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Taki Theodoracopulos

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Taki Theodoracopulos
Born
Panagiotis Theodoracopulos

(1936-08-11) August 11, 1936 (age 87)
Greece
EducationThe Lawrenceville School
Occupation(s)Journalist, publisher, writer

Taki Theodoracopulos (Greek: Τάκης Θεοδωρακόπουλος; born August 11, 1936),[1] originally named Panagiotis Theodoracopulos and best known as Taki, is a Greek journalist and writer. He lives in New York City, London and Gstaad, Switzerland.[2]

Life

His column "High Life" has appeared in The Spectator since 1977, and he has also written for other US and UK publications. In 1984, Taki served three months in HM Prison Pentonville for the possession of cocaine.[3] He documented his prison experiences in Nothing to Declare: Prison Memoirs (1991).

In 2002, Taki founded The American Conservative magazine with Pat Buchanan and Scott McConnell. He was also the publisher of the British magazine Right Now![citation needed] He currently publishes and writes for Taki's Magazine, described as a libertarian webzine of "politics and culture."

Taki appeared in the 2013 James Toback film Seduced and Abandoned as himself.[4][5]

Taki has an interest in Oriental martial arts, holds a black belt in karate[6] and owned a yacht named Bushido (after the code of honour of Japanese Samurai warriors). The yacht was put up for sale in 2012.[7]

Controversies

Throughout his career, Taki has continually expressed unequivocally racist attitudes. For example in an article published on 2nd November 2000, Taki wrote that "On average, Orientals are slower to mature, less randy, less fertile, and have larger brains and higher IQ scores. Blacks are at the other pole, and whites fall somewhere in the middle, although closer to the Orientals than the blacks."[8]

In 2004, The Guardian accused Taki of using ethnic slurs, in an article criticizing then Spectator editor and MP and future Mayor of London and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson for employing him.[9] While Scotland Yard investigated Taki for some of his alleged racial comments, no charges were made.[10]

Fraser Nelson, editor of the Spectator, publicly endorsed Taki when taking up his post in September 2009: "Ah, Taki! For decades it has been traditional for a new Spectator editor to be inundated with calls to show his commitment to civility by hiring a new High Life columnist. But this time, not a soul has asked for him to be sacked. All I hear is how the old rogue has never been in better form. This won't please him much, as he prides himself on calls for his resignation. But it's not that Taki is conforming to the world. The world, I think, is finally conforming to him."[11]

In July 2013, Nelson defended[12] a column written by Taki headlined "A fascist takeover of Greece? We should be so lucky" in which he justified membership of the Golden Dawn organisation,[13] a "Greek far-right party" according to Press Gazette[12] and widely reported as neo-Nazi,[14] as reaction to the corruption of the political elite of Greece.

Bibliography

  • Theodoracopulos, Taki (1976). The Greek Upheaval : Kings, Demagogues and Bayonets. London: Stacey International. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |authormask= (help)
  • Taki and Jeffrey Bernard, High Life, Low Life, introduction by Richard West, edited by Cosmo Landesman. London: Jay Landseman, 1981. ISBN 0-905150-27-9
  • Taki, Princes, Playboys & High-Class Tarts, foreword by Tom Wolfe, illustrations by Blair Drawson. Princeton: Karz-Cohl Publishers, 1984. ISBN 0-943828-61-9
  • Taki, High Life, selected by Andrew Cameron, illustrated by Michael Heath. London: Viking, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82956-0
  • Taki, Nothing to Declare: Prison Memoirs, London: Viking, 1991. ISBN 0-670-83276-6
  • Glass, Charles (ed.), Taki: The Spectator Columns, 2001–2009, London, Quartet, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7043-7192-7

References

  1. ^ "Taki". The Spectator.
  2. ^ "Gstaad: The Last Resort". New York Times. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  3. ^ Ciar Byrne "The Indestructible Journos", The Independent, June 12, 2006
  4. ^ Theodoracopulos, Taki (May 25, 2013), "What's Cannes all about? Seducing someone important: High life", The Spectator, retrieved November 11, 2013
  5. ^ Ross, Deborah (November 9, 2013), "Ryan Gosling couldn't play Taki better than Taki: Seduced and Abandoned Review", The Spectator, retrieved November 11, 2013
  6. ^ "Black Belts and Golden Dawn". Taki's Magazine. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  7. ^ "Taki's Yacht Bushido for Sale : Paul Coletti". coletti.co.uk. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  8. ^ "High life » 4 Nov 2000 » The Spectator Archive".
  9. ^ "Leader: Selective spectator". The Guardian. UK. October 21, 2004. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  10. ^ Bell, Matthew (May 16, 2010). "What's the point of Taki if he isn't offensive any more?". The Independent. UK. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  11. ^ Nelson, Fraser (September 9, 2009). "Fraser Nelson opens his diary". The Spectator. UK. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  12. ^ a b Hollander, Gavriel (July 23, 2013). "Spectator editor defends column supporting Greek far-right party Golden Dawn". Press Gazette. UK. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  13. ^ Theodoracopulos, Taki (July 20, 2013). "A fascist takeover of Greece? We should be so lucky". The Spectator. UK. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  14. ^
    • Wodak, Ruth (2015), The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean, Sage, However, Golden Dawn's neo-Nazi profile is clearly visible in the party's symbolism, with its flag resembling a swastika, Nazi salutes and chant of 'Blood and Honour' encapsulating its xenophobic and racist ideology.
    • Vasilopoulou; Halikiopoulou (2015), The Golden Dawn's 'Nationalist Solution', p. 32, The extremist character of the Golden Dawn, its neo-Nazi principles, racism and ultranationalism, as well as its violence, render the party a least likely case of success...
    • Dalakoglou, Dimitris (2013), "Neo-Nazism and neoliberalism: A Few Comments on Violence in Athens At the Time of Crisis", WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society (16(2)
    • Miliopoulos, Lazaros (2011), "Extremismus in Griechenland", Extremismus in den EU-Staaten (in German), VS Verlag, p. 154, doi:10.1007/978-3-531-92746-6_9, ...mit der seit 1993 als Partei anerkannten offen neonationalsozialistischen Gruppierung Goldene Mörgenröte (Chryssi Avgí, Χρυσή Αυγή) kooperierte... [...cooperated with the openly neo-National Socialist group Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgí, Χρυσή Αυγή), which has been recognized as a party since 1993...]
    • Davies, Peter; Jackson, Paul (2008), The Far Right in Europe: An Encyclopedia, Greenwood World Press, p. 173
    • Altsech, Moses (August 2004), "Anti-Semitism in Greece: Embedded in Society", Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism (23): 12, On 12 March 2004, Chrysi Avghi (Golden Dawn), the new weekly newspaper of the Neo-Nazi organization of that name, cited another survey indicating that the percentage of Greeks who view immigrants unfavorably is 89 percent.

External links

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