At Large
The Blind Men and the Elephant
The many symptoms of the new British disease are all part of the same thing.
As Britain approaches a general election, commentators on the present “British sickness” or “British crisis” usually dwell on one of several areas. Here are some of them:
• Destruction of trust in the Parliamentary and political system. About half Britain’s MPs have been found to have broken either the spirit or the letter of the law with dodgy expense claims, “flipping” primary and secondary residences to avoid capital gains tax and in other ways showing contempt for the taxpayer — a contempt now being heartily reciprocated. It is hard to see how any major party will be able to find enough cleanskins to form a ministry after the next election. Coupled with this is the rise to power of bizarre figures like Lord Mandelson, virtually de facto Prime Minister although elected by no one, once a young far-leftist activist, now a friend (if that is the word) of Russian oligarchs and recently a shooting partner of Colonel Qaddafi’s son on the Rothschild Estate.
• The threat to Britain’s political and national identity posed by integration into the European Union. This will, it is predicted, be irrevocably sealed by the Treaty of Lisbon, and it has already had far-reaching consequences in British domestic law. Despite numerous promises, there seems no prospect of a referendum being held by either a Labour or Conservative government.
• The threat to Britain’s historic cultural identity through massive and aggressive Muslim immigration. This has already created large no-go areas for non-Muslims and particularly unveiled women in London and some other cities. This has been connected with selective attacks, in the name of multiculturalism, on Christian institutions (a nurse of 40 years’ experience who suggested prayer to a distressed patient on a training exercise recently was not rebuked or corrected but instantly sacked). Other Christian workers have been sacked for displaying small crucifixes as necklaces or lapel-badges. There is also a rising tide of anti-Semitism, the last particularly at some universities. Jewish, or to be correct Israeli, students have actually been banned from attending some courses and journal refused to publish contributions from Israeli academics until protests came from America. Various government and private organizations have banned staff from displaying toy pigs in deference to alleged Muslim sensibilities. Police ordered one householder to remove a display of toy pigs from her window lest they be seen by Muslims passing on the road, though no Muslims had actually complained. British police forces were recently described as having become the paramilitary wing of the far-left Guardian newspaper.
Young British Muslims appear to be becoming much more extreme than their parents, probably largely in reaction to the cultural decadence they are daily confronted with. A recent poll found 36 percent of British Muslims aged 16 to 24 believe those who convert to another religion should be punished by death. Forty percent of British Muslims would like to live under Sharia law and 20 percent have sympathy for the London tube bombers. Masked Muslims marched through London carrying placards proclaiming “Behead those who insult Islam” and promising another 9/11 and another Holocaust while protected by massive numbers of British police. Anjem Choudary, Principal Lecturer of the London School of Shariah, declared recently: “There is a spark that has ignited and its flame has become unstoppable. We find ourselves in the year 2009, waiting for Rome to fall, waiting for the White House to fall and indeed waiting for Buckingham Palace to fall.” Buckingham Palace, he foresaw, would become a mosque, with suitable architectural re-design.
Then there are the revelations in October of Andrew Neather, speechwriter for Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett. Neather claimed a secret government report in 2000 set out to deliberately change Britain’s national identity and cultural makeup irrevocably and forever: “I remember coming away from some discussions with the clear sense that the policy was intended — even if this wasn’t its main purpose — to rub the Right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date,” he said. This is not only a matter of votes, as many migrants do not vote for years, but also a matter of jobs, prestige and perquisites for the Labour-supporting caring professions.
• The “broken society,” with rates of family breakdown and teenage drug abuse, drunkenness and pregnancy among the highest in Europe. Teenage pregnancy has often tended to increase most rapidly in the areas with the most extensive and expensive sex-education programs. The taxation system seems — without any exaggeration at all — deliberately created to reward unmarried motherhood and family break-up. Even Russia, a byword for dangerous, drunken chaos, has a lower rate of teenage drunkenness. Violent crime by girls, generally operating in drunken gangs, is also increasing rapidly.
