A Little Bit of Perspective, People. Come On.
Yesterday (yesterday in Great Britain, anyway), a man named Toyin Agbetu, a human rights activist, disrupted a church service at Westminster Abbey. Said service was held to commemorate the 2ooth anniversary of England’s abolition of the slave trade. What was his beef, you ask? Well, Toyin was pissed because he wanted an apology from the Queen and Tony Blair.
I find it interesting, and telling, that Mr. Agbetu (and quite a few others, judging from similar stories) are more focused on verbal gestures–apologies from heads of state two centuries later–than they are on the substantive changes made on behalf of their cause; i.e., ENDING FRICKIN’ SLAVERY.
You were never a slave, never knew anyone who was a slave, and I’ve never owned slaves, so why should I apologise?
There is NO WAY that an apology for actions not your own, over which you had no control, is meaningful. I find it morally abhorrent to demand such. It negates the idea of personal responsibility.
I didn’t mind when VA issued an apology, but didn’t feel it was needed per se. Some people obviously have too much free time on their hands.
Lewd, we have the Iranians holding 15 British soldiers hostage. We have video of the soldiers being paraded around on TV with the lone female forced to wear Iranian garb. We have the United States Senate voting to tuck its tail between its legs and run out of Iraq. We have continued speculation about Fred Thompson. We, your regular and loyal readers, demand commentary on all of this from you!