"If you see what I see, if you feel what I feel, and if you would seek as I seek. . . "So as I intimated earlier, and as I tend to do when I need to remember and to be inspired, yet again I watched 'V for Vendetta' tonight.
"Words offer the means to meaning and, for those who will listen, the enunciation of Truth. And the Truth is, there is something terribly wrong with our country, isn't there?". So says V in this wonderful, brilliant, [insert superlative here] film.
Watching 'V For Vendetta' reminds me why I write, why I drip contempt and sarcasm for our leadership in every sentence. It reminds me why Old Holborn rants and Walks, why Obnoxio swears, why Iain Dale reasons and His Grace Archbishop Cranmer eulogises.
We all do what we do because V was right.
Ignore the fiction - the Fingermen, the biological terror and the like. They are the poetic licenses to drive the narrative required of a movie. Instead, dear Reader, examine the facts. There IS something terribly wrong with our country.
We are 'ruled' not with consent by honourable people, but by avaricious power-seekers who rule by fear.
We are told to fear Terrorism, because the fear of terror garners our tacit consent for legislation that removes our rights and liberties. Our soldiers, who volunteered to defend our nation, are dying in a foreign field not for our freedom or for the liberty of others, but to satisfy the need of Government to keep us scared of 'terror'.
That fear is used to enact the laws that make us guilty until proven innocent, forced to prove our own identies, restricted in our right to protest.
We are told to fear infection. Swine 'flu, Bird flu, SARS, whatever the latest potential pandemic might be. Fear of infection reduces human contact and interaction. We are in fear for our health, the Government instructing us on our salt content, our fat consumption, our exercise levels.
We are taught to fear injury, under the auspices of 'Health and Safety'. No risk, no pleasure, no life, in the terror that our actions may bring our life to an early end.
Our own children are taught to fear. They are taught that paedophiles lurk in every corner, that they cannot trust their parents. They are taught what to eat. Taught everything, in fact, than how to think for themselves.
As a nation, we have lost our voice to the fear of causing offence. We remain silent to more indignities than this country has ever before suffered. We have meekly surrendered liberties which our parents and grandparents fought and died to preserve for others.
We should not be afraid. We have nothing to fear.
We as a nation have faced terrorism with no diminution of our liberties. We as a nation have survived epidemics. We as a nation have stood and fought against the very tyrannies our current Regime would foist upon us.
I write because I will not be afraid. And while I don't have the eloquence of 'V', and can't mobilise millions to stand up against the government, I hope that I can mobilise ONE. Just one.
And if I can incentivise one, who can incentivise one more. . . and if those others who rail against the iniquities of our current Government can each do the same, then we can, as a majority, stand against the Regime and say, "we are not afraid any more".
We can say, "we are not scared of Terror - stop the war and bring our troops home. NOW".
We can say, "we are not scared of Injury - we will live our lives as we choose".
Most importantly, we can say, "We are not afraid of you - YOU should, instead, be afraid of US".
I am not afraid, which is why The Diary exists. Anyone else care to say the same?
"Words offer the means to meaning and, for those who will listen, the enunciation of Truth. And the Truth is, there is something terribly wrong with our country, isn't there?". So says V in this wonderful, brilliant, [insert superlative here] film.
Watching 'V For Vendetta' reminds me why I write, why I drip contempt and sarcasm for our leadership in every sentence. It reminds me why Old Holborn rants and Walks, why Obnoxio swears, why Iain Dale reasons and His Grace Archbishop Cranmer eulogises.
We all do what we do because V was right.
Ignore the fiction - the Fingermen, the biological terror and the like. They are the poetic licenses to drive the narrative required of a movie. Instead, dear Reader, examine the facts. There IS something terribly wrong with our country.
We are 'ruled' not with consent by honourable people, but by avaricious power-seekers who rule by fear.
We are told to fear Terrorism, because the fear of terror garners our tacit consent for legislation that removes our rights and liberties. Our soldiers, who volunteered to defend our nation, are dying in a foreign field not for our freedom or for the liberty of others, but to satisfy the need of Government to keep us scared of 'terror'.
That fear is used to enact the laws that make us guilty until proven innocent, forced to prove our own identies, restricted in our right to protest.
We are told to fear infection. Swine 'flu, Bird flu, SARS, whatever the latest potential pandemic might be. Fear of infection reduces human contact and interaction. We are in fear for our health, the Government instructing us on our salt content, our fat consumption, our exercise levels.
