Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Blast! I wish I could write like Mark Steyn ...

Steyn is the British expat living in Toronto whose 'wit of write' makes the average columnist read like a fifth-grade grammar student. In today's column for the Telegraph he exposes the chattering journo-boobs who are piling on Prince Harry (of whom I hardly approve) for making the witheringly stupid decision to wear a swastika-emblazoned version of Rommel's desert kit.

While I think the young royal is simply reflecting the nascent anti-semitism inherent in the "Hooray Henry" contingent that constitute his circle of friends, the swiftness to which his detractors engaged in condemning him reveals far more about the lack of perspective, let alone history, the supposedly well-educated have made about this essentially teenage boy. Of course, he does it with far better humor and panache than I ever could:

"It's a good rule of thumb that, no matter how big an idiot someone is, he can never compete with the political class's response to his idiocy. Thus, whatever feelings of unease I might have had about Prince Hitler were swept away the moment the rent-a-quote humbugs started lining up to denounce him.

I say to Harry: you go, girlfriend, you Reichstone Cowboy you. It's uniforms night at my pad every Thursday and you're more than welcome, Your Royal Heilness."



Unlike many Democrats, I'll assume you have a healthy sense of irony and will 'get' that Steyn's having fun. The meat of the column comes a moment later:

"The French sports minister suggested the 'scandal' would undermine Britain's bid to host the Olympics. Londoners should be so lucky.

But, if I understand the concern of the sporting world correctly, being a totalitarian state that's killed millions is no obstacle to hosting the Olympics, but going to a costume party wearing the uniform of a defunct totalitarian state that's no longer around to kill millions is completely unacceptable."



Ouch. Read it all, but if you lack humor I'd suggest doing so with a tincture of topical iodine at the ready as Steyn's words sting.



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