When the Drums Begin to Roll

I’ve just been having discussions with some of our British friends about the general fastidiousness and disdain shown by the English middle- and upper-classes towards the working-class “fascist brutes” of the English Defence League. It put me in mind of a certain poem by Rudyard Kipling, especially since the leader of the EDL has taken “Tommy Robinson” as his nom de guerre.

So let’s dedicate this one to Tommy Robinson and the English Defence League:

Tommy
by Rudyard Kipling

I went into a public-’ouse to get a pint o’ beer,
The publican ’e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”
The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:
     O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”;
     But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band
          begins to play,
     The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
     O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but ’adn’t none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-’alls,
But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!
     For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy,
          wait outside”;
     But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide,
     The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide,
     O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.

Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.
     Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’
          “Tommy, ’ow’s yer soul?”
     But it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
     The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
     O it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll.

We aren’t no thin red ’eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;
     While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy,
          fall be’ind”,
     But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble
          in the wind,
     There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
     O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble
          in the wind.

You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
     For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out,
          the brute!”
     But it’s “Saviour of ’is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
     An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
     An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool — you bet that Tommy sees!

22 thoughts on “When the Drums Begin to Roll

  1. Mimosa–

    I don’t know if your nic means the flower or the drink, but my you have eclectic tastes.

    Definitely a 21st century kinda gurl…

    Psychobilly? That’s even stranger than “bluegrock”…

  2. may just ‘swipe’ this-reminds me of a Kipling I coupled w/ Jefferson and Madison’s handling of the Barbary Pirates:
    Kipling:

    “We never pay any on Dane-geld,
    No matter how trifling the cost.
    For the end of the game is
    oppression and shame,
    And the nation that pays it
    is lost!”
    C-CS

  3. So, what’s going on with the EDL? I’ve read on Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs that they’ve been infiltrated by fascists and neo-Nazis. What’s up?

  4. Great! I love the EDL and Tommy. For anyone questioning them:

    1. They know what they’re doing and they know the enemy. They’re mot about to be “infiltrated.:
    2. They DO get press saying that they either are infiltrated or that they are (the usual slurs) far-right, nationalistic, facist, etc. When they are actively opposing the facists themselves, it reads a litle silly. But people do believe.
    3. They have their own web sites and forums. Just put it in the search bar and talk to them yourselves. (Notice: I will NEVER use “google” as a verb and think people who do might want to research those people. Even good conservatives use it, and it’s a shame.)

    Last I read of Tommy, the islamists were marching with their black flag (which means they are declaring/at war), and Tommy somehow got to them and pulled it away. If I have the story right, he was arrested for assault. But don’t take my word — ask them yourselves.

  5. Armance,

    Looks like Spencer & Geller (not to be confused with the Vegas magicians Penn & Teller) have thrown the EDL under the bus. Read the comments to that Jihad Watch article written by Geller (with which Spencer agrees “wholeheartedly”) and, thanks to the limited freedom of speech still cultivated at Jihad Watch, you’ll see some informative counter-responses — either providing actual counter-information, or at the very least pointing out that Geller’s evidence for such a damning sweeping charge is wanting.

    And, as Lawrence Auster says on his blog, although Geller accuses the EDL of “doing a Charles Johnson”, it is in fact Geller and Spencer who are doing a Charles Johnson: to wit, damning and smearing a group through the flimsily substantiated rumor of guilt by “Fascist” cooties.

    How much longer before Spencer & Geller throws (I use the singular to denote the single entity of conjoined twins) Fjordman under the bus?

  6. CS —

    Wow! That’s amazing. I had no idea that Pamela and Robert were still jumping whenever Charles says “jump!”

    Why in the world do they still let him yank their chain?

    Unbelievable!

  7. Cut from the same cloth, perhaps. They live in the media bubble, everything that happens within that bubble is magnified, everything outside it is dulled and as a consequence they quickly lose the ability to see reality. They are no longer the common people, they are celebrities and, as such, they have no contact with anyone who isn’t either luvvying them or treating them as something other than normal.

    Geller and Spencer are also distant. I had a brief throw-down with Pamela last year over some issue (very brief, it must be said) and I realised that, intelligent as she is, she has no actual knowledge of what’s going on over here. She, like any journalist, thinks a brief visit and a few contacts (who, because of the prestige of association with her, are willing to distort their view in order to maintain that contact) are the same as being there all the time.

