Monday, November 27, 2006

Why not celeberate Wilberforce?

Why are we expressing regret for the slave trade? We are not culpable today for things that happened over two hundred years ago.

Why is Blair not celebrating Wilberforce and the fact that Britain led the way in the world for abolishing the slave trade? At least Gordon Brown celebrated the fact we abolished the slave trade (although as I recall he seemed to rewrite history and suggest it was a Labour, rather than a Tory, achievement).

I simply do not understand this obsession for apologising for things that happens long before our time, it's utterly fallacious.

9 comments:

Serf said...

Left Wing self hatred, its so destructive.

Guthrum said...

Agree totally, blogged on the same theme, its as relevant as the leader of the Norfolk County Council apologising for the damage to London and Colchester in the first century AD

Anonymous said...

I note that Robert Catesby Esq, holiday relief for the very splendid Guido Fawkes, has compiled a long list of other issues requiring apology.

Perhaps a fresh meme for the day?

(my personal favorite would involve an apology to the citizens of England for the signing of the Union Treaty of 1707)

kinglear said...

Too right Dizzy - Brits ( and Tories) worked to stop the trade. Lets remember the Great Democracy took another 60 years, and there are still countries which practice it.
And who actually ( in real terms) benefitted the most? Why, the Arabs &Black African slavers who sold their own people.
I noticed a call to fine and tax the Banks which benefitted. I would love to know which they were.

Anonymous said...

I agree. We should be celebrating a great Tory achievement with Britian leading the way in banning the slave trade and indeed having anti slaving patrols for something like 100 years.

Labour won't shout about Conservative achievements though.

ThunderDragon said...

I agree completely, Dizzy. No Brit alive today has been a slave owner or been a slave. Why can't they just let what happened go? Especially since Britain was the first big slave trading nation to abolish slave trading (1807) and then the owning of slaves(1833)!

http://thethunderdragon.blogspot.com/2006/11/make-no-apology.html

Praguetory said...

What about the black vote? I'm joking.

Anonymous said...

Well done for plugging William Wilberforce. He was born in my home town of Wisbech. I was going to get round to writing about him sometime, but you have beaten me to it. I'm sure Daily Propoganda will be proud too of this Fenland connection.

Etzel Pangloss said...

In the Doomsday Book there was approx. 10% of the population in slavery.

These poor souls lived mainly in areas where 'Britons' were still dominant, i.e.Cornwall, Devon.

England abolished slavery in 1102.

A few entrepreneurs made a fortune out of a universally accepted trade.

Maybe we should consider that we now refuse to sell guns on our streets but can manage to arm unstable countries the world over...