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Boris Johnson launched some words out into the world the other week. The bulk of them we can ignore, but there was one line that got widespread attention. “If [the Chequers proposal for a Brexit deal] were adopted,” he grumbled, “it would mean that for the first time, since 1066, our leaders were deliberately acquiescing in foreign rule.”
Some people took issue with this, including Anoosh Chakelian in the New Statesman, who said that Johnson “appears to have forgotten the Glorious Revolution, when the Dutch king William of Orange was invited by English nobles in 1688 to invade and overthrow James II”.
A large online debate then broke out, in which historians suggested that the Glorious Revolution didn’t count as “foreign rule” because William “slotted in to the existing English constitutional settlement” and “ruled as an English king, not as a Dutch overlord”.
This all sounds like a serious argument, doesn’t it? But there’s something worth noting. No one actually disagrees about anything. Everyone agrees that William was asked to invade by English nobles; that he arrived with an army; that he overthrew James II; and that he became King William III of England and King William II of Scotland, ruling from London, rather than remaining a Dutch king and ruling by proxy through a viceroy.
The entire argument is over whether that set of facts should be included in the definition of the term “foreign rule” or not. If I define it to mean “rule by a foreign person”, it probably does; if I define it to mean “rule by a foreign country”, it probably doesn’t.
The AI theorist and prolific blogger Eliezer Yudkowsky made this point a decade or so ago. If two people are arguing over whether a tree falling in the forest makes as sound if no one hears it, what are they actually arguing about? One is saying: “Every time I’ve listened to a tree fall, it makes a sound. It still makes pressure waves in the air, that’s sound.” The other says: “But no one hears it. No one experiences the sensation of hearing something. That’s what sound is, so there’s no sound.”
The whole argument comes down to one person defining “a sound” as pressure waves in the air, while the other defines “a sound” as a subjective auditory experience. But they both agree that there were pressure waves, that there wasn’t a subjective auditory experience, and that if they were to go into the forest, they’d find a fallen tree.
These are somewhat trivial examples. But it applies just as much to more sensitive subjects. For instance, a large amount of public debate at the moment is dedicated to whether or not Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite. But once again, the disagreement comes down to definitions (ironically enough, given that the row is in part inspired by the Labour Party not wanting to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Association definition of antisemitism).
If you define an antisemite as someone who shouts abuse at Jewish people and paints swastikas on synagogue walls, then obviously he isn’t. But others would define the term to include people who, like Corbyn, detect “the hand of Israel” behind an Islamist terror attack, or think that some British Jews don’t “understand English irony”; they would say that these are examples of antisemitic tropes, and that people who employ them regularly should be considered antisemites.
The trouble is that there can be no right answer here. Words don’t have ‘correct’ meanings; they are defined by how they’re used, and if enough people use them differently, there’s nothing but personal taste to choose between them. So someone can very angrily insist that the definition of antisemitism includes Corbyn; others can equally insist that it doesn’t. Neither will ever be proved correct. A dictionary won’t help; it just tells you how some people use the word. All you can do is go back and forth: “I define it to mean this!” “But I define it to mean that!”
That doesn’t mean it’s unimportant. Labels, words, have power. If I can convince people to define “foreign rule” in such a way as to not include the Glorious Revolution, then I might be able to convince them take steps against the Jacobite scum. If I can convince people to define ‘antisemite’ in such a way as to exclude Jeremy Corbyn, then I may find it easier to make some of them vote Labour, and vice versa. It matters.
But it doesn’t mean we’re arguing over any real distinction. We both (I assume) agree that Corbyn wouldn’t graffiti a Holocaust memorial, but we also both agree that he did detect the hand of Israel. We agree on all the facts; we just disagree over the definition of ‘antisemite’.
(You could argue that we’re arguing over what Corbyn’s feelings toward Jewish people really are. But arguing about someone’s inner life is even more fruitless than arguing about the definitions of words. Besides, his words and actions are the only window we’ll ever get on to what he really thinks.)
There are reasons to argue about the definition. But they’re not truth-seeking reasons; the reason to argue about the definition of ‘foreign rule’ or ‘antisemite’ (or ‘racism’ or ‘tax’ or ‘gender’ or any one of a million other words) is to get people on board with the cause you want to promote. That’s fine and important.
