Militant Moderate

The Most Repugnant Thing About Polly Toynbee...

The Most Repugnant Thing About Polly Toynbee...
Is the way she has a loopy world-view, and then uses offensively moralising tones to degrade everyone who doesn't live up to her leftie standards. Both Devil's Kitchen and Trust People point out this gem from her latest column:

Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?

No, we didn't. Although of course I'd point out that no-one currently alive on earth right now could have asked him to, as we weren't yet born. That pedantry aside, presumably Polly is just angry that there wasn't a state agency that existed at the time to find a martyr to absolve us of our sins?

Why on earth does she find it a repugnant notion that Christ sacrificed his body in agony, simply because no-one asked him to? It is the unsolicited kindness of strangers that makes life as pleasant as it is. I didn't ask the man at Oxford station yesterday to help me lift my numerous and heavy bags on to the train. He offered to, and I wasn't about to stop him.

There's something nauseating about Toynbee's attitude there. If she doesn't believe in Christ, fine - although she should remember atheism is just as much based on belief as theism. But that's no excuse to be rude, unacceptably rude, without any attempt at intelligent criticism. After all, one of the hallmarks of a civilised society is that we behave with courtesy. The most repugnant thing about Polly Toynbee is that all too often, she doesn't.

posted by Richard H @ 2:33 PM