News1 min ago
Ken Livingstone - Nazi Jibe.
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Having seen the published transcript of the conversation, it seems Mr Livinsgtone was offensive from the outset, based on his obvious distaste for the Evening Standard, rather than the individual reporter. That said, he was offensive in his remarks, which he compounded, having been advised that the reporter was Jewish.
Mr Livingstone should apologise because his remarks were personal and he pursued the point well past the point where his opinion had been registered by the reporter.
Everyone makes mistakes - that's why they put rubbers on the end of pencils. To stubbornly carry on with this issue is small-minded and nasty, even more so for being dressed up as a point of 'principle'.
Definitely not apologise. I agree that if this reporter found his remarks offensive, he should not be working where he does.
Morello - read the ranscript - he did know he was Jewish - the reporter told him after Ken Livingstone asked if he was a German War Criminal. The reporter said that he was Jewish and found that offensive - that is when Livingstone made the crack about the concentrarion camp guard.
However, I still do think that no apology is required.This reminds me of a case a while ago where a senior (nurse I think) said something along the lines of "its like 10 little n1ggers" refering to the Agatha Christie book title where people went missing. She was sacked from her job as it was offensive.
Yes, it may be offensive, however he was making a (valid) point. Just saying that you are doing your job is not an excuse!
And for theose Mail (and Evening Standard) readers who think this is abhorrent, I suggest you look at editorials from these papers in the run up to war - ie Hitlers not really that bad, no to Jewish immigration etc.
I think that bearing a grudge over bad press makes KL look petty - after all, he was a restaurant critc for the ES for five years.
I admire Ken's principles in refusing to become a liar with an apology he doesn't mean. However, it seem that the word 'sorry' would solves a lot of problems - and who is the mug in a known-to-be-false apology? He who makes it or those who gleefully accept it while knowing it to be insincere?
How far are we going to go. Is flicking a v sign now anti French and hence racist (Long bow and archers and the French etc - and thousands would have died in that battle).
And lets face it ...... there were plenty of people in Nazi Germany who were 'just doing what they were told'..... just as there are now in this country with the war on Terrorism.
However, his question "What did you do before, were you a German War Criminal"?
http://tinyurl.com/5sx9j
seems mental!
Is he implying that being an Evening Standard reporter is a logical progression from being a war criminal, or that the 2nd is a prerequisite for the first?
Concentration camps were started by the British in the Boer War(s)
Politicians do not need to apologise for their beliefs or statements, as long as they are not breaking any laws. It is for the electorate to decide whether the person deserves to represent the people, balancing all the facts
Agree with Oneeyedvic, that ES / Mail reporters should consider their employers track record before passing judgement
I can't see that there's actually anything to apologise for.
Livingstone made an analogy between reporters harassing people in a way that they knew was 'not on' because their editors told them to and the excuse used by many nazis at Nuremburg to excuse what they did to the Jews - 'I was only following orders'.
In doing so, he implicitly expressed his view that the behaviour of the nazis was unacceptable and was, if anything, making a *pro*-Jewish comment (if one needs to analyse it to that extent).
Apparently the journalist is not familiar with the art of analogy.