• Material and moral weaknesses in the armed forces. Many deaths of servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan have been blamed on inadequate equipment, a situation that remains unrectified after years of complaints and official findings by coroners’ courts and others and complaints and resignations by senior officers. For the first time in many years the actual quality of troops, as distinct from leadership or equipment, is being questioned. According to many accounts the British Army’s performance in Basra left much to be desired. The Royal Navy is now smaller than the French Navy and cannot even arrest Somali pirates in case Britain is then forced to grant them asylum under EU Law. It recently emerged that on October 28, 2009, the armed British Naval auxiliary tanker Wave Knight stood by and did nothing while pirates a few yards away seized and kidnapped the British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler, transferring them from their yacht to a hijacked Singaporean container vessel. At the time of writing the Chandlers are being held for a $9 million ransom. For the first time since Admiral Benbow’s captains were shot in 1703 for deserting him in battle the Royal Navy has been publicly accused of cowardice, though if it makes any difference the real culprit has been the culture of political correctness.
Other kinds of pirates have been dealt with more sternly, however: Local councils have prohibited pirate flags being flown as children’s parties as “unneighbourly.” Handing power to local councils, an article of faith for both major parties, has resulted in an overweening Nanny State with a peculiar combination of wimpishness and Draconianism. To take one recent example among countless others: when a coastal footpath was built by a Rotary Club to allow ramblers to enjoy the scenery along Loch Ryan, in Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway Council would allow only organized groups to use the footpath, and only if supervised by a “trained outdoor specialist.” Christmas lights outside shops have been forbidden both on grounds of multiculturalism and for health and safety reasons. In “Operation Napkin” undercover police have been sent to dine at Chinese and Indian restaurants, presumably with concealed truncheons and handcuffs at the ready, to arrest diners asking for “flied lice” or otherwise mimicking the accents of staff.
• Nanny-State Draconianism and senseless punishments. An ex-soldier who found a shotgun and immediately handed it in to police was arrested, tried before a jury, convicted and at the time of writing faces a minimum of five years prison for possessing it, the judge having instructed the jury that the law against possessing firearms was to be construed strictly and the fact the possessor was acting innocently and with public-spiritedness was irrelevant. Police are routinely arresting people simply to record their DNA profiles on the national database, according to another recent report. At the same time overcrowded jails and racially based sentencing guidelines (magistrates have been directed to regard black burglars and muggers as “quirky Lenny Henry characters”) mean large numbers of serious criminals remain at large.
• A drastic decline in teaching standards, and at tertiary level a collapse in the hard subjects. Lesley Ward, president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, claimed recently that countless children are not even toilet trained when they started school, are unable to dress themselves, can only eat with a spoon or their fingers and could scarcely spell their own names, still less pass basic literacy or maths tests. Regarding higher education, a third of Britain’s university physics departments have closed in the last few years.
• Continuing National Health scandals. A few months ago it was reported that up to 1,200 patients had died unnecessarily due to bad conditions at the Mid-Staffordshirre Foundation Trust NHS hospital. Ministers, including the Prime Minister, apologized abjectly and claimed it was an isolated occurrence and that such a thing would never happen again. Now it has emerged that similar conditions of poor nursing care, filthy wards and lack of leadership at Basildon and Thurrock University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust have led to the deaths of up to 400 patients a year.
• A general attack on traditions and values. A survey found three-quarters of teachers believed it was their duty to warn pupils about the danger of patriotism. With pupils possibly taking them at their word, war memorials have been reported vandalized at the rate of more than one a week for the past year. Ex-servicemen have found that Union Jack tattoos, even if invisible under clothing, have cost them the chance of jobs with police and fire departments, lest they be found intimidating. This links to a general decline in historical memory, with many surveys indicating that large numbers think the likes of Winston Churchill or the Duke of Wellington are fictional if they have heard of them at all, though they often display exact and pedantic knowledge of the history of rock-bands. One in 20 of 2,000 children aged nine to 15 surveyed recently believed Adolf Hitler was a football coach.
