I haven't moaned on about Anthony Blair for weeks now and I've really been trying to resist any further mention of him as he undertakes his Farewell To The World Tour 2007. It should occasion no surprise that I am about to fail with this personal undertaking.
By visiting Iraq on the day of the FA Cup Final at the shiny new Wembley, Blair was making a clear statement as to how he viewed the public perception of his "achievements". Can anyone imagine his narcissistic side missing an opportunity like that earlier in his imperial majestic period?
Fair dinkum. Go quietly and I'll try to forget that you ever existed. And then the man decides to write an essay for The Economist entitled "What I've Learned". Wondering how he might spin out the word "Nothing!" to cover three pages, I sat on the beach at Mon Repos and missed my swim and gained several serious mozzie bites while incredulity paralysed my senses.
At the time, I was reading a book of Orwell's essays, journalism and letters from 1945-50 and the difference in true human stature between the two men was palpable. Blair spinning his way around pithy platitudes in all his holographic shallowness while Orwell oozes principles and justice.
Now obviously, Blair would have preferred to have written an essay on "What I've Achieved" but, aside from war crimes, ruining the party of Bevan and handing over Belfast to the mafia, that would have been a real struggle to stretch out. Throughout his reign, Blair has slowly morphed into a citizen of the world's only remaining primitive society and his prep school standard essay is full of mid-Atlantic twaddle like "Get Real" and "Period" taking on full sentence status to stress some ineffective point while coming across like a real macho USA sort of guy. Cracker's "Yo Blair" was evidently merely indicative of their intercourse.
The essay is revealing due to a complete lack of any consequential utterances suggestive of a belief in anything political at all over the last ten years - we are not dealing with a man of substance here. Nor a man of the English language. "Ten years ago, if you had told me I......" he gushingly opens his opus before an adrenalin rush leads to the second paragraph opining "If you had told me a decade ago that I......"
At no point in his essay does Blair lay out any set of principles or a belief mechanism. His politics are reactive as he positions himself where he believes he needs to be with regard to his hidden agenda. Comparing with Orwell's approach to anything and everything reveals Blair's absolute lack of moral robustness.
He repeatedly justifies the rampant erosion of civil liberties under his stewardship with the tiresome mantra "if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear". Yes we have - we fear the loss of OUR civil liberties. This is a removal of a basic human right. Spending time in inner city Manchester is like living in the Big Brother house (with evictions but without any winner). I wouldn't be surprised if a Geordie voice is added to the ubiquitous copters hovering overhead. "Thursday 8.13 am, all the people are in the ghetto..."
Throughout his tirade, the only prevailing attitude is "the right is never wrong". The Middle East is the fault of Hamas, Fatah, Arabs, Sunni's, Sufi's, Shia's, Hezbollah but, surprisingly, not the US or Israel (nor Britain for that matter). His support for a militaristic geopolitical agenda based on the use of overwhelming force and an abrogation for international norms of behaviour is highly selective and is not based on any set of principles. Certain countries eg Iraq, Iran, Angola, Somalia, Equatorial Guinea etc have got oil (or other valuable resources) and/or geographical significance so we can invade these countries under a banner claiming "democracy" while leaving less fortunate nations to maintain their non-elected dictatorships as we've nothing to gain by getting involved. Think Myanmar, for example.
We know that Al-Fayed has got an understandable grudge with the British establishment but the man is still spot on when he states: "...he used to live in a council flat in Scotland and now he thinks he is the Emperor".
In describing the experience of living under British "democracy" in his country, an Indian economist stated: "It is disingenuous to invoke "democracy," "due process of law, "non-violence," to rationalise the absence of action. For meaningful concepts under such conditions become meaningless since, in reality, they justify the relentless pervasive exploitation of the masses; at once a denial of democracy and a more sinister form of violence portrayed on the overwhelming majority through contractual forms". Iraq or what?
Blair is indicative of the dumbing down of politics in the last half century. The most startling aspect of a comparison between Orwell and Blair (aside from a shared surname) is the depth of the general political awareness following the war compared to today's consumerist spectacularism. A comparison between Tribune and The Sun is deeply depressing!
Right... that's it. Blair will never ever get another mention on this blog. He will remain, in the words of The Economist "the strangest tory ever sold"...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
