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'Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.' - George Orwell, 1984
British history 'needs rewrite'
By Brian Wheeler
Political reporter, BBC News, at the Labour conference
British history should be rewritten to make it "more inclusive", says Trevor Phillips, the head of the new human rights and equality commission.
He said Muslims were also part of the national story and "sometimes we have to go back into the tapestry and insert some threads that were lost".
He quoted the example of the Spanish Armada, which was held up by the Turks at the request of Queen Elizabeth I.
"It was the Turks who saved us," Mr Phillips told a Labour fringe meeting.
Let's use our heritage to rewrite that story so it is truly inclusive... so we have an identity which binds us in the stormy times we are going to have in the next century.''
Mr Phillips said he had also been persuaded of the need for a written constitution, saying the UK needed to be "more explicit in our understanding about how we treat each other".
He said population changes and immigration were happening at unprecedented rate and there was "no going back".
So it was no longer enough to assume people would inherit the values which bound the country together.
[...]
"We have to have a more explicit set of understandings which we can all share about how we treat each other and we talk to each other and they have to be based on real values.
"I think the prime minister is right to talk about values but I think what is important is not the abstract values. Freedom is shared by all sorts of people."
If there was a written constitution it would have to be "an expression which is native and right for us".
[...]
He said the abolition of the slave trade, for example, could be retold as being part of the English radical tradition.''
"Part of the job of heritage is to cognitize - give physical existence - to that national story.''
So here we see the actual ongoing process of trying to give birth to a 'proposition nation', a nation formed on the basis of some cobbled-together, 'inclusive' national 'story.' And the process ain't pretty.
The use of the word 'story' is rather telling; when I was a child, and my parents doubted some tall tale I related to them, they would say 'are you telling me a story'? For a long time, in my mind, the word 'story' signified a falsehood, a concocted deception, a whopper, as well as meaning a fairy tale from one of my beloved books. Such seems to be the meaning of the term as Phillips is using it here.
Britain does not need a 'national story'; it has a history, a factual history, which has been known, recorded, and honored for many centuries. It does not need a fractured fairy tale concocted of bits and pieces of multicultural confabulations, all with the intention of making outsiders feel 'included' and respected. Even worse is Phillips shameful attempt to credit Moslems with having saved England in the days of Elizabeth I.
I do hope the British people, and by that I mean the rightful heirs of Britain, the descendants of the historic people of that island, will refuse to let their history be rewritten in the service of leftist propagandizing. It is even worse than mere propagandizing; it amounts to eradicating the real history of a people and the record of their considerable accomplishments. It is an act of historical 'ethnic cleansing.'
Some might ask why an American should care. First, anyone who cares about truth and about justice should care. Secondly, I care because Britain's history includes the lives of many of my ancestors. Until the 17th century, the majority of my ancestors lived in Britain, so their history is also mine, as it is for many Americans of British descent.
Here is the Telegraph's version, with a comment thread following. The comments are very heartening, because at least when I read the thread, there were many irate comments. The British people haven't been completely subjugated, if the comments are any indication. And in case the comments have been edited since I read the thread, here are the first two:
Mr Phillips,
There is no "us" with you and my benighted English people. You are not "us". Rewriting history won't make you "us". I totally reject you.
Posted by Guessedworker on September 25, 2007 10:38 PM
Report this comment
I love trevor phillips. No one else left with that much balsiness in British Society. Pity he's out for revenge against the Brits,and their history.
You cant change history.Only suppress it Trevor. Full marks for cheek though.
Posted by Big Bill on September 25, 2007 10:31 PM
I agree with the commenters quoted above.
On a related note, the BBC website has a thread soliciting suggestions for a new motto for Britain. Most of the suggestions were silly, but here are a couple of ironic ones:
'Rachel Fox' suggests 'We welcome one and all.'
Simon Rooke suggests 'Magnus frater spectat te - Big Brother is watching you
Christian Cook suggests 'Mostly harmless.'
Truly, I hope this multicultural madness will not continue; maybe the sheer excesses of the left will lead to some kind of awakening. All of us in the West are under siege, and before we can stop the onslaught, it must first be recognized.
