# Doper's Hero John Cleese A Souper Seekrit Nazi? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736 "2019-05-29T21:08:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/61 "2019-05-30T17:09:52Z")
Sir, could you wait until morning to yell at the cloud? Some of us are trying to sleep… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/62 "2019-05-30T19:16:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Stanislaus** : > > One thing that isn’t subjective is his claim that London was the city with that voted most strongly to remain. And it’s a false claim: Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen all had Remain vote shares higher than London’s 59.9%. Yes, but those aren’t Real Cities, so they don’t count. Everyone knows that The City is only London, and only a part of London, at that. So since London was the only City that voted, clearly it was the City with the highest Remain vote. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/63 "2019-05-30T19:19:59Z")
I would like to hear, though, which/how many Dopers regard Cleese as a “hero”. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/64 "2019-05-30T19:21:25Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > It’s not like he wrote the character of Basil Fawlty as someone who exploited, bullied and frequently assaulted a caricature of a Spanish person or anything. Basil Fawlty wasn’t supposed to be someone you looked up to. He was written as an ignorant jackass. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/65 "2019-05-30T20:00:45Z")
Hmm I don’t know. I don’t like the sound of these boncentration bamps. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/66 "2019-05-30T20:47:12Z")
No surprise that many people love to scream “racist” at every minor thing. And for the record I am a liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/67 "2019-05-30T21:00:22Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > No surprise that many people love to scream “racist” at every minor thing. And for the record I am a liberal. No surprise that a liberal, confronted with people discussing racism, decides to respond by mocking the people who are worried about racism. Plus ça change. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/68 "2019-05-30T21:03:23Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > No surprise that many people love to scream “racist” at every minor thing. And for the record I am a liberal. Thank you for making it official. We’ve all been wondering breathlessly. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/69 "2019-05-30T21:03:41Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > No surprise that many people love to scream “racist” at every minor thing. And for the record I am a liberal. Do you suppose that claiming to be a liberal somehow makes you exempt from being clueless about race? Or an authority? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/70 "2019-05-30T21:28:59Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > No, we mean English. It is a distinct nationality. Nothing to do with Scots and Welsh and Irish. Amazingly, we do have our own identity, even if it doesn’t come with a national costume! Oh, [but it does.](https://www.google.com/search?q=morris+dancers&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDxsHFmMTiAhVElKwKHTQ4CtoQ_AUIDygC&biw=1167&bih=610&dpr=1.56) Having read the quote in question, it seems pretty clearly that it’s a basic “back in my day …” kind of complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/71 "2019-05-30T22:18:20Z")
[Moderating] This is about John Cleese, not about **Bijou Drains**. If you have a beef with an individual poster, take it to the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/72 "2019-05-30T22:25:16Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Oh, [but it does.](https://www.google.com/search?q=morris+dancers&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDxsHFmMTiAhVElKwKHTQ4CtoQ_AUIDygC&biw=1167&bih=610&dpr=1.56) I thought [this](https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/Gumbys) was the national costume. ---
**Author:** ![Helmut\_Doork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e8c25b/32.png) [@Helmut\_Doork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helmut_Doork)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/73 "2019-05-30T22:33:14Z")
You want a real Nazi-esque comment from a universally loved older English entertainment legend, this from God himself: On 5 August 1976, (Eric) Clapton provoked an uproar and lingering controversy when he spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in Birmingham. Visibly intoxicated, Clapton voiced his support of controversial political candidate Enoch Powell, and announced on stage that Britain was in danger of becoming a “black colony”. Among other things, Clapton said, “Keep Britain white!” which was at the time a National Front (NF) slogan. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/74 "2019-05-30T23:18:07Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Basil Fawlty wasn’t supposed to be someone you looked up to. He was written as an ignorant jackass. And John Cleese played him well because there was always a chunk of Basil in him. He’s a funny dude but ‘exposing his own deep fuckupedness’ was always part of the funny. I like watching his stuff, but I wouldn’t be surprised if spending any amount of time in his actual presence led to wanting to punch him in the face ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/75 "2019-05-31T08:11:34Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > No surprise that many people love to scream “racist” at every minor thing. And for the record I am a liberal. I’ve found a lot of people pretend they are a liberal to make that comment. Similar to those who claim they voted remain, and then roll out every blackmail and bullying cliche that a leave supporter says… Anyway, is Cleese being racist, or just saying the same thing as the other racists in the acceptable terms nowadays? Let’s put it this way. Where does the “Nazis are Socialists!” crap come from? Well, simply, at some point the Nazis had to trick the centre ground into believing the Nazi party was something it was not to get the votes. There might even have been parts of the party which were vaguely socialist at the time, but those didn’t survive those purges. So they misused terms and got those votes. Nowadays, they don’t say “black people” or “indian people”, they say "not english"or “not british” (they usually mean the same thing to the small minded people targetted). This gets the vote of the some of the more conservative minorities, such as Indians in the Uk, with a “pretend its about empire and commonwealth which had brown people in it”. Then a sikh MEP gets shouted at to “go home” by masses of brexit supporters. Because that’s what they were REALLY voting for. Is Cleese being racist or nostalgic? Does it matter? He’s using the weaponised terminology of the far right when he really should know better. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/76 "2019-05-31T12:04:51Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > He’s also an ignorant twat: the object of his ire - Fraser Nelson - went to private school, and Glasgow University is hardly a frigging diploma-mill. Not only that, but I don’t think Nairn _has_ any tenements for him to be a ’ half-educated tenement Scot’ from! ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/77 "2019-05-31T15:06:21Z")
The apologetics of John Cleese is very strong in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![sps49sd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@sps49sd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sps49sd)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/78 "2019-05-31T18:10:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It’s almost quaint for an Englishman to be racist against Scots in this day and age. But it’s unquestionably racist. Cleese isn’t just a twat. He’s a bigot. Nationalist, chauvinist, being an ass, sure. But racist? Who considers the Scottish and the English different races? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/79 "2019-05-31T18:25:45Z")
> [@sps49sd](#): > > Nationalist, chauvinist, being an ass, sure. But racist? Who considers the Scottish and the English different races? Racists. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736/80 "2019-05-31T18:45:26Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > Not only that, but I don’t think Nairn _has_ any tenements for him to be a ’ half-educated tenement Scot’ from! I’ve only passed through Nairn - maybe stopped for an ice-cream once - but no, not a very tenementy sort of place at all. I wonder how the beanpole prick would describe an actual tenement Scot like Billy Connolly? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-hero-john-cleese-a-souper-seekrit-nazi/834736.md?page=5)