TW3

March 20th, 2007

Views: 295

That rare thing, an actually interesting blogmeme, courtesy of Justin McKeating, imperator of Duck Butter Chicken Yoghurt.

Way back in the day (oh, it was all so simple then), Mr M was in charge of Bar Room Philosophy, an excellent forum for educated argument, elevated cultural discussion, and ripping the piss out of Peter Cuthbertson. Following a suggestion from Tim Ireland for a commemoration of the beginning of the 21st century’s very own Thirty Years’ War, he’s directed us to posts he wrote around the time when the missile launch buttons started being pressed and a significant portion of the left discovered, once again, that, if pushed on the subject, it quite likes imperialism, really.

Having been nominated to carry this on, I find myself searching with trepidation through old Wordpress backup files (yes, I did once keep backups before I just decided it was boring) for March 2003. Christ, has this thing really been stuttering along arthritically for that long? In fact, SW started in around October 2002 - before that, I’d found Usenet and Guardian Talk more congenial means of fighting with other bald men over combs. Since then, it’s gone through numerous redesigns, not to mention shifts in tone. About all that has remained constant is the number of daily visitors, which has been clocking up a healthy eight or perhaps ten per day ever since 2003.

Even then, back when SW was in what should have been its fiery, galloping prime, I was rarely getting above the distinctly wheezy rate of one post per month. On 17 March 2003, we have this nugget of resignation:

So here we go: bring on the Iraqi toddlers engulfed by torrents of napalm, and cheer the march to liberation of the oppressed (those who don’t end up as calcined twigs or bloody smears anyway). And it’s all perfectly legal, according to the Attorney General, who conveniently manages to forget that authority for the use of force under the resolutions he mentions has to come from the Security Council, rather than from whichever nation finds itself caught up in a bout of international priapism at any particular moment.

I prefer the previous post, from 26 January 2003, which has everything. Or at least it has lots of sarcasm and ends with a short celebration of the death of an unpleasant Tory.

The Coming Soon status of the War has now been reinforced by the USUK coalition’s decision to redefine the conditions for military action to include, as well as the discovery of anything incriminating in Iraq, the failure of the weapons inspectors to find anything incriminating. Then, it will presumably be a matter of assessing the degree of cooperation given by Saddam’s boys, which of course will be less than perfect, and using this as evidence of an ‘incremental breach’. Rumsfeld’s claim all those months ago to the effect that lack of proof is not proof of lack - and is therefore a special case of proof (an interesting interpretation of induction that I wish Karl Popper was still around to appreciate) - is still the nail on which it all hangs, and which allows the perpetual redefinition of the conditions of action until something finally sticks. Blair, having learned from G
W B the principle that there ain’t no crime if there ain’t no law seems to be considering trying it out on the immigration issue, by suggesting that the UK’s commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights in so far as it applies to asylum might be up for grabs. Implies that there might be an attempt coming to reduce numbers of asylum seekers by changing what is meant by seeking asylum. As soon as things like this are suggested, then there is an immediate frenzy as more of the UK’s currently overabundant political crop of men without qualities surge forward to prove themselves nastier-than-thou: Iain Duncan Smith blurts out that the asylum system is full of terrorists, clearly without any conception of how irresponsible this sort of playing to the gallery can be. Perhaps he, Blair, Blunkett and all those who clamour to outdo the rest in stoking prejudice each time they feel they’ve been left behind might pause to think before speaking if, every time a refugee is subjected to violence, harassment or intimidation, a special paramilitary detail of the Refugee Council or whoever sends an agent to their next public engagement to whack them in the bollocks with a rolled-up sheaf of all the ‘weak’ British immigration policy enacted since 1962.Another tiny victory. Hurry up Margaret fer Chrissakes.

For my part, I’d be quite keen to find out what Jamie, Lenin and Ellis were up to back then.

No related posts