    I have a prediction, based on my admittedly limited experience of her and spencer: They throw geert wilders under the bus within a year or two, and most of the european anti-jihad shortly afterwards. Not to the extent of actively opposing them, as chunk has done, but merely in a “I’m disappointed I can no longer support him” way.

    Anything else would harm their own prestige.

  8. Well Baron, it’s that good ol’ Nazi specter. Works every time! And Charles is slimy enough to use it in the most debased manner.

    Pamela and Robert have got chips operated into their brains so that just a little hand waving with the Nazi card will make them immediately jump. Billions of people on this planet have such a chip installed in their brain.

    So more credit should be given to the chip than to “the chuck”.

  9. Graham,

    It’s hard to say where Spencer is heading. But he did come to Sweden to speak for the Sweden Democrats last year. And if you go to the link above you’ll see that he just posted an “important statement from EDL chief Tommy Robinson”.

    I think he will continue forward in this wobbly kind of way. Brave, eloquent and somewhat “jumpy”.

  10. Hey wait! I’d like to take that back. I just saw that Robert Spencer has taken down the link to my blog.

    He’s doomed. He’s doooomed. By taking away his link to me he has left the golden path of moderation, and is prone to fall into a bottomless pit of moral degeneration 🙂

  11. I have a prediction, based on my admittedly limited experience of her and spencer: They throw geert wilders under the bus within a year or two, and most of the european anti-jihad shortly afterwards.

    It might happen even sooner than a year.

    I’ve just read the EDL forum and how the whole affair started, and I feel a bitter taste in my mouth: I have to say that Tommy Robinson and other EDL people are martyr material and have the patience of saints for standing so long bullies like that Roberta Moore and a few others in their midst. They should be beatified, for their long endurance, as the first Saints of the Inclusive, Multicultural, Transnational Counterjihad. No wonder some EDLers love beer so much: not exactly because of some old respectable habits of the British working class or of the football fans, but you have to drink into oblivion to stand that level of hassle for the sake of “we’re so proud to have a Sikh, a Jewish, a gay division”.

    Normally, an organization called the ENGLISH Defence League should be first and foremost about defending the culture and identity related to Englishness, and anything else just as by-products or as tactical means to form a strategic alliance. If a Sikh, a Jew and a homosexual want to be a part of that organization, they can do it only individually, according to their personal merits and joining the local branches of the EDL.

    Otherwise, it will continue to be an association between many saints, and a few ruffians.

    But congratulations, Tommy Robinson, for your patience.

  12. vladdy1: Last I read of Tommy, the islamists were marching with their black flag (which means they are declaring/at war), and Tommy somehow got to them and pulled it away. If I have the story right, he was arrested for assault.

    This incident received extensive coverage at Gates of Vienna. It also inspired me to design a flag for general use in the Counterjihad.

  13. As an aside, call it the Paris Hilton Effect ― as in being famous solely for being famous ― but it certainly appears as though Spencer and, particularly, Geller have been infected by the celebrity meme.

    Since I do not track them at all there is no way to be sure but it really does seem as though both of them are becoming more concerned about cultivating and reinforcing their celebrity status than fighting in the Counterjihad.

  14. FWIW Kipling should be taught in High School Literature classes, PC/MC be damned. Politics aside, he is a FINE WRITER in any case Have thought about this one and Robinson/Lennon for a long time.

    Dr. Shalit

  15. The black flag of Islam has flown in Engliand far longer than that. I saw it when I was at university a decade ago, at a recruiting table sending young boys off to fight against the British Army in foreign countries – though that was in bradford, which is hardly England any more.

  16. And now I’m double-posting, which I try to avoid, because I forgot to answer conswede:

    I suppose you’re right about spencer, he seems to be the better of the two, knows his stuff and all that. I’ve grown sceptical of Geller who, though she does a lot of good, is prone to bandwaggoning and tends to think in terms of herself rather than the cause, which is why I suspect she’ll be dumping Europe soon. And as long as Spencer is within her circle it’s easy to see him following her lead.

  17. Conservative Swede,

    The added ironic wrinkle to the Spencer-Geller behavior is important to note: They themselves claim to be above such guilt by association, they themselves claim to be valiantly unswayed by such guilt by association, and they themselves claim to find such guilt by association reprehensible. And now they’re precisely perpetrating and indulging in such guilt by association — worse yet, with reference to good and needed allies in the AIM.

    If that isn’t an exquisitely classic example of hypocrisy, I don’t know what is.

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