ATTN: UK.... Botkins!

[Kimerical]

Dear brothers and sisters in Great Britain,

My father, Geoffrey Botkin, my sister Anna Sofia, and I will be traveling to England in a few weeks, on our way home from a speaking engagement in St. Petersburg, and will be speaking at an all-day gathering/event on March the 15 (Saturday) in the greater London area. We would like, at this event, to speak on whatever topic(s) you would find most pertinent, and also take time to just get to know you all and answer questions.

How many of you would be interested in coming to this event (our hosts are wondering how large a venue to book), and what topics would you be most interested in hearing about? Please let me know as soon as possible!

We look forward to meeting as many of you as we can!

In Christ,

Elizabeth Botkin

Oh my.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

OH FUCK. They are going to Russia??? That's all they need, more patriarchal bullshit.

[church_of_dog]

Beware the Ides of March...

[Marian the Librarian]

Kimerical, where did you find this little gem??

[defraudingjezebel]

OH FUCK. They are going to Russia??? That's all they need, more patriarchal bullshit.

I heard Vladmir Putin needs a new wife to parade around. Those Botkins must have their eye on the prize.

But honestly, I'm surprised that there's any fundies à la Botkin in or around London.

[Arete]

I heard Vladmir Putin needs a new wife to parade around. Those Botkins must have their eye on the prize.

But honestly, I'm surprised that there's any fundies à la Botkin in or around London.

I'd love to be the fly on the wall watching the Botkinettes trying to convince Russian women to be idiot submissives. Or to trust their head ships and just pray. Riiiight. :roll:

[ILoveJellybeans]

London is on the other side of the country to me :( I want to meet a fundie in real life :(

[Mary C Doates]

Anna-Sophia and Elizabeth are going to dress up like Romanovs, pose pensively in front of various palaces, and pontificate about how Russia was/is doomed because the Tsars weren't Christian or something. It's a Hazardous Journey without actual hazards, aside from the possibility of frostbite.

Ugh.

[Marian the Librarian]

Anna-Sophia and Elizabeth are going to dress up like Romanovs, pose pensively in front of various palaces, and pontificate about how Russia was/is doomed because the Tsars weren't Christian or something. It's a Hazardous Journey without actual hazards, aside from the possibility of frostbite.

Ugh.

Geoff is a dead ringer for Rasputin, so they should fit right in.

[SamuraiKatz]

Geoff is a dead ringer for Rasputin, so they should fit right in.

I think Geoff looks like Lenin.

[YPestis]

Wow, the Botkins were invited to Russia? And they are making a pit stop in London? I'm kind of jealous, actually. Their family business is way more successful than the Maxwells. Maybe Steve should take note.

[mausi]

Wow, the Botkins were invited to Russia? And they are making a pit stop in London? I'm kind of jealous, actually. Their family business is way more successful than the Maxwells. Maybe Steve should take note.

Something to think about.

Is G. Botkin the one with the 'socialist' or 'communist' 'background'?

[Brightonbelle]

On behalf of London can I just say 'bugger off, Botkins'. Thanks.

[JesusFightClub]

Something to think about.

Is G. Botkin the one with the 'socialist' or 'communist' 'background'?

A fucking dodgy one that I believe not one word of.

If it wasn't for the fact that that clashes with some shit that I can't not do, I'd make my way to London and challenge him on oh so many things. The "I came from a Marxist family background/I am an ex-Marxist" really pisses me off because he obviously wasn't. You can tell ex-Marxists quite easily (Peter Hitchens is an example - he knows enough that he was, no matter how far away from Marxism he's travelled since). Nothing about Geoff Botkin leads me to think he ever was a Marxist. Not his choice of words, his understanding of Marxism, nothing.

It's almost like the crazy claims by some evangelicals that they were once witches/Satanists/pagans/Muslim jihadis etc. Anyone who is better informed than the average sheltered fundie, and especially anyone who falls into any of those groups, knows that it's really unlikely the claimant ever belonged.

[Triplet3]

I work in central London and live just outside the Greater London area. If the Botkins really do turn up over here and have some sort of free public event I can't promise I'll be able to go, but I'll keep an eye on things and see what's happening nearer the time. :think:

[deborahlynn1979]

Where the hell is their mother in all of this? Does she have to stay home and tend to the hearth?

