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Andrew Ian Dodge of Dodge(y)blog and Perry de Havilland of Libertarian Samizdata both take me to task, not undeservedly, for my lumping in of England with Europe in my article on tribalism in Europe, and especially with regard to European anti-Semitism. Despite their both being from the U.K., however, I don’t find their comments to be entirely on the mark. Both seem to generally agree with my comments on Europe, so (until and unless I get a slap from a continental European) I’ll consider that an issue where we have a meeting of minds, at the broad-brushstroke level at least, and let it lie. Now, I did deliberately use the term "English" rather than "British". Britain, after all, includes both Scotland and Wales. I frankly know nothing about specifically Scots and Welsh anti-Semitism (or lack of same). I will note that devolution in the U.K. was largely for the short-term political benefit of Labo(u)r, not out of ideology (i.e., that devolution is a good thing in itself, which I believe). I have no particular desire to be manhandled, literally or figurative, by the Scots and Welsh for appearing to be confusing them with Sassenachs. Both Dodge and de Havilland assert justly that "England" (or "Britain", or "the U.K.) is not part of Europe. Well, certainly, James Bennett’s writings on the Anglosphere are not to be dismissed out of hand; indeed, even if one were to disagree with them in their entirety (something that I do not do), they would require serious refutation, not an argument from intimidation offered by some jaded chatteratus. Nonetheless, I would assert that the object of Tony Blair and his "New Labor" with their vision of "Cool Brittania", is to deliberately remove the U.K. from the Anglosphere, and bring it into Europe and in line with European thinking, as the limitations on centralized, effectively despotic power in Anglospheric thinking accord neither with Blair’s personal ambitions, nor with the ambitions of Labor hierarchs to be, if not part of a pan-European nomenklatura, then a new aristocracy in the U.K. Neither Dodge nor de Havilland, I think, will deny the general argument, even if they disagree on the details; indeed, I think that both their blogs provide ample evidence of their feelings. Prior to World War II, the English upper classes certainly felt that it was acceptable to express anti-Semitic sentiments in public. De Havilland acknowledges this feeling still exists, but claims that it is far less virulent than its Continental counterpart. In this he is certainly correct, and – let me be perfectly honest here, within my limitations as a human being – the U.S. can certainly not claim innocence of this vile practice. His mention of Benjamin Disraeli I can counter with Judah Benjamin, but if I were to cite Unity Mitford, he could with perfect justice throw Henry Ford in my face. Yet, whilst anti-Semitism has not (alas!) been exterminated in the U.S., it does not seem to be making the comeback as an intellectually respectable position that does in Europe – and in England. That such prejudice is damped (although not eliminated) by the traditions of the Anglosphere may be the case; yet, as I say, it seems to the determination of the elites in Labor and the U.K. chatterati that England turn its back on the Anglosphere. England is not Europe – and may that always be so! But, I don’t think the smart money should be placed on the assumption that it will always be so. John "Akatsukami" Braue Wednesday, March 20, 2002 |
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