All this is before even considering the more conventional stuff of political debate — monetary and fiscal policy, levels of taxation and spending — but here matters are in a more-or-less comparable state. Britain remains in recession, lagging behind other major economies such as France, Germany, the U.S. and Japan. The Governor of the Bank of England has warned that the public finances are in such chaos that Britain’s credit rating may be cut.
Many of the comments on apparently diverse social and political dysfunction in Britain today are like the tale of the blind men and the elephant: one touched its trunk and thought it resembled a snake, one touched its tusk (“a spear!”) one its side (“a wall!)”, the others its tail, (“a rope!”), its ear (“a fan!) and its knee (“A tree!”). But diverse as these parts seemed, they were all of a whole. The British elephant today is the result of 11 years of Gramscian leftism in power, not only or perhaps even principally at the level of the national government, but in all sorts of quasi-governmental institutions, and with an Opposition often unable to acknowledge or recognize what is happening, and indeed sometimes actively conniving with it. A few of the results are almost comic, many are very serious, but they are part of a single whole.
About the Author
Hal G.P. Colebatch’s “Immram,” Counterstrike, is being published by Australian publisher Imaginites.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (49) | Leave a comment
Related Articles
More Articles by Hal G.P. Colebatch
More Articles From At Large
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/01/the-blind-men-and-the-elephant
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
bluecollarbytes| 12.1.09 @ 8:03AM
Nice recitation of Britain's self-inflicted slow demise. As one who was raised with the idea that England (remember?) was not only one of our staunchest allies but a force for freedom, it's been disheartening to see it lay down for all those seeking to conquer it from within. It's important to note that a wider control of its subjects cannot happen without the smaller local authorities signing on. Numerous articles over the last several years reveal a deep infection of British culture, meant to kill it off, replacing it with endless demands of those who seek to wield it over the citizenry. Calling it 'PC' seems to miss the enormity and wide range of motives that has Britain currently flailing about for its lost soul. Maybe it's time for a new emigration from England to the new world. Hurry up though. We're only a few years away from our own 'battle of Britain'.
bluecollarbytes| 12.1.09 @ 8:03AM
Nice recitation of Britain's self-inflicted slow demise. As one who was raised with the idea that England (remember?) was not only one of our staunchest allies but a force for freedom, it's been disheartening to see it lay down for all those seeking to conquer it from within. It's important to note that a wider control of its subjects cannot happen without the smaller local authorities signing on. Numerous articles over the last several years reveal a deep infection of British culture, meant to kill it off, replacing it with endless demands of those who seek to wield it over the citizenry. Calling it 'PC' seems to miss the enormity and wide range of motives that has Britain currently flailing about for its lost soul. Maybe it's time for a new emigration from England to the new world. Hurry up though. We're only a few years away from our own 'battle of Britain'.
Ryan| 12.1.09 @ 8:30AM
Not unexpected.
Honestly, I'm not surprised...and the causes aren't just what the Brits have allowed, but what they have run from.
It used to be a nation of moral principles, which sought to actively spread the Gospel and embraced Christianity as part of a national culture. Now, anything that hints of Christianity is shoved down and aside. Australia has become what Britain should be - standing up against those forces which would press it down.
Robert Pinkerton| 12.1.09 @ 8:36AM
Poor Old Mother England.
The Labour Party has proven itself to be the A.I.D.S. virus of the British Body Politic.
Tim| 12.1.09 @ 8:40AM
GK Chesterton:Prophet:
"I have a vision, and I know
The heathen shall return.
"They shall not come with warships,
They shall not waste with brands,
But books be all their eating,
And ink be on their hands.
"Not with the humour of hunters
Or savage skill in war,
But ordering all things with dead words,
Strings shall they make of beasts and birds,
And wheels of wind and star.
