Uninformed bigot!!!

braveduck

braveduck

Active member
On the BBC 4 progam Any Questions today.
Sir Gerald Kaufman MP said that Norman Kember (rescued Iraq hostage)
had been as irrisponsible as potholers who go down caves and expect other people to risk their lives to get them out!!!!!!!!


Should we just ignore this comment or what?
 
D

darkplaces

Guest
Sir Gerald Kaufman MP = TWAT

Just shows, MP's dont know sh!t and someone who has to have a Sir assigned to them by someone else isnt worth the respect they think they can demand.

Ignore his comment, I'm happy to make a very public and googleable protest at his total brain failure.

Norman Kember is a bit of a twat thinking that happy thoughts, flowers and being a christian will save Iraq, these wishy woshy people deserve to dieout. life is hard get a helmet! Oh you lot have...... :)
 
P

Peter Burgess

New member
braveduck:

I know we're not really supposed to pick up on other people's spelling mistakes, but there is a difference between a uniformed bigot and an uninformed one... I thought this post was about a member of the police, or armed forces until I read it!

And I'd rather make the acquaintance of Norman Kember as a person, than an MP who can't grasp the simple fact that people do like a bit of danger and adventure in their lives (and I'm talking about cavers, not peace campaigners!)
 
whitelackington

whitelackington

New member
a friend of mine once replied to an enqiring police woman
" irrsponsible, irresposible, my middle names irresponsible"

he was a caver
 
braveduck

braveduck

Active member
OK so I made a spelling mistake,no spelling checker on the forum!

Now concentrate on the subject matter please.
 
SamT

SamT

Moderator
topic title edited to keep this thread on track :wink:

If I had enough time tonight , I could get rather worked up about this - I might write and email to this MP telling him what I think.

(ah, the beauty of email - never has the phrase "well write to your mp" been so easy).
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Can I respectfully suggest that, if you "googlably" want to convince the world that this MP is misinformed, you really should choose your words more carefully. People are only convinced by logical argument. We all know that the jealously guarded ethos of rescue in this country is all to do with cavers rescuing cavers. On a rescue you are realy just doing what you also do for pleasure on normal trips. Long may it remain so.

But you're right; democratically elected people who have been credited with knighthoods or whatever really should get their facts right and not make shoddy use of stereotypes. Think what that led to in Nazi Germany. The fact that this MP is a Christian is irrelevant - remember, if you really want to convince Joe Public - you also have to avoid the same trap.

Braveduck - good for your for raising this.

Peter - loved the pun!
 
cap n chris

cap n chris

Well-known member
Given my observations in Goatchurch Cavern yesterday, I'd say Mr. Kaufmann has a very good point indeed - also, it is entirely understandable that there is an adverse reaction to being labelled "irresponsible" among the well-equipped, highly experienced, well-trained, considerate bunch who frequent this forum but....

When you see people wearing bog-standard clothes, with no helmets (hitting their heads on low rock ceilings), with no survey and obviously lost it is an entirely fair comment to call these people irresponsible - even more so when they have children with them.

Rescuers, on the other hand, are at the opposite end of the scale.
 
graham

graham

New member
Strikes me that although Mr Kaufmann's comment can be taken out of context and applied to all who descend into the depths, owing to his unfortunate use of the word "potholer", he isn't far wrong about some people, as Chris sagely notes.

I suggest that anyone wishing to write to him on the subject bears this in mind.
 
AndyF

AndyF

New member
braveduck said:
On the BBC 4 progam Any Questions today.
Sir Gerald Kaufman MP said that Norman Kember (rescued Iraq hostage)
had been as irrisponsible as potholers who go down caves and expect other people to risk their lives to get them out!!!!!!!!


Should we just ignore this comment or what?
Click to expand...

Perhaps as irresponsible as getting involved in a war because the yanks told us to...???
 
Les W

Les W

Active member
AndyF said:
http://www.writetothem.com/

I did this on another subject, and got a reply....
Click to expand...

I was moved to write to my MP (the site won't let you write to anybody else)

But after spending some time composing a reasoned argument against Mr Kaufman I decided to read the guidance about what your MP can do for you (not a lot!) and decided that he probably wouldn't bother to pass on my concerns.
How can I write to Gerald Kaufman directly? - the labour party web site dosen't give any links to him directly (too scared perhaps)
 
braveduck

braveduck

Active member
Two of us heard this broadcast,and we both decided that the way it was said the implication was that this happens on most visits to the underworld.It was not complimentary in any way.
With the right computer program anyone can listen to this broadcast on the internet,just find radio 4 and follow the instructions.
 
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