Lady Thatcher’s observation encapsulates the main change in public discourse that I noticed when I returned to these islands in 2011, after nearly twenty years away. The English pride in rationality and the traditional “stiff upper lip” approach to emotion has vanished to the extent that I experience living here now as akin to being on some dreadful afternoon TV show. All media presenters are more or less Jeremy Kyle or, at best, Ellen Degeneres. Whereas as a young law student I was trained that “hard cases make bad law” and that legislation should be made in a detached spirit, not driven by the passions of those close to the problem, I now hear every day the ludicrous assertion that only victims can truly hope to understand issues and that it’s ridiculous to believe that a calm, rational analysis by a detached person, “privileged” by not being in a given group of victims could lead to the right outcome.
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Samizdata quote of the dayApril 8th, 2018 |
 4 comments to Samizdata quote of the day |
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May i suggest that “commonsense” would have been a much more appropriate word than “rationality”?
It has vanished from the public domain. It doesn’t mean it has ceased to exist, though it has dwindled. It has been made invisible. Like all else that might reflect well on UK civilisation, it has been banished by those who control the megaphone.
It’s not a UK-only thing. I had the impression that the captain of the Concordia shocked even Italians.
BTW, +1 to Snorri: I know what Tom Paine meant, but ‘commonsense’ would have been a better choice of word than ‘rationality’.
It has vanished from the public domain. It doesn’t mean it has ceased to exist, though it has dwindled. It has been made invisible. Like all else that might reflect well on UK civilisation, it has been banished by those who control the megaphone.
This.
I wish I could argue with what “Tom Paine” says here – but, alas, he is correct.