Longrider makes some points about the slave trade, specifically whether the City of Britstol should apologise for its role in the ‘slave triangle’:

Why should a twenty first century population apologise for something that happened two hundred years before they were born and therefore cannot have any responsibility for? There is also rank hypocrisy here that stinks like a slave ship. The Bristol slavers did not act alone. Their slaves were rounded up and sold to them by Africans. (via DK).

Quite true, but a question springs to mind: Does this hold when the opposite scenario occurs, and the 21st Century population wants to take pride in something achieved by the 19th century population? Ideas of patriotism, the sense of pride in one’s nationality, seem to be rooted in having some connection with our forefathers. If we’re not going to take responsibility for their misdemeanours, in a way we sever that connection. “Cockle-doodle-do!”
On a related point, what I find odd about the particular dialogue in Bristol is this: Was anyone operating under the assumption that the current residents were pleased by this particular piece of its history!? Of course not. Our political discourse takes slavery as an obvious ‘wrong’ – surely its abolition carrys an implied apology? I might go further, and ask that if the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 is not an apology for slavery, what is? I hardly think a memo from Bristol City Council will cut it…

If there’s one thing worse than a whining lefty, its a whining righty, whining about how all lefties are whiners. Over at The Devil’s Kitchen, DK takes issue with the idea that the British (and specifically, the English) should overcome their delusions of grandeur.

I think that one of the things that I dislike about Lefties is their absolute fucking debilitating misery; for Lefties everything is awful and unfair, and the world is a horrible place because we filthy, wasteful, greedy humans inhabit it.

This is a variation on the ‘self-hating white liberal’ cliche, and it really doesn’t stick. To repeat myself: Just because we might feel ‘guilty’ about the evils of our own history, that does not mean we cannot celebrate and take pride in the positive aspects too. While we are indeed pissed off with “filthy, wasteful, greedy humans” it does not mean we cannot or do not delight in the amazing things that humanity does achieve.
Indeed, wonder at humanity’s capacity to achieve great things is the foundation for the Left-whiners’ obsession with equal opportunity. If half of the world’s population are living in poverty, then somewhere there is a Hendrix, dying of AIDS in a Zimbabwean township. Somewhere in Glasgow there is an Einstein, overdosing on heroin. There exist people who are born to fail, and no amount of hard work or focus will allow them to escape the downward spiral. Yes, this makes me miserable, but it is not a prior state of mind. The misery is borne of a lament for humanity’s wasted generations. I feel bad about it, but it is a noble shame.
Nor do I wallow in this misery, and neither does Chicken Yoghurt, the target of DK’s ire. If Justin complains from time to time, it is nevertheless a wholly pro-active complaint, and ultimately a positive thing.
In the same post, the idea of tribalism is invoked as a reason for why we should co-operate to make Britain great again. This tribalism is a result of our evolution from lower primates, says DK. However, he also points out that:

This planet and its inhabitants are a tool for humankind to advance itself: no other creature even comes close to our capabilities.

And this is precisely the point. We have evolved to a stage where we do not need to behave like animals anymore. Tribalism is not politics. It is not about ideas, just random geography. We have evolved to the stage where we should be able to overcome these tribal differences. With the birth of every mixed-race child, with every child born to parents of different nationalities, the tribes mix. The fact is, we shall soon reach the point where there is only homo sapien, and nothing more.
This is an anathema to many right-whiners, who are in thrall to tradition and want to preserve their little clubs/countries. While paying lip-service to the idea of free markets and unfettered investment, they deny the labour market the chance to move in the same way. Instead, ideas of tradition and Way Of Life are invoked to first keep people at home… and then again at the very moment they perceive “another tribe” moves in next door! If we are to itemise ‘ Reasons Why People Piss Me Off’ then the attitude of many right-whiners to ‘The Other’ would be top of my list.
DK asks us to unite and make Britain great again. Why so little ambition? If you’re going to be a benevolent dictator, you may as well conquer the entire world. Borders hamper free-trade, stopping human beings from interacting, trading and working with one-another. Abolish them, and allow innovations in one place to more easily foster progress elsewhere.
More on nationality coming soon… DK continues the debate over at his place. There are a few interesting comments there on the nature of human ‘tribalism’ and whether we can, indeed, overcome it.