"They shall come mild as monkish clerks,
With many a scroll and pen;
And backward shall ye turn and gaze,
Desiring one of Alfred's days,
When pagans still were men. "
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T.....hite_Horse
Eddie| 12.1.09 @ 9:16AM
Say it isn't so! Not the Brits. The same sterotype that we saw in movies such as "Bridge Over The River Kwai" who stood their ground against immeasurable odds. The same ones who ground out their daily lives as the Nazis tried to decimate them during WW2. God Bless my British friends. May they wake up as the U.S. must and squelch this wholesale rape of our very foundations before it's too late!
Bram| 12.1.09 @ 9:28AM
The Brits got the government they voted for. Just like us unfortunately.
Tony in Central PA| 12.1.09 @ 9:43AM
This last summer, I met an ex - Brit who is a well - known chef and restaurant owner in South Carolina. He was in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. He didn't want to talk much about his reasons for emigrating, but it was obvious he had nothing left but disdain for his native country. Its easy to see why.
With the people running the US now, I wonder how long it will be before he's looking for another new home ?
Barbarian Heretic| 12.1.09 @ 10:59AM
This won't help tourism at all....
JAH666| 12.1.09 @ 11:03AM
I, too, have been following the demise of England for some years now. It is a textbook laboratory example of how "progressive" societal theory in action can only have one outcome. It is over for the historically strong and rich British culture that stood for so long. They are now one step away from a de facto police state. The only step for them after that will be the conversion to a full blown Islamic state, and that won't take but another generation or so.
Very sad. The sun has set on Britain...
Pingback| 12.1.09 @ 11:33AM
Discipline of the Mind and Body in Yoga | Fast Weight Loss Tips … | Yoga Beauty Wisdo links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Vern Crisler| 12.1.09 @ 11:38AM
What else can one expect from the country that gave us Darwinism?
a wyatt man| 12.1.09 @ 11:47AM
They have lost their unique culture in the UK and we are in the same process here in the United States.
I believe our problems are really quite simple from a pragmatic point of view (even if they would be difficult in practice). What are the few major challenges (enemies to our culture)?
1) incumbent politicians and a special interest political culture (term limits alone would probably cure 95 percent of our cultural problems within a short time frame) , 2) a weak judicial system (see the recent police slaughter in Washington state.....criminals should be cut out of society like a cancer in your body), 3) a morally bankrupt media and entertainment cartel (I got rid of my TV dish and our family has been blessed as a result) and 4) the welfare system (it takes the father out of the family and also anyone with any common sense knows that you can't make someone your friend by constantly giving them stuff (money, food stamps, WIC, etc.).
Regarding welfare......many psychologists actually have studied this and the studies show that the entitlement class loathes those who are the providers/producers....there is a subtle psychological effect at work that involves self-image, self esteem and other issues.
KesTwo| 12.1.09 @ 11:54AM
It breaks my heart to see the once-mighty British nation sinking into the quagmire of socialism. These insights seem to echo those coming out of the USSR at the height of the Cold War, with Sharia Law added into the mix. It was a lifetime dream of mine to visit England and Scotland - alas, no more. Winston Churchill's valour is a thing of the past while Neville Chamberlain still reigns, it seems. The sun has finally set on The Empire, with not a bang nor even a whimper, just a sigh of longing for its glorious past....
KyMouse| 12.1.09 @ 1:52PM
The first of my two dozen or so trips to Britain (including some graduate study) was in 1970; today I hardly recognize it. I occasionally see copies of "British Heritage" or "Scotland" magazine, and they reinforce the myth that the British Isles are chock-a-block with castles, clotted cream and scones, clones of Miss Marple, and people quoting Shakespeare. Going over there now, for me, is mostly depressing.
The one place I still like to visit is the Isle of Man, in which the Viking-Irish-English heritage is still visible, and one can enjoy a solitary picnic amid prehistoric or medieval ruins. But maybe that, too, is disappearing more quickly than I realize.
Sheila| 12.1.09 @ 2:54PM
What a dismal journey - from the Empire on which the Sun Never Set to . . . the dead island (h/t VFR). I'm glad I got to spend a year in England before its destruction; there were plenty of Pakistanis and lots of evidence of inner rot, but still also plenty of Whites, churches, courtesy, and typical British resolve back in 1980. I don't think I could bear to return now, and see what it's become. And for those who like to claim that we in the U.S. aren't at that point yet, don't hold your breath. I'm just waiting to be arrested for my verbal hate crimes against being forcibly culturally enriched.
