Tuesday 15 December 2009

Blair, Hattersley and Kierkegaard: Moral Giants All

We have had quite enough of Blair and his juvenile apologia. If the Fern Britton interview presages how he proposes to conduct himself before Chilcot, he deserves to be shredded.

I might have been wrong, but I sincerely believed it” – such is the intellectual quality of the NuLab ethical doctrine. I lied in good faith. But Blair is just the novice: his tutor was Roy Hattersley:

"I refuse to believe that any teenage girl would ever get pregnant in order to obtain a council flat. And even if I am wrong about this, it is to my credit that I do not believe it."

Genius. There have been some pretty self-focussed thinkers in the pantheon - Descartes, Lessing, Nietzsche, Freud, (and our good friend Newmania) (– sorry Paul!) but we need to invoke Kierkegaard himself for humourless, self-indulgent, self-referential, solipsistic ethical cant that is the equal of our NuLab moral giants. Kierkegaard whose hero was Abraham because he was willing to kill his son when he heard a voice in his head. Kierkegaard of “the teleological suspension of the ethical”, and “the passion is the truth”. Sancta simplicitas, as Hus said at the stake, of the old peasant woman he saw adding her pious bit of firewood to the blaze.

Let’s be clear. Being ‘sincere’, self-deluding, or prone to believing convenient nonsense, says nothing about the rightness or morality of your cause, only something about you. Sancta simplicitas – but you’re no simpleton Blair, so don’t assume it’s your ticket to Heaven.

And I’m no Catholic, but I think you’ll find the Pope is with me on this.

ND

12 comments:

James Higham said...

I'm very much sure, Nick, that the Pope is with you on that.

Bill Quango MP said...

Roy Hattersley has a very Gordon Brown quality. Asked to pick one of any two options and he unerringly goes for the wrong one.
He's another from the 'its the right thing to do ' or ' if one child/dolphin/iceberg etc can be saved its worth it.

Anonymous said...

When did Roy Hattersley ever say that?

Budgie said...

I remember Bliar (or was it Cherie?) moaning about the hard time they had had from the media - it was one of the funniest comments I have ever heard.

hatfield girl said...

'Consult your soul' the very words ring like a bell.

Blair, Hattersley, Kierkegaard - their real horridness is their pretence to feeling and belief, their aping of humanity when inside them is the stone-cold moral silence that permits their lies and their actions.

Demetrius said...

It appears that having decided to go to war in order to remove the existing regime in Iraq, they had little or no idea what was to be done when they succeeded. Even although it was clear that if they won they would have to take on the running of the country. Much like the way Blair and Brown have been running the UK.

Elby The Beserk said...

is it just me, or do both Blair and Brown look more and more like clowns when they "smile"?

Sackerson said...

Erudite, ND; a pleasure.

Nick Drew said...

James - thanks for checking with him!

Budgie - Cherie's self-serving nonsense is at a rather base level compared to worr Tone's elevated, abstract stuff

Mr Q - the Tub o' Lard is quit a specimen isn't he? HG - I like the idea of Hatters as a paradigm of moral vacuity ...

Anon - Grauniad piece many years ago but he ain't changed

Demetrius - yes, quotidian practicalities come a very poor third to the spinmeisters' requirements and then the ideologues: (are you glued to Chilcot ?)

Elby - the facial things are fascinating (and Steve Bell does Blair so well - though he can't do Brown for toffee): I may try a DigiBlair to go with DigiMandi

Sackers - thanks! I was sorely provoked.

Mu Tai Dong said...

Myabe you come by my restaurant amd eat Brown Soup or roasted labout - Mu is it learning about tyrant Blair!

Electro-Kevin said...

What a magnificent post.

I'm dealing with such a tricky character within my own family at the moment. He belows at us when caught out, "I reserve the right to be wrong !"

No contrition - never an apology. So I'm the first in his life to tell him to fuck off.

I conclude that these people weren't ever challenged early enough in life. Their egos become impenetrable and their ideologies intractable - and they invoke God if necessary.

This is why I hate church. They get their justification and confidence from scripture which is nothing short of looney.

Nick Drew said...

Thanks, Kev - you re-invented yourself again, then ?

good luck with the Tricky'un