[Marian the Librarian]

Re: Geoff's "Marxist" upbringing - I found this old post on Datalounge (thank you, Dominion Wackiness Troll!), written by someone calling themselves "Not a Botkin:"

Dominion Wackiness Troll:

Remember when one of Geoffrey Botkin's relatives posted here on DL about how Geoff was a big, fat liar for saying he was raised as a "Marxist"? Well, either we've found that person or yet another relative has stepped forward to dispute his politically-motivated malarkey. Young Katie Botkin, Geoff's niece, is pretty upset about his asinine assertions: "According to my uncle Geoff, growing up attending public schools made him into a Marxist-- I assume that's what he means when he says 'I was trained to be a compliant, rational Marxist. I was recruited to be a self-conscious supporter of a social order that was Marxist. This required my willing trust in the state as a utopian savior and antagonism to the God of Christendom,' since you could not possibly assert that my Grandparents or any of their friends were Marxists... Whatever the case, it would be a great blow to my Grandfather to have been lumped in with a supposedly-Marxist upbringing, which is what some people seem to assume about him based on my uncle's assertions."

Not A Botkin:

I am the relative who originally posted regarding Geoff's false claims of being raised in a Marxist household; I've been a DL regular since 2001-2 and was subsequently surprised and appropriately horrified when my dear uncle and his progeny became a topic of conversation here. Before it was mentioned by the DWT, I had no idea that Geoff claimed he was raised by Marxists, which is utterly laughable if you know anything about my grandparents, Geoff's parents. I am also not the author of the linked post [referring here to Katie Botkin], although what she writes is true.

[YPestis]

Where the hell is their mother in all of this? Does she have to stay home and tend to the hearth?

The mother stays in the background more than the other adults in the family. Perhaps she's stage shy or has too much to do caring for her family. The mom has come out with some homeschooling stuff in the past so she's not being hidden, just not placed front and center.

I wonder how much of it is that she's not as attractive as her young daughters. She actually looks older than her age and doesn't have the aristocratic appearance of the rest of the family. It could be that the Botkins try to put out their prettiest faces out front because it sells better to the fundie crowd.

[ladyamylynn]

The mother stays in the background more than the other adults in the family. Perhaps she's stage shy or has too much to do caring for her family. The mom has come out with some homeschooling stuff in the past so she's not being hidden, just not placed front and center.

I wonder how much of it is that she's not as attractive as her young daughters. She actually looks older than her age and doesn't have the aristocratic appearance of the rest of the family. It could be that the Botkins try to put out their prettiest faces out front because it sells better to the fundie crowd.

How Christ-like of them. :roll:

[rosamundi]

I work in central London and live just outside the Greater London area. If the Botkins really do turn up over here and have some sort of free public event I can't promise I'll be able to go, but I'll keep an eye on things and see what's happening nearer the time. :think:

I live in Zone 3 and work in Zone 1. This could be doable.

(London's Underground is divided into 6 zones which are concentric circles. Zone 1 is the central bit with the touristy things)

[debrand]

Did I read somewhere that the Botkins ancestors came from Russia? Could that be why they want to visit Russia? My ancestors came from Ireland and really, really want to go there one day. Of course, I realize that my visit would not be important to anyone else but me and I certainly wouldn't try to tell anyone how to live their lives.

[Iokaste]

Where did they post that? I can't find it on either Botkin site or Facebook. Do we know more? I've been meaning to go to London this spring and I'd just love to be lectured by the Botkinettes about how I'm doing life wrong by living independently from my father, earning my own money, owning my own home, not being married, not being obsessed with my brother's love-life, etc....

Or maybe I should go undercover and befriend them, we're the same age, and I can definitely pull of the VF-look, oh the possibilities here, mwuahahahah

[JesusFightClub]

Re: Geoff's "Marxist" upbringing - I found this old post on Datalounge (thank you, Dominion Wackiness Troll!), written by someone calling themselves "Not a Botkin:"

Dominion Wackiness Troll:

Not A Botkin:

Interesting! Thanks :)

Marxism is politics and economics, it's not a religion. If (God forbid) I had a child, I can't imagine giving it a Marxist upbringing. What would that entail?

[uber frau]

Send them to public school (well, duh.)

[Brightonbelle]

Nice to see I'm not the only Londoner on here! I can't go, sadly.