If you want to argue about real differences, though, you have to get past the definitions to what the thing is underneath. Find what your real disagreements are, and what you expect to happen. I don’t expect Jeremy Corbyn ever to call a Jewish person a racist epithet, but I do expect that we’ll keep finding out stuff about him hanging around with people who repeat the blood libel.
So the question is what we feel about that. Don’t worry about whether the Glorious Revolution counts as ‘foreign rule’: we can just talk about whether the Dutch king invaded at the head of an army, or whether British institutions remained intact. Don’t argue about whether or not a tree “makes a sound” when it falls: ask whether it would make pressure waves in the air, or auditory experiences in someone’s mind. And don’t argue about whether or not Corbyn “is an antisemite”, unless you want to recruit people to your cause: look at the things he does and the things you expect him to do, and ask whether you’re comfortable with them.
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SubscribeMy favourite media outlet, Private Eye, regularly demonstrates that swimming against the tide is often the right thing to do.
The thing about free speech is, it is very easy to defend when people are saying intelligent things you agree with. Not so easy when they are saying stupid things you disagree with, but every bit as important. He had every right to say what he did, asinine though it was, in your opinion (and mine)
Best advice: don’t form opinions based on what ITV presenters say, especially if they are sitting on a sofa.
“After we came back from the hospital I rang the cab firm to ask them never to send that driver to us again”
I’m pretty sure that in common with many people who work for the BBC it was the thought that someone had dared to dis the EU that really upset you rather than his more batty notions. Was he subsequently sacked, the driver, because of your hurt ‘feelins’, lack of debating skills and liberal intolerance? Do you care?
Blimey, I’m an atheist but it looks we have a lot in common. I was a reluctant Remainer but for similar reasons as in the article I found myself being pushed more towards Brexit and the right because it seemed to me that the left has become an insane cult and suddenly I could see it clearly. A Damascus conversion? A Red-pill? Or just recognising when values no longer align.
Strangely no mention, Justin, of the increased amount of electoral fraud that postal voting brings.
Death The Leveller immediately reminded me of that other poem which destroys any notion of hubris:
“I met a traveller from an antique land …” you know the rest
There is doubt about Socrates’ views on democracy; some contend they reflect Plato’s views rather than those of his teacher. Popper was certainly of that opinion (he really didn’t like Plato!)
Justin Webb of the partial BBC offers his latest piece of anti-Trump, pro-left/liberal propaganda on behalf of his friends in the Democratic Party.
Great blog from Mary. While the COVID-19 crisis seems to have increased the din for a universal basic income, it also seems to have made people forget about a job guarantee as a social policy. To some extent, the reason is obvious. The COVID-19 epidemic will expand the numbers of the unemployed so greatly there will be no possibility for the state to offer gainful employment to all of them on a short-term basis. Nevertheless, there is a distinct possibility that some of these jobs, in retail, restaurants and so forth, may never come back, the epidemic hastening a trend to online shopping and take-away meals. As the economy returns to normal a job guarantee program could ensure that there is not a permanently higher unemployment rate, and a lot of those guaranteed jobs would be in nurseries, tutoring, senior care and so forth, the kind of jobs Mary has identified. The people holding these jobs would not necessarily be state employees, but they would be working for state-approved employers and likely with a state subsidy. A universal basic income program risks warehousing people. A job guarantee program starts with the assumption that all people have something to contribute to our society and if the so-called free market will not find a job for them, the state will do so.
This piece by BBC Today’s JW could have been lifted straight from the Guardian. Far too predictable to be worth airing on UnHerd
Gor blimey squire ! Love the d**k van d**e mockney accent.
So, let me see if I understand this. The author (apparently a church man) gave Boris Johnson a vote out of a personal vendetta, conflict, confussion, inner turmoil (whatever one wants to call it) provoked by his disappointment with the Labour Party. What to say, perhaps Protestants should follow the example of Catholics and have some sort of confession, so as to get things off their chest in a less damaging, uncontrolled way!
If the author wants to retain his left-wing credentials and not carry on being Tory scum there’s always the Workers Party GB.