Leftish historians go out of their way to be nice about Niall Ferguson, the snotty-nosed prickish historian best known to Australians as presenter of the Ascent of Money on the ABC. Almost insanely ambitious, a professor in both the History and Business schools of Harvard, Ferguson specialty this past decade had been an attempt to rehabilitate British imperialism as a positive mission, and to give Americans (in the Bush era) the backbone to take up the white man’s burden.
But the Kissinger-path to Secretary of State he so desperately sought was frustrated by the collapse not only of the Republican Party, but also the failure of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. What’s a History Man to do? Make cute jokes about the President, it seems. Writing in the FT, Ferguson notes that Obama is like Felix the Cat — “he’s black and he’s lucky”. Gosh ha ha, snort snort. No it’s not racist, but it’s the sleazy sort of condescension that allows one to claim innocence when challenged — “these state school types have no sense of humour”.
What could have prompted Ferguson to such a tactless move? Could it that this child of white settlers in Kenya — nostalgia for which is a large part of his imperialist enthusiasm — now finds his ambitions stymied by a man who, had history been otherwise, might have been his servant? No wonder he’s catty.
Niall Ferguson is just one of a long line of British academic popularisers who have left grotty little England for the USA. It’s a package: they retail their accent and tailor their message to the middle of the American Right, where the money is. They often (safely) ridicule the religious right, not to mention the lunatic right, but the dog whistle is always to the great white whale of Republican middle America. Sensible career move- after all, hustlers aren’t fools.
I spent a minute reading this, figured that it must have been an attempt at humour, given the content and the irony in the title. And so I read it again. Still not funny, and two minutes lost that I will never get back again.
So, Kim, is it Niall’s accent that activates your prejudices, or is it his obvious intellect and demonstrated success that sticks in your craw?
Frankly, this article says much more about you than it does about Niall.