In a discussion about the editor of the autobiographical papers of the greatest British hero of the Victorian Age, they described the editor thusly:
MacDonald Fraser was a contradictory figure. A patriotic right-winger who had a deep respect for other cultures and peoples; one of Hollywood’s most in-demand screenwriters who happily lived on the Isle of Man in a self-conscious recreation of “the good old days”; a fully paid-up reactionary who wished to reintroduce corporal and capital punishment, but who loathed British incursions abroad.
But are those things at all contradictory? At least on this side of the Atlantic. There are conservative cases, here, both for and against capital punishment, say. For and against incursions abroad. You could always be a YUGE patriot and still respect other cultures and people. If you can work for Hollywood, while also living half a world away, you are just very fortunate to not be standing calf deep in proverbial Cali filth.
Those points just seem all consistent, to me.
And now I want to dig out my Flashman novels.
1 comment:
The case for corporal punishment (whippings): it empties the jails of minor criminals who might just need a bit of pain and humiliation in order to correct their behavior. Could be used for traffic offenses, minor assaults, petty theft, drug offenses, drunkenness, etc. Could be repeated a couple of times before jail is resorted to. Heinlein made corporal punishment a part of the society he wrote of in Starship Troopers.
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