condone the savage way the dictator and his wife ended their days at the hands of the mob. Equally, the savage deaths of Mussolini and Gaddafi and even Saddam tend to revolt me when I think about them ....

I see - so such demonstrations, even if they include violent conduct, are acceptable if they are for the specific purposes of overthrowing brutal communist dictatorships, which prompts me to ask if you also believe them to be acceptable for the purpose of overthrowing other kinds of dictatorship, brutal or otherwise? Whilst you continue to condemn such behaviour in a "democracy", one man or woman's democracy is another man or woman's something else and I'm less than convinced that one could, for example, call present-day Britain entirely "democratic".

[MrGongGong]

I see - so such demonstrations, even if they include violent conduct, are acceptable if they are for the specific purposes of overthrowing brutal communist dictatorships, which prompts me to ask if you also believe them to be acceptable for the purpose of overthrowing other kinds of dictatorship, brutal or otherwise? Whilst you continue to condemn such behaviour in a "democracy", one man or woman's democracy is another man or woman's something else and I'm less than convinced that one could, for example, call present-day Britain entirely "democratic".

What does the dictionary say?