'History is bunk' How the historians got it wrong even about Henry T Ford
Out of the frying pan into the fire or from one minefield to the next
Wednesday 26 August 2009
Voltaire and the right to disagree
‘I may disagree with what you say but I will fight to the death for your right to say it’
There’s some disagreement as to whether Voltaire actually said that but there does exist a letter he sent to a French cleric that he particularly detested expressing something very similar. Whatever it’s a sentiment that we would all do well to bear in mind in a world where day in day out the right to disagree or express an alternative or contrary view is trampled on, be it by governments, be it by authorities, be it by organisations, be it by an individual and the right to protest also seems to be suffering the same fate. Time and time again passions have been so aroused that the disagreeing of the right to disagree has erupted into violence.
I don’t care much about abortion or hunting and the jury’s still out on animal testing but I don’t see how I could even pretend to hold the high moral ground if I were to subject those with whom I disagreed to physical or psychological abuse. Is injuring a hunter, his hound or his horse or killing a doctor who carries out abortions or harrying those who have them really the right way to express one’s disagreement? Whatever happened to civilised debate and discussion?
Those who govern us should be setting an example but every time I watch Prime Minister’s Questions I despair. In the matter of politics it seems point-scoring is the order of the day and what worries me even more is how the UK government (and others) are using the war on terror to curtail or even stifle protest. At the other end of the spectrum there are those who think that publicly embarrassing the authorities by publicity stunts of one kind or another is the right way to go about it; little do they seem to realise how much they play into authorities’ hands and endanger those freedoms that took centuries to secure.
My grandfather once told my mother. “If you want to keep your friends, never discuss politics or religion’ – for obvious reasons I steer clear of both, though I have to concede there are times when even I get really angry particularly when I feel the disagreements are petty yet there are demands for censorship. No one has any right to impose his/her beliefs on anyone else directly or indirectly or scream blue murder – and sometimes it doesn’t stop at screaming - when others take a contrary stance.
Politics and religion, global warming and going green, protests aimed at seeing one or other injustice resolved, all accompanied by propaganda and claptrap, are all obvious minefields but who would have thought that about history?
There’s some disagreement as to whether Voltaire actually said that but there does exist a letter he sent to a French cleric that he particularly detested expressing something very similar. Whatever it’s a sentiment that we would all do well to bear in mind in a world where day in day out the right to disagree or express an alternative or contrary view is trampled on, be it by governments, be it by authorities, be it by organisations, be it by an individual and the right to protest also seems to be suffering the same fate. Time and time again passions have been so aroused that the disagreeing of the right to disagree has erupted into violence.
I don’t care much about abortion or hunting and the jury’s still out on animal testing but I don’t see how I could even pretend to hold the high moral ground if I were to subject those with whom I disagreed to physical or psychological abuse. Is injuring a hunter, his hound or his horse or killing a doctor who carries out abortions or harrying those who have them really the right way to express one’s disagreement? Whatever happened to civilised debate and discussion?
Those who govern us should be setting an example but every time I watch Prime Minister’s Questions I despair. In the matter of politics it seems point-scoring is the order of the day and what worries me even more is how the UK government (and others) are using the war on terror to curtail or even stifle protest. At the other end of the spectrum there are those who think that publicly embarrassing the authorities by publicity stunts of one kind or another is the right way to go about it; little do they seem to realise how much they play into authorities’ hands and endanger those freedoms that took centuries to secure.
My grandfather once told my mother. “If you want to keep your friends, never discuss politics or religion’ – for obvious reasons I steer clear of both, though I have to concede there are times when even I get really angry particularly when I feel the disagreements are petty yet there are demands for censorship. No one has any right to impose his/her beliefs on anyone else directly or indirectly or scream blue murder – and sometimes it doesn’t stop at screaming - when others take a contrary stance.
Politics and religion, global warming and going green, protests aimed at seeing one or other injustice resolved, all accompanied by propaganda and claptrap, are all obvious minefields but who would have thought that about history?
Monday 3 August 2009
Face to face with the Daughter of Time
Why do we humans have such an angst about the truth? Why would we rather do the three monkeys' act than gracefully accept ' It's a fair cop Guv ' or in this case 'Ma'am'? Why rather than face up to DOT would we rather bury our heads in the sand or worse cover up? Why is truth always the first casualty of a war?
OK OK so none of us like to lose face and the higher up it goes, the worse it gets but when are we going to realise that our refusal to accept that we got and can get it wrong is going to be or could be to the detriment of our fellow human beings?
Some years ago, partly because of a Catholic education and partly because of having to wade through 'Paradise Lost' at school it suddenly struck me that the real root of all evil is love of power. After all the rebellion in Heaven was about power not money and I feel that the mistake about money is perhaps due to the failure to realise that extreme wealth is one of the ways of exercising power and still is. Moreover those who wield it so hate to find themselves caught out; there seems to be this thought that losing face equates to losing power.
These days it's the financial corporations that exercise the financial muscle and don 't care for anybody that dares to rain on their parade as I know only too well having taken them on not only of behalf of myself but others as well and time and time again have been caught out by what I term 'the corporate lying' and who have learnt the hard way not to treat those who provide for their upkeep as complete morons.
Same applies to ideologists/idealogists when it comes to being confronted with those considered 'heretics' or 'apostates' Sorry but I don't agree that the best way to save one's beliefs is by savaging those who disagree or in any way take a critical stance and how does attacking dissidents help to hold the moral high ground assuming one is holding it in the first place? Over to you Monsieur Voltaire.
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