Tim, both Chesterton and Kipling are great for strengthening one's resolve to resist the current order. Go down fighting.
spratico| 12.1.09 @ 3:50PM
A conservative commentator and scholar has made his personal slogan; Borders, Language, Culture the definition of a nation.
A nation loses it's unique identity when you water down the culture (Christianity in the case of Britain and the US), weaken your borders and allow near unrestricted immigration, and do not encourage a national language.
Britain is sinking fast and the US in not far behind. Next time you're at the poll booth, remember, Borders, Language, and Culture.
Margie| 12.1.09 @ 4:22PM
Aren't you the same Sheila who said she was a "Race Realist?"
~For those who may not know, that is what David Duke calls himself and his followers.
Carpenter| 12.1.09 @ 3:38PM
I lived in the UK for more than two decades, arriving in the '70's. Life was a little quaint, but traditional English and Scottish manners and mores were apparent. Over the years, the manners, behavioural standards and quality of life declined with the advent of PC, "diversity", social engineering, "child-centered" education and mushrooming entitlement culture.
The Anglican Church, as a state institution, became ever more "inclusive", irrelevant and deserted, having largely abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The rush towards EU integration and ballooning tax burden finally clinched it for me, by which time most social interactions seemed to be ugly and brutish.
I miss the pubs in winter, and the beautiful churches, and my friends, but will probably never go back.
Margie| 12.1.09 @ 4:27PM
Political Correctness kills. Yes, it starts out small, but so does every disease. Obama is the result of a PC voter base.
We need to unite and vote the bums out! Before it's too late.
Vote Republican. Back conservatives. Fight to get the party back. Don't abandon!
Ken (Old Texican)| 12.1.09 @ 5:04PM
Folks,
There are some essential differences between the cultures of the UK and the US. Always have been.
True, the last time I was in the UK was 1979 to spend any time....nevertheless...
The UK has always had a very distinct class structure...with impenetrable glass ceilings. In fact, the "working-men" forever scoffed at their "betters" and chewed any of their peers a new one if they tried to better themselves above their "born" station in life.
Sadly, the "workingman" in theUK has self enforced a sort of purposeful ignorance of national affairs, and left those sorts of things up to the "toffs".
In any workingmans' pub in the UK, I mainly heard inarticulate grumblings...with no intention of "doing anything" about any given gripe.
(heh sorta' like here at am spec some days.)
We Americans sometimes forget that we kicked English ass out of the US some two hundred years ago. All their soldiers knew was to stand in straight lines and get shot by American sharpshooters.
pause.
Ken (Old Texican)| 12.1.09 @ 6:17PM
Sorry folks!
I had to take care of some corporate business.
OK...where was I?... OK!
Here in the US, Marcells and Liberallipliars and Bobs and Toddards are a small minority.
They don't have anything to do but drop turds in the punchbowl of American society.
Hopefully, Mr. Soros and/or ACORN pays them well.
The reason I hope so is that their whiny little posts here are so lame and counterproductive and counter-reality........
Surely they cannot think their childish maunderings have any impact on we patriots.
OK! Here is why I am totally optimistic. We have no glass ceilings in the US. A couple of the dumbest men I know have become very wealthy fixing body-work on cars after a fender bender.
They are now angry and awake, that all of their hard work is going to be confiscated by a bunch of communists and welfare queens.
Good!
They were just smart enough to ask me for some honest advisors to help them. (no charges by me).
Also, at least here in Texas and in Alaska, "Don't Tread On Me" is a gut level commitment, and a life or death commitment. We can bend...but we will not kneel!
Bottom line...the wimps in the federal government are all at the very top.
Most of their "subordinates" are folks just like you and I.
(However, if Mr. Obama manages to set up his brown-shirts, it will be time to lock and load. God bless you as you gather on your county courthouse lawns. Please go there with empty hands. I shall.)
