George Monbiot is an archetypal example of a tremendously well-educated twat! I keep thinking that he was never born, he simply walked off the pages of the old 'Peter Simple' columns in The Daily Telegraph. You need only provide him with a few facts, a few falsehoods and a hard-luck story and he will fall for any old nonsense that comes along. Lest you doubt me, read his Wiki entry. And yet . . . and yet . . .
I am thinking seriously of starting a 'Save George Monbiot for the Nation' campaign. This blithe, ineffable ninny steams gently through life fueled (er, eco-friendly fuel, natch!) by every daft idea that ever was thought of and in the process, from time to time, placing himself in extreme danger. Gradually, very gradually, it dawns on him that some of his daft ideas are, well, daft and then - and this is why I like him - he changes his mind! I don't wish to over-emphasise this characteristic because it does take an enormous amount of contradictory evidence, of the sort which is blindingly obvious to a detached observer, before little Georgie sees the light, but even so, he is capable of changing his opinion and is not afraid to publish it.
On Boxing Day he wrote an article for The Guardian which, in its sweet innocence and its absolute and complete honesty, sums the man up. I will not attempt any sort of summary but instead urge you to read it in full. I will simply confine myself to giving you the title: "The day my inner anarchist lost out to the bourgeois me". Says it all, really! Good man, that Monbiot, even if he is as daft as a sack of frogs!
Monbiot is not daft. This is daft. (Via Malcolm Pollack)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-penn/jacob-ostreicher-released_b_2341809.html
Posted by: Dom | Friday, 28 December 2012 at 13:03
Nature abhors Georgie Mumsbott.
Posted by: dearieme | Friday, 28 December 2012 at 13:29
Naive and lacking in worldly wisdom, probably because he had such a privileged childhood; and painfully slow to learn. There are many people like him, and given a nice sinecure, a supportive village, and a more hard-headed spouse, they can thrive. The only difficulty is that the electronic media allow him to spread his daft ideas to a wider audience.
Posted by: Whyaxye | Friday, 28 December 2012 at 15:23
Dom, truly may it be said that you do things bigger and better 'over there', Penn succeeds in out-Monbioting Monbiot!
A tad vacant, you think, DM?
Most of his senior family, 'W', were staunch Tories so perhaps he has only been doing what we all tend to do, rebel against our parents. On the other hand, most of us get over it by the age of 21!
Posted by: David Duff | Saturday, 29 December 2012 at 09:14