Now paint me cynical if you will (I deserve it, I am cynical and body painting’s reputed to be quite a kinky experience I’ve been told – so go for it, do your worst, please …I initially wrote baby painting which, of course, isn’t (kinky), it’s just a Freudian slip… D’oh)
None of us, of course, get tired of repeatedly hearing how shitty a vast number of people’s lives are; that’s a lie, of course we do! The repetition is not so much uplifting as it is acutely depressing and that, in and of itself, is fatiguing of the soul*. No compassion fatigue, as I’m referring to it, is comprised of two different things entirely:
First, I’m , like I’m sure you are too, getting totally pissed off with self congratulatory celebrities continually trying to show me (in what is nothing more than a blatant attempt to enhance their popularity and bolster their egos) how much more caring, compassionate and understanding they are than am I;
Secondly, being made to feel guilty, by association, for the consequences of the actions of others, actions which I had no part in! I’ll attempt to expand on my second point below but I would suggest that there’s no need to do the same for my first; I think that we’ll find that we are all in complete accord on that one! We all know who it is we would like to be first against the wall if the revolution ever came; Big Brother contestants beware, you have been warned!
Now returning to point two:
My direct ancestors, on both sides, were wage slaves working in horrendous Welsh hellholes, otherwise known as coal mines, during the heyday of the British Empire; neither they, nor I, bear any responsibility, direct or otherwise, for the results of colonisation. My ancestors, the boring unadventurous underachieving bastards, weren’t exploiting Africans rather they were being similarly exploited by the people who were.
So I refuse, reasonably I’d say, to accept responsibility for the actions of others. I may have to accept my part in how Western societies currently impoverish the third world with our insatiable demand for ever cheaper resources; but I adamantly refuse to take responsibility for things that happened, not only before I was even born, but things which, so far as I can ascertain, my ancestors weren’t even involved in!
Indeed, even if my ancestors had been actively involved in the process how could their culpability, in any way, attach to me? This makes as much sense as executing the child of a murderer because the murderer is already dead. Come on folks, really, what’s the difference? Even if my ancestors were slavers, I’m not (we’re not talking reparations [SEE BELOW] here which are an entirely different issue) a slaver now so how can I be held accountable for their past actions.
In fact, now that I THINK OF IT, I can’t recall ever beating up my, or anyone else’s, kids, depriving them of a decent diet, condemning them to illiteracy, failing to inculcate any sense of morality in them and so on either; no, I think I’m correct in saying that, it was THEIR parents who did that to them**. Now, if you’re trying to blame someone for these parents then go point your finger at Maggie Thatcher (creator of the new British under-class) and hang her quick before she dies. If she does pop her clogs first then, contrary to everything I’ve previously said*** hang Mark he deserves it****.
So, there you go, I’ve proved it***** ; all the people, except for Eddie Izzard, Rufus Hound and Jimmy Carr, involved in Sports Relief are a bunch of self righteous Cents (spelling?) and as a result I’m fully justified in giving them no money at all. It’s a shame really because I WAS going to donate hundreds of pounds but it’s now become a point of principle and I must remain true to my principles, mustn’t I?
• *I’m actually using the term euphemistically actually, I don’t actually believe in an actual soul actually as in it actually being there in actuality! There actually seem to actually be too many actuallys in that sentence actually and in this one actually too actually; and now for an actual example!
• **Mind you if they hadn’t there wouldn’t be a Jeremy Kyle Show and that would be a significant loss to British culture as a whole!
• *** So I’m a hypocrite, live with it B-Atch!
• **** Not Carol, she just suffers from Foot in Mouth Disease.
• ***** At least to my satisfaction
• It’s a good thing I noticed the typo in the first line because originally I was going to have a rant against Spot Relief; after all no one would have supported me if I’d been anything less than sympathetic toward any efforts to help those plagued with bad acne!
REPARATIONS
The question of reparations addresses a somewhat different issue. Whilst it may be true that I cannot be held directly responsible for the actions of my ancestors; if I’m currently still enjoying the fruits (financially and/or otherwise) that stemmed directly from those actions, then a case could be made that I had a legal (as opposed to a moral) obligation to use those assets to make reparations to the descendants of the slaves who’s labours first created them. You see the difference, I’m not being asked to pay for the actions of my forbearers rather I’m being asked to return the assets they stole (appropriated?) to the descendants of their rightfully (?) owners. Could this be a simple, just and elegant solution to an old problem? It would certainly seem to be an attractive proposition to those would most likely benefit from it; unfortunately these things are never that simple. After all, who owes the debt, the last person (s) to buy and use the enslaved or the person (s) who first enslaved them? Is the end-user liable or does responsibility rest with those who created the initial situation. Certainly the descendants of the slave owners would argue that their ancestors were only following the mores of his times. They, it would be argued, should be judged in light of the prevailing morality of their times and not in the light of modern day morality and knowledge. If culpability could be established at all then, it would be argued, it should lie with those who initiated the situation. But even if this could be agreed upon then who were the initiators? Were the slave traders of the interior responsible or can we go further back still? Many ended up enslaved because they were taken prisoner during inter/intra-tribal conflict. By tradition, a tradition that the captured would no doubt have followed if they’d been the victors instead of the vanquished, prisoners were sold into slavery. Does this mean that, in the case of prisoners of war at least, the enslaved were the authors of their own misfortune; they understood the rules of war when they choose to engage in war and so, as a result, they gave an implied consent to ALL the possible outcomes including slavery? I would argue that this question would never result in an answer that was agreeable to all parties and would likely never be resolved.
A more interesting question is what are the rights of the children and their descendants, who were a result of the slave owner impregnating a slave? Many criticise Thomas Jefferson and others as hypocrites because at one and the same time they framed the Declaration of Independence, drafted the Constitution and owned and impregnated slaves. What if Jefferson’s first child had been a son born of a slave he’d impregnated? Under the rules of primogeniture then this child should have been his legal heir and should have inherited his entire estate upon his death. If the initial paternity could be proven then what would be the rights of the descendants of such a child? What, if any, claims could they make upon the estate of the slave owners legitimate descendants?
The Concept of Legal Repartions
Reparations For Slavery
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