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April 28, 2020 - 2:55pm
A terrible sickness stalks the land. No, not the Covid but — shudder — British exceptionalism.
Apparently, the entire Cabinet’s come down down with it — after all, what other reason could there be for the government’s response to the current crisis? Trapped in a Blighty-fixated fever dream, it’s quite clear that our leaders have lost the plot.
Luckily, The Guardian has realised what’s going on. Its columnist Fintan O’Toole was the first to raise the alarm, perceiving the influence of “a fantasy of personal freedom as a marker of ethnic and national identity.” More than mere “rhetorical self-indulgence” this delirium has “helped to shape official policy towards the Covid-19 crisis”, he reckons.
Naïvely, I thought it was something to do with following the official scientific advice, but no — it’s down to some Anglocentric hallucination. Or is SAGE entirely composed of retired Colonels from Frinton-on-Sea?
O’Toole goes on to remark that “Covid-19, as Johnson himself discovered the most awful way, doesn’t make exceptions”. Yes, that must have come as a terrible shock: there was the PM, secure in his conviction that Homo britannicus is biologically immune to infection, only to catch the thing himself!
But did BoJo learn his lesson? A few days later, The Guardian felt compelled to publish an editorial which condemned the government’s policy response. As to what propelled these missteps, the authors were in no doubt: it was “fantasies of British exceptionalism”, of course.
The editorial points out that there’s been “no official word” as to why the death rate is lower in the Republic of Ireland (“which has followed WHO advice”) than it is in Northern Ireland (“which follows UK advice”). Well, no wonder HMG’s keeping quiet, because we all know what and who’s to blame — i.e. “the delusions of national character that too many members of the government… suffer from”.
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SubscribeFintan O’Toole like much of the liberal/left commentariat in Ireland suffers from Celtic exceptionalism. It is also evident in Scotland. One of the defining characteristics of Celtic exceptionalism is the belief that every action taken by England is foolish, driven by nostalgia for empire, racist and serves the interests of evil privileged Tories. In contrast, mainstream Scottish and Irish nationalists define themselves as open and inclusive as is evidenced in their enthusiasm for the EU and mass immigration. Celtic exceptionalism is rooted in an immature and atavistic resentment towards England for historical injustices that no living Scot or Irish person was affected by. It is also an insecure mindset in which one constantly tries to make yourself feel better by proving you are superior to the neighbour you were once subservient to. Dear Ireland (and Scotland) it is time to let go of the historical victimhood complex. Fintan O’Toole doesn’t represent all Irish people. While there are large swathes of the population that sympathise with his views there are also many of us with close ties to England who value our shared culture and close ties of kinship.
Brilliant.
I trust Scott Allan and others take note.
Fintan O’Toole has been a deranged, anti-British, anti-Brexit nutter for years. Wherever you look – from the Irish press to the New York Review of Books – he is propagating his one-eyed propaganda. Of course, he has – or at least had – a point about some things. But as is often the case with these people, they go from being rational people with a point of view to deranged lunatics, incapable of acknowledging any fact that might counter their argument.
And you can say the same about more or less every writer at The Guardian, which has long hated the British people.
As a non-Brit, I have always been bemused by Fintan O’Toole’s success. All his writing are predictable in the extreme – berating the British, and more specifically English in a rather limited number of ways. There is no great insight to be had from reading his pieces – if you have read one, you have read them all. What is interesting is that he has such a dedicated following in England, which I suspect is the main cause of his fame. What is the psychology of his English admirers? It is not that O’Toole is an Anglophile who has a problem with a particular form of Englishness – it is pretty clear that in his view the English themselves are somehow inherently tainted, and that despite the superficial internationalism, he bears quite a few nationalistic grudges. That is not surprising. What is surprising is the pleasure O’Toole’s mostly London-based fans take in being eloquently insulted by him.
That’s easily answered. O’Toole is beloved by metropolitan Remainers, and only by metropolitan Remainers, because is a rabid anti-Brexit and anti-Boris nutter. That makes him both a saint and a genius in their eyes.
yes.
Ironically, the so-called progressives see themselves as exceptional too.
Sometimes one hits the reset button and attempt to read a whole copy of the Gruan in an open-minded and calm state of being.
I earnestly, fairly, tried in December of last year, where a piece by Mr George Moonbat urged me to join him in a chorus of “…let the wild ruckus begin!…” The article was vis a vis something incomprehensible (“we must!, we should! we will!”); some vapid tomfoolery or other, but the comments below this staggering blast of hot wind raised the blood pressure. Of course Ms P. Toynbee raised it even further with a dissection of ‘progressive’ things such as China Mieville’s Jess Phillips Fruit Sculpture, ambidextrous colour pencils and other relentless drivel.
It was enough for one year. I tried. The Grunaiad may someday go bust. Is it wrong to feel joy about the possibility of such?
(Nowhere in this comment does Mr Owen Jones appear, you may be sure).
I never read the Grauniad these days .. but there is nothing inherently wrong with disliking nationalism. The Devil’s Dictionary says: “Nationalism: the belief that a country is wonderful because you happened to be born in it.”
A simple dislike of Nationalism would at least be evidenced by an evenhanded approach to all nationalism. In fact the Guardian has no problem with Irish Nationalism or any other sort with the exceptions of England, the USA and Israel. There is a deep self loathing in the opinion writers to the extent that every other culture is regarded as superior.
Which is of course a stupid definition.
It’s about as valid as criticizing belief in yourself or acting in your own interests because you “happen” to be born in your body.
Which is of course an idiotic definition.
It’s about as valid as criticizing belief in yourself or acting in your own interests because you “happen” to be born in your body.
Which is of course a bogus definition.
It’s about as valid as criticizing belief in yourself or acting in your own interests because you “happen” to be born in your body.
The line you must not cross is to say “us” in “our” if that is based on a perception of difference. That ‘s why a Northland Maori is castigated for a sign “No Asian Invasion” when a Shanghai property developer is courting the Iwi, Because Chinese cannot “invade”, because Chinese cannot be “not us”? So suck it up Maori when foreigners strut about your place as though they own it, not just for the moment, but 40 years into the future.
We’re not really that surprised at The Guardian’s reaction, are we? I’d be more surprised if they adopted an almost pro-British attitude.
Until twelve years ago, I used to be a Guardian digital subscriber, reading it with increasing irritation as it veered farther and farther down the path of national self-denigration. At that point I returned to the FT, finding most other UK national papers psychotically at one political extreme or the other.
We Brits must be great sinners, as I’ve heard one gets the press you deserve.
PS le Monde is fairly factual and the Frankfurter Allegemeine a reasonable read. NYT is North America centric. Thank God for the Economist.