tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post6570512864955808838..comments2024-03-27T21:30:35.824+00:00Comments on UK Commentators: One For Mr TarranLabanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-2103935847824295532008-03-08T14:45:00.000+00:002008-03-08T14:45:00.000+00:00Substitute 'international community' for empire an...Substitute 'international community' for empire and you'd be hard-pressed to find a Bishop who doesn't swoon with relief at being offered the soft alternative. <BR/><BR/>The Bishops pretend not to see that the 'international community' pursues the same ends as empire, and readily resorts to hard-empire military invasions when frustrated. <BR/><BR/>Empire and patriotism are, almost by definition, polar opposites, but like the Victorians we are being trained not to see this.<BR/><BR/>A.L. Morton in <I>A People's History of England</I> wrote:<BR/><BR/><I>It is entirely characteristic that it was just as the Tory Party ceased to be really representative of the landowners that it adopted a pretentiously self conscious 'Merrie England' propaganda patter. The peculiar task of Disraeli was to reconcile the English aristocracy to their position of junior partner in the firm of Imperialism Unlimited.</I> <BR/><BR/>Topical substitutions for keywords in that passage, and parallels with today's empire, are various and obvious.Nick Deanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03462880055597587042noreply@blogger.com