''For history is to the nation as memory is to the individual.'' - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
British history 'needs rewrite'
By Brian Wheeler
Political reporter, BBC News, at the Labour conference
British history should be rewritten to make it "more inclusive", says Trevor Phillips, the head of the new human rights and equality commission.
He said Muslims were also part of the national story and "sometimes we have to go back into the tapestry and insert some threads that were lost".
He quoted the example of the Spanish Armada, which was held up by the Turks at the request of Queen Elizabeth I.
"It was the Turks who saved us," Mr Phillips told a Labour fringe meeting.
Let's use our heritage to rewrite that story so it is truly inclusive... so we have an identity which binds us in the stormy times we are going to have in the next century.''
Mr Phillips said he had also been persuaded of the need for a written constitution, saying the UK needed to be "more explicit in our understanding about how we treat each other".
He said population changes and immigration were happening at unprecedented rate and there was "no going back".
So it was no longer enough to assume people would inherit the values which bound the country together.
[...]
"We have to have a more explicit set of understandings which we can all share about how we treat each other and we talk to each other and they have to be based on real values.
"I think the prime minister is right to talk about values but I think what is important is not the abstract values. Freedom is shared by all sorts of people."
If there was a written constitution it would have to be "an expression which is native and right for us".
[...]
He said the abolition of the slave trade, for example, could be retold as being part of the English radical tradition.''
"Part of the job of heritage is to cognitize - give physical existence - to that national story.''
So here we see the actual ongoing process of trying to give birth to a 'proposition nation', a nation formed on the basis of some cobbled-together, 'inclusive' national 'story.' And the process ain't pretty.
The use of the word 'story' is rather telling; when I was a child, and my parents doubted some tall tale I related to them, they would say 'are you telling me a story'? For a long time, in my mind, the word 'story' signified a falsehood, a concocted deception, a whopper, as well as meaning a fairy tale from one of my beloved books. Such seems to be the meaning of the term as Phillips is using it here.
Britain does not need a 'national story'; it has a history, a factual history, which has been known, recorded, and honored for many centuries. It does not need a fractured fairy tale concocted of bits and pieces of multicultural confabulations, all with the intention of making outsiders feel 'included' and respected. Even worse is Phillips shameful attempt to credit Moslems with having saved England in the days of Elizabeth I.
I do hope the British people, and by that I mean the rightful heirs of Britain, the descendants of the historic people of that island, will refuse to let their history be rewritten in the service of leftist propagandizing. It is even worse than mere propagandizing; it amounts to eradicating the real history of a people and the record of their considerable accomplishments. It is an act of historical 'ethnic cleansing.'
Some might ask why an American should care. First, anyone who cares about truth and about justice should care. Secondly, I care because Britain's history includes the lives of many of my ancestors. Until the 17th century, the majority of my ancestors lived in Britain, so their history is also mine, as it is for many Americans of British descent.
Here is the Telegraph's version, with a comment thread following. The comments are very heartening, because at least when I read the thread, there were many irate comments. The British people haven't been completely subjugated, if the comments are any indication. And in case the comments have been edited since I read the thread, here are the first two:
Mr Phillips,
There is no "us" with you and my benighted English people. You are not "us". Rewriting history won't make you "us". I totally reject you.
Posted by Guessedworker on September 25, 2007 10:38 PM
Report this comment
I love trevor phillips. No one else left with that much balsiness in British Society. Pity he's out for revenge against the Brits,and their history.
You cant change history.Only suppress it Trevor. Full marks for cheek though.
Posted by Big Bill on September 25, 2007 10:31 PM
I agree with the commenters quoted above.
On a related note, the BBC website has a thread soliciting suggestions for a new motto for Britain. Most of the suggestions were silly, but here are a couple of ironic ones:
'Rachel Fox' suggests 'We welcome one and all.'
Simon Rooke suggests 'Magnus frater spectat te - Big Brother is watching you
Christian Cook suggests 'Mostly harmless.'
Truly, I hope this multicultural madness will not continue; maybe the sheer excesses of the left will lead to some kind of awakening. All of us in the West are under siege, and before we can stop the onslaught, it must first be recognized.
''For history is to the nation as memory is to the individual.'' - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Labels: Britain, Cucultural Marxism, Multiculturalism, Political Correctness, Revisionist History