Chris Dillow picks up on the slavery discussion. His assessment of my position as being Rawlsian is spot on.
Put it this way. Crudely speaking, there are two conceptions of society.
1. We’re just a collection of atomized individuals. Though associated with libertarianism, this is also the Rawlsian view.
2. Society is an organism with a history. It’s a “partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” The quote is Edmund Burke’s, but this position seems also that of Gordon Brown, who speaks of a “golden thread” running through history.
However, my objection to an apology is not as simple as my worldview of us being autonomous individuals; it goes to the heart of what apology means. To be sincere and meaningful an apology can only work if the perpetrator of the wrong apologises to the victim and means to repair the harm done. As both parties are long dead, this is impossible. Also, the idea put forward by Dan in Chris’ comments that we, whoever “we” actually are; benefit form the ill-gotten gains of the slave trade is utterly absurd.
I don’t want to be benefiting from illegitimate advantage (even indirectly), and this is the basis for my supporting reparations for slavery. It’s also the basis of my supporting some form of socialist redistribution. I would imagine that many left wing people would feel the same way. It’s not inconsistent.
As an aside, Dan, you redistribute your own money, I plan to keep what I’ve earned, thank you very much. Anyway, back on topic; ignoring for a moment that this country was virtually bankrupt by the cessation of WWII and that much or our current economy is courtesy of the USA and any “benefit” will be so watered down as to be untraceable, as urko points out in my comments on the subject, our ancestors had no say and likely as not, minimal knowledge of the world outside their limited existence.
Partly as result of my jumping on the genealogy bandwagon I know my ancestors (both sides) were illiterate workers scraping an existence around the time of slavery and the potato famine – no TV – no newspapers (they couldn’t read) no votes and not much to eat – how were they responsible?
Indeed. At least one of mine was busy fighting Napoleon’s Grand Armée. Others were, likely as not, fighting in it (my surname is of French descent). To hold them and their descendants accountable for something over which they had no say, no control and no accountability is frankly immoral. Those who choose to walk in chains in a symbolic act of apology and regret are merely indulging in histrionics; self-indulgent exhibitionism and self-flagellation for no good purpose. Such behaviour solves nothing and means nothing. Will it, for example, have any effect on slavery that is going on now? Never mind, at least their conscience is salved and they can go home happy that they have cleansed their souls. That they have achieved nothing other than make an exhibition of themselves; done nothing that is meaningful is beside the point. This is gesture politics at its most repugnant. One of Chris’ commenters, Andrew Zalotocky puts into words my own feelings about the apology lobby
The people who are most enthusiastic about apologising are the usual leftist suspects, for whom it’s just another chance to portray Britain as uniquely evil.
I mentioned before the inherent hypocrisy. Here, I acknowledge Burke’s view of history mentioned at the very beginning of Chris’ post. Slavery is a thread that is woven throughout the very fabric of mankind’s history. All cultures at some point indulged in and suffered from this foul practice. To single out Britain as a perpetrator is illogical as it ignores the other players in the slave trade triangle of the time, just as it ignores the the record of slavery both before and since. It ignores – conveniently – Africa’s role. Predictably the argument raises its head that if one is proud of one’s nation for its achievements then one should also be ashamed of its bad behaviour:
If you’re proud of being British, of our long tradition of liberty (think Magna Carta, charter of Henry 1, Declaration of Arbroath), and of our unforced (by outsiders) abolition of the slave trade and of slavery itself, then you’ve also got to be ashamed of the (truly) bad things in our past. And I think our participation in the slave trade, knowing its moral turpitude, was the worst. So we should apologize. Because it was wrong and we knew it was wrong then.
I have always been an advocate of looking back at history of learning from it, making sure that we do not make the same mistakes. I can look at the history of our forebears with admiration for their achievements, just as I can look back with reproach at those things that were appalling. I feel neither pride nor shame because none of these actions were mine. This argument therefore falls on stony ground.
Another commenter simply refers to the two dimensional political tribalism as a means of polarising the debate:
But we see Tories, apparently sincerely, explaining that slavery wasn’t such a bad thing, or that the UK in 2006 is not liable for its past vilenesses, or that the UK is to be commended for its abolition of the trade.
This falls down because I am not, nor ever have been, a Tory. If you must label me, then I am a liberal in the classical sense. This means that I abhor any form of enforced servitude as I firmly believe that no man has dominion over another’s body. That is why when modern politicians extol the virtues of national service or enforced community service for immigrants I am vigorously opposed – they are suggesting that these people be subject to slavery and slavery is morally reprehensible. So too, is punishing the sons for the sins of the fathers, and that is why I remain implacably opposed to either apology or reparations.
Update:
This gentleman needs to grow the fuck up and get over himself:
The Archbishop had just delivered his main address and the service had moved on to “confession and absolution”. But the reading was stopped in its tracks by Mr Agbetu’s outburst: “You should be ashamed. We should not be here. This is an insult to us. I want all the Christians who are Africans to walk out of here with me!”
I’m in total agreement with you on this. I really hate jingoism anyhow, I am no more proud of being English than I am of the fact I am right-handed, it’s something that was out of my control from the beginning. Unfortunately we seem to live in a society where if I say I have no need to apologise for ‘my’ country’s role in the slave trade what I’m in effect saying is I support this country’s role in it and I’m not saying that at all. I wish people would grow up and listen before they start throwing accusations about. You’re right, why should the sons pay for their father’s sins? (I’ve probably fucked all these apostropes up so apologies in advance for that!) All we can do is move forward from this point using what’s happened already to inform us, wallowing in the past does no one any favours whatsoever.