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Celerity

(43,791 posts)
Wed Jan 11, 2023, 05:16 AM Jan 2023

Unhinged: A.N. Wilson compares Harry to Hitler



Times Radio
@TimesRadio

"It is like reading Mein Kampf, in that Hitler thinks he's a great hero and you put the book down with absolute disgust. And you do put this book down with total disgust."

Readers finish Harry’s book with "disgust", journalist and author A.N. Wilson tells #TimesRadio.


Reminder:



Nadine Batchelor-Hunt
@nadinebh_

I’ve never seen this before and it makes the hounding of them by the British tabloids even more grotesque
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Unhinged: A.N. Wilson compares Harry to Hitler (Original Post) Celerity Jan 2023 OP
Message auto-removed Name removed Jan 2023 #1
Well, sometimes the truth is disgusting. Duppers Jan 2023 #2
Who is A. N. Wilson? hlthe2b Jan 2023 #3
+1 2naSalit Jan 2023 #5
+1000 Ray Bruns Jan 2023 #6
British historian Retrograde Jan 2023 #8
I would say "writer" rather than "historian" muriel_volestrangler Jan 2023 #9
The level of hate that people are willing to direct at them is amazing. Renew Deal Jan 2023 #4
Interesting. xmas74 Jan 2023 #7
Harry kicked ass last night on Colbert.. the far right characters in the UK are just like our Magas Peacetrain Jan 2023 #10

Response to Celerity (Original post)

hlthe2b

(102,575 posts)
3. Who is A. N. Wilson?
Wed Jan 11, 2023, 07:56 AM
Jan 2023

Last edited Wed Jan 11, 2023, 09:28 AM - Edit history (1)

and why should anyone care what he says on the matter?

On edit, I'm not just being snarky. I have no idea who he is and I'd venture to guess virtually no American does.

Retrograde

(10,186 posts)
8. British historian
Wed Jan 11, 2023, 12:05 PM
Jan 2023

Right wing to the point of being reactionary. I tried to read his book on Darwin but gave up after a few pages when it became clear he did not believe - or understand - modern theories of evolution.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,421 posts)
9. I would say "writer" rather than "historian"
Wed Jan 11, 2023, 12:28 PM
Jan 2023

He writes columns, and books, and has had a reputation both for writing on stuff he doesn't understand, as you say, and for off-the-cuff remarks that are libellous (eg he twice falsely accused David Attenborough of faking things in his wildlife documentaries).

His work before just being a writer was "lecturer in medieval literature" at Oxford for 7 years, according to Wikipedia, which gives this delightful anecdote:

In August 2006, Wilson's biography of Sir John Betjeman was published. It was then discovered that he had been the victim of a hoax perpetrated by Betjeman's disgruntled biographer Bevis Hillier. Wilson had included in the book a letter (to Anglo-Irish writer Honor Tracy), purportedly by Betjeman, detailing a previously unknown love affair. Wilson acknowledged the letter to be a fiction when it was pointed out that it contained an acrostic spelling out an insulting message to him: "AN Wilson is a shit".

Renew Deal

(81,900 posts)
4. The level of hate that people are willing to direct at them is amazing.
Wed Jan 11, 2023, 09:06 AM
Jan 2023

Some of the printed comments that I’ve seen are way over the top. Hitler, marching through the streets, and much more. I dying understand how people thinks it’s OK to think it, let alone say it.

xmas74

(29,685 posts)
7. Interesting.
Wed Jan 11, 2023, 09:27 AM
Jan 2023

I've read Mein Kampf and I've read Spare. One was the ravings of an egomaniac who eventually spread sheer hatred across the world. The other us about a man entering his middle ages who never got over the death of his young mother, feeling forced to live up to his brother's standards and realizing the family business is toxic to him.

If it's similar in that both needed lots of therapy, sure, but that's about it.

Peacetrain

(22,881 posts)
10. Harry kicked ass last night on Colbert.. the far right characters in the UK are just like our Magas
Wed Jan 11, 2023, 12:41 PM
Jan 2023

they are supported by the same tabloid source..

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