I Believe George Orwell...

....would have had some sympathy for this traitor:

I betrayed Britain to Germany
By Dr Anthony Daniels
(Filed: 18/04/2004)

One sign of a nation's weakness or cultural insecurity is hypersensitivity
to the criticism of others, even - or perhaps especially - if the criticism
is justified. And the strongly antagonistic response to the article
published last week in Der Spiegel about the state of Britain - in which the
magazine's London correspondent suggested that this royal throne of kings
was not in all respects a shining beacon to the world - demonstrated the
paranoid and small-minded touchiness of the justly accused, and precisely
how tin-pot this country has become.


As it happens, I was quoted extensively in the article. I had told Der
Spiegel's correspondent that in my view the triumphant vulgarity, the
widespread public drunkenness, and the unbridled and egotistical
individualism that are so prevalent in Britain, and that can be observed in
almost any town or city in the country, have turned Britain into a living
hell for millions of its quieter and better citizens. Our country is
probably the most crime-ridden in the Western world, and leads in almost all
the indices of social pathology - practically the only things it leads in.
Our old people live under a virtual curfew imposed upon them at dusk by
young people. Our streets are among the most littered in the world, because
we are incapable of keeping our rubbish to ourselves and see no reason why
we should. Wherever British young adults congregate abroad, they are
justifiably loathed for their arrogant uncouthness, which has an almost
ideological undercurrent: who are you to tell me not to behave like this?
Every man has an inalienable right, after all, to vomit in the gutter and
bare his backside to passers-by if he so desires. What others want is of no
account.
A publicly-funded radio station asked to interview me about my comments to
Der Spiegel. I guessed, of course, that the interviewer would be hostile to
my point of view, because I knew from long experience that most people who
work in broadcasting have a vested interest in the promotion or flattery of
vulgarity. They pretend to believe that the man in the street can do no
wrong, a pretence that is a debased or perverted form of democratic
sentiment.
Having implied that I was exaggerating, that my depiction of the country was
unrecognisable to ordinary people, the interviewer threw the discussion open
to the listeners, asking them whether what I said was true or whether I was
unfairly denigrating our wonderful country.
The first - and, as it turned out, the last - person given the air was an
old lady who said that in her opinion I hadn't put it strongly enough. The
country was far worse than I depicted. If only she had enough money, she
said, she would leave. She did not sound like a natural cosmopolitan to me,
and her comments appeared to have more than satisfied the radio station's
thirst for public opinion, which was not further canvassed. It is, after
all, the whole function of the silent majority to remain silent.
The author of the article, Matthias Mattusek, was interviewed by a similar
radio station. He told me by email that it had been more or less implied to
him that I was a traitor for having spoken to a German publication in this
fashion. I replied to him by email, signing myself The Traitor.
He then wrote me a further email: "German Enemy to Traitor: Good job - will
transfer 1 million reichsmark to your account in Rio de Janeiro - stop." He
also offered me a witness protection programme, "which would include some
minor plastic surgery, I think you are familiar with the procedure". Here is
the world truly turned upside down: the Germans with a better sense of
humour than the British.