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Charles Dickens museum in Kent vandalised by ex-Green councillor decrying author 'racist'
Express ^ | 6/30/2020 | BRIAN MCGLEENON

Posted on 06/29/2020 11:11:15 PM PDT by Borges

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, a former Green Party councillor has daubed the Charles Dickens museum with the words "Dickens Racist, Dickens Racist". that he will make "no apology" for what he has done because the author was a "notorious genocidal racist". Ian Driver from Kent, said he will make "no apology" for what he has done because the author was a "notorious genocidal racist".

Mr Driver cited the famous character of Fagin in Oliver Twist as being an anti-Semitic stereotype.

The words were daubed on The Dickens House Museum in Broadstairs, Kent.

But, father of three Mr Driver told how he perceived this area of Kent to have an underbelly of racism.

Mr Driver said today: "I have been campaigning for quite a long time about what I regard to be institutional racism in Thanet and Broadstairs in particular.

anything about it.

"I think it is quite demeaning towards black people and there is no justification for it.

"But after the Black Lives Matter protests and seeing people learn their local history like the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, I decided to do some digging into my hometown of 12 years.

"Charles Dickens is celebrated in Broadstairs like a local hero and money maker just because he wrote a few books here.

"In reality, he was a notorious genocidal racist and should be depicted as such.

"That's the real Dickens."

The former councillor explained how Charles Dickens was an enthusiastic supporter of British Imperialism.

He said: "He supported the Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica in 1865.

"He also supported the suppression of the Indian rebellion in 1857 saying their race should be wiped out and also referred to black and Asian people as savages.

"There is no defending him yet there is a whole museum dedicated to him on my doorstep with no mention of his other life as a racist.

"The National Portrait Gallery even has a few paragraphs explaining this other side of history.

"I think it's important to get both sides and a balanced view."


TOPICS: Culture/Society
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To: nopardons

Personally I think Dickens was massively overrated and could really have used a good editor in his collected works when they were published in book form (after serialization). Yes, I know he got paid by the word when they were released as serials, but the book form wasn’t so.


21 posted on 06/29/2020 11:51:49 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Borges
"Dickens Racist, Dickens Racist". that he will make "no apology" for what he has done because the author was a "notorious genocidal racist"

Sanger Racist, Sanger Racist founder of Planed Parenthood notorious genocidal racist. She founded Planned Parenthood to get Black mothers to abort their babies in the hope that the Black race would perform genocide on themselves.

Someone needs to infiltrate BLM and planet that little nugget of truth in their minds.

It could drive a wedge between the BLM and the Democrats that just might be the salvation of our nation.

The Democrats are doing their best to protect the BLM on Capitol Hill. It the BLM starts attacking Planned Parenthood it might change the Democrats in Washington.

Planned Parenthood is one the Democrats favorite money trees.

22 posted on 06/29/2020 11:51:59 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit)
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To: nopardons

Despite the way they are slandered by Leftists, the Victorians were animated by reform. When they thought something was wrong they fixed it. Dickens didn’t slander the wealthy. There are plenty of benevolent men of wealth in his work.


23 posted on 06/29/2020 11:53:47 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

Oh yes he was; though Marx was alive and sadly well at this time.


24 posted on 06/29/2020 11:54:21 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Borges

Let me at him. I’m gonna shove a brass hearth cricket up his Limey ass.


25 posted on 06/29/2020 11:55:44 PM PDT by Viking2002 ("If a really stupid person becomes senile......how can you tell?" - George Carlin)
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To: Spktyr

True, but I’ve always enjoyed most of his work. There are a few that I still find interminable, boring, and worthless; THE PICKWICK PAPERS being the worst of the lot.


26 posted on 06/29/2020 11:56:46 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons

Pickwick starts slow but the comic characters and their interactions are wonderful. IT is virtually plotless though.


27 posted on 06/29/2020 11:58:21 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges
You need to read more of Dickens' works! He slanders and ridicules many a wealthy character as well as the "do gooders"...whom he saw as doing NO good at all!

Prince Albert actually did more FOR the poor ( through his wife, who made suggestions to the government ) than blabby Dickens ever did! What were Prince Albert's suggestions you might ask? Well two of the BIG ones were free education for ALL children and new public housing for the poor which were NOT cramped, nor tenements, nor in any way slums and which had running water and a bathroom in each apartment!

28 posted on 06/30/2020 12:02:11 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: Borges

I’ve ALWAYS hated that book; really and truely massively HATED it...find it unreadable in the extreme. Each to his own, though, I always say.


29 posted on 06/30/2020 12:04:22 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons

Thsanks for that imfo.


30 posted on 06/30/2020 12:05:21 AM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts (M / F) : Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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To: nopardons

He was mocking what we call limousine liberals. People with a “cause” (typically wealthy women). But virtually all hif novels have people doing the right thing with their wealth. Oliver Twist does. Hell the Pickwickians are wealthy old men and are very lovable.


31 posted on 06/30/2020 12:08:19 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges
Do these folks who are screaming racism realize that they are actually the racists? How so? Blaming the whole for the acts of a few....saying no one should have free speech or be entitled to their opinion except themselves.

Yes, it's the protesters who are racists.

32 posted on 06/30/2020 12:09:22 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Borges

Yeah, that really wasn’t fair to Dickens. He was a ‘progressive’ social-welfare advocate, but not a Marxist.


33 posted on 06/30/2020 12:15:43 AM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: nopardons

I’ve enjoyed using his works... as jackstand padding.


34 posted on 06/30/2020 12:18:12 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: nopardons

I’ve been reading a collection of his stories. I probably won’t finish them all before I die, but I’m still enjoying them. I watched a British produced program on the man. I hadn’t realized that he was an adulterer, who dumped his wife and kids, for a younger woman. When I heard the tale of how he treated his wife and children, I saw the man in a whole new light. I’m currently reading Martin Chuzzlewit. The introduction pointed out that Dickens was not a fan of the U.S., and it shows in this story. I’ve only gotten to the part where Martin has arrived in the U.S., so he hasn’t really had much interaction with Americans as yet.


35 posted on 06/30/2020 12:42:24 AM PDT by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne)
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To: Borges; nopardons
It's commonplace to excuse traces of antisemitism etc in Dickens and others as simply reflecting the cultural norms of their time. But that isn't universal. Daniel Deronda, for instance, by his slightly younger contemporary George Eliot, is a remarkably sympathetic and prophetic study of early Zionism, as well as being one of the greatest English novels.
36 posted on 06/30/2020 12:53:24 AM PDT by Winniesboy
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To: Borges

The Pickwick Papers were the first I read in the Kindle book of his stories. I enjoyed it, and as you said, the characters were wonderful.


37 posted on 06/30/2020 1:02:08 AM PDT by mass55th ("Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." ~~ John Wayne)
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To: Borges
Stupid fool.   It's not racism.   It's classism.   British elites are the betters.   The yeoman and others below have to look up to their betters.   They still have a Queen.   How does this fool not know that?
38 posted on 06/30/2020 1:09:26 AM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
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To: Mr. N. Wolfe
Sounds like the beginning of a limerick.

Oh, no, what have you started? :-)

Ian Driver from Kent,
Up to the building, he went,
Graffiti he scrawled,
On the Dickens House wall,
And now to the judge he'll be sent.

:-)

39 posted on 06/30/2020 1:14:17 AM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: Mr. N. Wolfe

Ian Driver from Kent,
Over Charles Dickens got bent,
He messed up his house,
Like a shitty little mouse,
and now has the dickens to pay.


40 posted on 06/30/2020 1:27:41 AM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (??)
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