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Gordon Brown has said he was sorry for the "appalling" way World War II code breaker Alan Turing was treated for being gay.
Why Gordon? Did you have a time machine and go back to the 1950's work your way up the ranks of government or MI5 and personally persecute Alan Turing.
Or are you saying sorry on behalf of the UK government of the 1950's, in which case what gives you the right to apologise on behalf of people dead and gone who were acting within the strictures and mores of their day.
I hate the way that 'sorry' has been devalued by our society, it has become a 'Get out of Jail Free' card' for politicians much like 'it's their culture' has become for other groups.
Children are taught that 'sorry' excuses all wrongs, they are not told to 'apologise' they are told to ''just say 'sorry'' and in doing so it means they are not needed to internalise their regret and perhaps learn from their mistakes.
To me, to say 'sorry' is a profound expression of personal regret and or remorse. I will admit I was wrong, I will express regret, I will admit to a mistake, I will apologise. But only in the most extreme cases where I do actually feel personal regret and or remorse will I say 'sorry'. To use it for less cheapens the word and makes it meaningless.
Here we get to the nub of my post, what gives anyone the right to say 'sorry' for or demand that people say 'sorry' for deeds and actions long past, over which the person , people or nation currently alive had no influence or control. Which if you had asked the people at the time to say 'sorry' they would have looked at you in bemusement as what they were doing was perfectly acceptable for their time and situation.
"Hindsight is 20/20 vision" and "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" Yes, we can learn from others mistakes as indeed we have. You can express regret and remorse, by all means. But say 'sorry' for them, no. I will not say 'sorry' just because I happen to be born in a country where 200 years ago people used to sell other people for money, I bear no responsibility for that, I can act to stop it happening again, but I will not say 'sorry' and NOBODY has the right to say 'sorry' on my behalf either.
With regard to past events, in these enlightened times I can regret they happened and it is perhaps my responsibility to ensure they don't happen again, but I was not personally responsible , so no 'sorry' from me .
Here are some other things I will not be saying 'sorry' for;
The Crusades
Slavery
The Treatment of Aborigines
Colonisation
The Opium Wars
The Execution of French prisoners at Agincourt
The Zulu Wars
The Boer War
The Highland Clearances
The Enclosure Act
The Potato Famine
The Transportation of Prisoners
etc.
Gordon Brown has said he was sorry for the "appalling" way World War II code breaker Alan Turing was treated for being gay.
Why Gordon? Did you have a time machine and go back to the 1950's work your way up the ranks of government or MI5 and personally persecute Alan Turing.
Or are you saying sorry on behalf of the UK government of the 1950's, in which case what gives you the right to apologise on behalf of people dead and gone who were acting within the strictures and mores of their day.
I hate the way that 'sorry' has been devalued by our society, it has become a 'Get out of Jail Free' card' for politicians much like 'it's their culture' has become for other groups.
Children are taught that 'sorry' excuses all wrongs, they are not told to 'apologise' they are told to ''just say 'sorry'' and in doing so it means they are not needed to internalise their regret and perhaps learn from their mistakes.
To me, to say 'sorry' is a profound expression of personal regret and or remorse. I will admit I was wrong, I will express regret, I will admit to a mistake, I will apologise. But only in the most extreme cases where I do actually feel personal regret and or remorse will I say 'sorry'. To use it for less cheapens the word and makes it meaningless.
Here we get to the nub of my post, what gives anyone the right to say 'sorry' for or demand that people say 'sorry' for deeds and actions long past, over which the person , people or nation currently alive had no influence or control. Which if you had asked the people at the time to say 'sorry' they would have looked at you in bemusement as what they were doing was perfectly acceptable for their time and situation.
"Hindsight is 20/20 vision" and "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" Yes, we can learn from others mistakes as indeed we have. You can express regret and remorse, by all means. But say 'sorry' for them, no. I will not say 'sorry' just because I happen to be born in a country where 200 years ago people used to sell other people for money, I bear no responsibility for that, I can act to stop it happening again, but I will not say 'sorry' and NOBODY has the right to say 'sorry' on my behalf either.
With regard to past events, in these enlightened times I can regret they happened and it is perhaps my responsibility to ensure they don't happen again, but I was not personally responsible , so no 'sorry' from me .
Here are some other things I will not be saying 'sorry' for;
The Crusades
Slavery
The Treatment of Aborigines
Colonisation
The Opium Wars
The Execution of French prisoners at Agincourt
The Zulu Wars
The Boer War
The Highland Clearances
The Enclosure Act
The Potato Famine
The Transportation of Prisoners
etc.
"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there".
That's why (your mentioned) sorry to Aborigines meant very little. The people of 2009 cannot be sorry for the actions of their grandparents - who, as you say, were acting within the accepted means of the time. I do resent being obliged to foot any compensation claims which may come about now or in the future...
ReplyDeleteAlso notice that no one else says sorry for anything.
ReplyDeleteThey just go on their mysoginist, racist, sectist, couldn't give a fuck about anyone but their own tribe way.
Try pitching up in a Chink hospital if you are a Karen!!!!
Pseudonymph : I do resent being obliged to foot any compensation claims which may come about now or in the future...
ReplyDeleteI quite agree and getting someone to say 'sorry' is usually the first step, 'sorry' is nowadays taken as an admission of fault or guilt , therefore as you've now admitted responsibility, you are liable for any reparations. Give me money please.
Incoming: Also notice that no one else says sorry for anything.
Indeed, having lived in Japan where they take saying 'sorry' very seriously and up until recently saying you were 'very sorry' normally involved a very sharp knife and self surgery.
They can't understand all these calls to say 'sorry' for events that happened in WW2* or in China*. "Why should we", they say "It wasn't us"
I think the clammering parties eventualy got a 'regret' out of Koizumi, but that was I think more him hoping to shut them up.
*I'm leaving out the issue of actually removing the nasty parts from text books, that is wrong, but a separate matter