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Enoch Powell and Asperger's

Wednesday, 12th March 2008

One of the commenters on my "rivers of blood" post raises the question of Powell's mental health:

The truth is that Powell was so relentless in his pursuit of logic that he was either genuinely mystified or superciliously contemptuous of anyone who could not understand that, of course, he was not a racist. Therefore, he never felt any need to elaborate on the meaning of his speech. This - together with his aloofness and 'unclubbability' - all lends credibility to the assertion that Powell was afflicted by a form of Asperger's Syndrome that rendered him incapable of appreciating the concerns of others, in particular about whether his words might have offered a cloak of respectability with which tattooed White Power knuckle-draggers might now justify their 'Paki-bashing'.

I haven't read Simon Heffer's biography, so I don't know whether he digs deeper. However, a new book adds credence to the Asperger's theory:

The relationship between creativity and psychiatric disorder is not a myth, according to Professor Michael Fitzgerald, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin, and the author of a new book, "Genius Genes: How Asperger Talents Changed the World"... Prof. Fitzgerald describes how Charles de Gaulle's Asperger's syndrome was critical to his success as a politician. De Gaulle saw himself as representing his country. He said, "I am France."
He was aloof, had a massive memory, lacked empathy with other people, and was extremely controlling and dominating. He also showed signs of autistic repetitiveness, and was similar in many respects to other great leaders with Asperger's syndrome, including Professor Thomas Jefferson in the USA and Enoch Powell in Britain.

"Great leader"??? Never mind, I see the point he's making.