We are taught to fear injury, under the auspices of 'Health and Safety'. No risk, no pleasure, no life, in the terror that our actions may bring our life to an early end.
Our own children are taught to fear. They are taught that paedophiles lurk in every corner, that they cannot trust their parents. They are taught what to eat. Taught everything, in fact, than how to think for themselves.
As a nation, we have lost our voice to the fear of causing offence. We remain silent to more indignities than this country has ever before suffered. We have meekly surrendered liberties which our parents and grandparents fought and died to preserve for others.
We should not be afraid. We have nothing to fear.
We as a nation have faced terrorism with no diminution of our liberties. We as a nation have survived epidemics. We as a nation have stood and fought against the very tyrannies our current Regime would foist upon us.
I write because I will not be afraid. And while I don't have the eloquence of 'V', and can't mobilise millions to stand up against the government, I hope that I can mobilise ONE. Just one.
And if I can incentivise one, who can incentivise one more. . . and if those others who rail against the iniquities of our current Government can each do the same, then we can, as a majority, stand against the Regime and say, "we are not afraid any more".
We can say, "we are not scared of Terror - stop the war and bring our troops home. NOW".
We can say, "we are not scared of Injury - we will live our lives as we choose".
Most importantly, we can say, "We are not afraid of you - YOU should, instead, be afraid of US".
I am not afraid, which is why The Diary exists. Anyone else care to say the same?
17 comments:
You really should read the graphic novel, it's even better.
Very well written DG, I try to repet that phrase " the Truth is, there is something terribly wrong with our country, isn't there?" whenever I hear yet another 'this country's gone bonkers' story on the street, in the pub.
Sir, you do yourself an injustice, most succinctly put.
I would add the innumerable signs around public offices stating; "you are not to harass the staff, they are entitled to work free of fear and intimidation".
I note also that when they begin to lose an argument this is invoked.
They want it all ways. Well no more.
wv wtf. clout
Excellent article
Top stuff.
Indeed, brilliant. Used V myself in the past. Watch it every few months...
Very well said.
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
H.L.Mencken
I believe Machiavelli also realised these truths some 500 years ago, in relation to the Spain of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Some things never change.
I've used this article to respond to Tom Harris MP who doubts my motives
http://www.tomharris.org.uk/2009/11/05/remember-remember/#comment-31560
Can't see it on there OH.
Feel free to reuse publicly if Mr Harris requires a bit of a kicking.
D
I'll stand with you. I am not afraid.
DK
Top Stuff- I am not afraid either
I have stood my ground against bullying authority for many years which meant going to court at various times. This incurs costs which can so easily spiral ... more so if you lose as you can be then made liable for all costs.
Depending on your circumstances this can put at risk your home and possessions and even your job. Laws have changed that have put these things under even more threat.
Fighting the establishment is indeed a risky business for they have many weapons to use against you ... whether they be 'just' or not.
So now l 'own' nothing but have the 'use' of many things. l earn my living abroad and am paid abroad. l continue to pay my way back in the UK for 'use' of anything for whenever l choose to return ... and frequently do.
There is now even less that this Government and establishment can threaten me with.
I was never afraid of them but my position now is even stronger.
l also stand with you.
An excellent piece of writing DG. I am not afraid & I will stand with you. We have nothing to lose but our chains.
Cream always rises to the top, my friends - but like Snowball are We, you and I now becoming pigs too?
Look out over the farm – see that in the distance? That’s the future – do you see them? Do you, smell them? Won’t we need sheep and horses too?
Think about it…
...and not just fear, as such. The plethora of petty rules (e.g. the bin police) is exactly the same principle as the apparently pointless tasks given to new recruits in some military forces. It develops an unthinking immediate conditioned obedience.
These "powers-that-be" are very dangerous indeed, yet I do not fear them - I despise them.
Where are the latter-day Jack Cades or Wat Tylers?
For any free and thinking Englishman, rebellion against a despotic government is not just a right - it's a duty!
DG - you do not treat yourself fairly: I cannot recall previously reading anything so succinct, persuasive, emotional, yet coldly rational and convincing. Your article should be compulsory reading for all citizens with an IQ exceeding 80.
Oh, alright, forget the IQ limit - let the ordinary MP's read it as well.
I'm late to the party, but I'll stand with you guys.
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