We still own this country! We bought it with our blood and sweat! Communists beware.
Margie| 12.1.09 @ 7:19PM
Awesome post, Tex!
philfl63| 12.1.09 @ 10:01PM
I know it will cause flak, but I will say it. The U.S. is a white, Christian nation founded by white, Western-Europeans with Classical educations and Judeo-Christian backgrounds. We can not continue to function as a nation unless we all understand that and internalize it. That means that all of the people in the U.S. (all of the "colored" peoples and hyphenated "Americans") cease and desist their ludicrous multi-culti nonsense and identity politics and assimilate as Americans. We can not become a third-world sewer. This goes for all of you Y-T guilt liberals.
Christopher Holland| 12.2.09 @ 1:16AM
The good news is that the rot has not spread here to Australia - not that the usual PC suspects are not trying hard. The conservative party here (the Liberal Party) just sacked their leader for trying to get the party to support the equivalent of a cap and trade law for greenhouse gas emissions. The new leader is a bloke named Tony Abbot who isn't afraid to say that climate change is a giant boondoogle that will screw taxpayers for every cent they have. Best news I have heard for a long time, it made my day. The Brits might have given up but we are still fighting on down under.
victor| 12.2.09 @ 2:30AM
G'Day Mate!
Talk about an under reported story.
I've been following this for a bit and was wondering if this would pass. I can truly say I was pleasantly shocked by the turn of events. Your government is in turmoil because of unwanted and ill advised legislation, eh?
Imagine that happening up here. Well we will be having elections next November and something similar will happen.
Glad you have legislators with the testicular fortitude to stand up and do the Right thing, not because it is popular, but because it is Right!
John K| 12.2.09 @ 11:50AM
Christopher Holland:
I fear I may have to disagree with you: what happened to your gun rights in Australia? Gone, as bad as in Britain.
Sadly, I have to say that this article is right in every respect. Seventy years of socialism have infantilised and destroyed the will of the British people. The Thatcher years were a blip, when our national decline was briefly arrested. David Cameron, the so-called Conservative leader, is a popinjay who will make no serious effort to free Britain from the rule of the European Union, and who subscribes to the AGW myth 100%. In brief, we are screwed.
Ajax| 12.14.09 @ 7:22AM
Misinformation as information? Foaming, seething, disquiet slowly breeding waiting to react to all those stories you've been told. There's nothing new about this view from the other side, bounced between one detached teller and the next, as this idea of control grows. One has only to hear this stuff repeated, to say it must be so. Its not enough to have heard, or to be told, at some point one has to actually know.
ghjgh| 1.4.10 @ 10:19PM
AVCHD Player,
AVCHD Player for Mac
gfhfg| 1.4.10 @ 10:21PM
TS Player,
MTS Player
Thomas the doubter.| 1.10.10 @ 8:53AM
The Blind Men & The Elephant, sir, I have to agree with all your comments on my country today, I too wonder when shall we see the gestapo taking over, what was once a great country, now being Islam bound, with the full co-oporation of our government and local governments, and local governments being the worst, not allowed to fly our national emblem, (dont want to offend the muslims etc) all, it seems, hell bent on detroying the country and totally ignoring what is happening right under thier very nose, I dont know about feeling like second class citizens, more like third class citizens, they see no problem, even if it was to hit them between the eye's with a slidgehammer, I have not only seen the difference over the past 40 years or so, I even feel it, and its a terrible feeling, knowing that even if you put a bomb under thier seats, in parliment, they would probally treat it as some anoying prank, this labour government has done what Hitler failed to do, but has literally given the country away, we have no true ally anywhere at all in europe, I do believe one day, we shall see anarchy on our streets, dont let this happen to that great country, the USA, or Islam will create what none of us want!!, and I dont need to say what that will be,as for our armed forces, they are doing a great job, unfortunatly, armed with pitchforks, our tight assed government are too ignorant as to our troops desperate needs, of the tools needed to fight.