{Personal and political responsibility}[17th January 1969]

[Redbook1:69-70][19690117:0000]{Personal and political responsibility}[17th January 1969][Age 17]

Friday 17th January 1969.

            Much of the pride and hate at present circulating in the world seems to be based on the assumption that responsibility can be inherited.  One must never lose sight of the fact that every human entity is an individual, and must be judged by his own action and inaction -- not by those of his parents, brothers, or sons.

            [The headmaster] recently gave a sermon in which he catalogued, among other things, the good things for which Britain had been responsible: [sic] defeating the Germans’ evil in the Second World War was the main one, and I would not deny the importance of that.  The fact that over ninety per cent of his audience -- he was speaking in the College Chapel -- were born after the War seems to have escaped him, for he said that "we", as a country, could be proud of that achievement.  I can in no way feel proud for myself in that achievement, since I was not even conceived of then.  He also mentioned the giving-away of the British Empire; I was alive then, true, but I had no sentience of politics, so how can I feel proud of that great, if forced and involuntary achievement?  Indeed, in my naivety, I then resented the break-up of the Empire; I cannot blame my unformed mind, but can I now take pride in something I opposed then?

Similarly, one cannot in all fairness dislike the Germans, as my parents do -- with justifiable emotion, considering their war-time experiences -- on the basis of their parents' evils.  Heredity and environment may transmit those evils to the new generation; one may expect it, but one must not assume that this will happen until it obviously has happened, otherwise one may encourage it.  Black sons must not hate white sons for being white, because their white grandfathers hated the black grandfathers for being black; by their actions both sides must be judged, not by their inheritance.  The Black Africa policy is a wicked example of using the colonial grandfathers’ deeds to decide the fate of their white grandsons, for political purposes.

Moreover, I may not take pride in my country being the first to produce a VTOL aircraft.  True, my money built it, but was it my decision?  If I could have kept the money and have done without the aircraft, I would have done just that.

On the other hand, if my country's trade gap worsens it may be my fault for not doing my utmost to make myself more productive, or even to throw out the government (by legal methods).  If my country's foreign policy is, in my opinion, inhuman, then I should do all I can to have it changed, within reason.  Apathy is no excuse; but I must not allow the means to become more evil than the end [ie thing to be removed (2.1.70)].  The safety of one individual is as important as that of a thousand, or of any one other, so the dead in Vietnam are no excuse for injury to an innocent bystander.

Nationalism is as nothing, save as a tool for the protection of the Individual.  If my country orbits the moon, I must not feel proud as an individual or as a nation, but I can and ought to do so as a human -- until we meet other sentient races.  In that case, it must be regarded as a triumph for Intelligence.

[PostedBlogger14102012]