Imagine if you were at war with another country, and they wanted to undermine your morale, and weaken your resolve to fight on. They might broadcast propaganda, and drop leaflets, suggesting your leader was not the genius and hero you thought she was, but instead, a monstrous racist. The enemy might constantly bombard you with self-doubt, rumour, lies, scandal and divisive claims. Rather than standing together, standing strong, you'd doubt your own opinions, and consider surrendering.
Now imagine this had happened, and was happening, in the UK.
Winston Churchill almost single-handedly stood up against the idea of striking a peace deal with Hitler before WW2 - which would have allowed Hitler to take over and control all of Europe, ultimately, and kill even more people than he managed to. Without Churchill, Britain may well have had to surrender during the Battle of Britain. Churchill won the Nobel prize for his linguistic genius. It is not for nothing that he remains the most popular figure in British history, second perhaps only to Shakespeare, as the epitome of British greatness. In terms of soft power, he remains the world leader most admired world-wide. His name is synonymous with grit, defiance, courage and wit.
Plans to tear down his statues in the UK, and calls to cancel him, up until a few years ago, would have been assumed to come from Nazi spies or soviet planners. Now it is becoming almost commonplace to suggest Churchill was a war criminal.
This sort of insane revisionism has to stop, if the UK is not to become a meaningless absurdity, liable to implode or shrivel up and blow away like an abandoned husk. There is only so much cognitive dissonance any nation can take. This is the sort of psy-ops that destroy prisoners. Brainwashing on a massive scale has weakened our sense of moral purpose.
Where has nuance gone? Perspective? Historical sense?
Churchill held incorrect, offensive racist views, common during his lifetime; he espoused eugenics; was sexist; was militaristic. He loved the British empire. And he defended it. He was, in short, a strong, loyal, wily leader - and victorious. He helped to defeat the Nazi regime, the most evil in human history.
Has Star Wars not taught the young any lessons? To take on the darkest forces, one must, yes, resist the darkness, but one must still pick up a lightsabre.
Winston may have serious human and ideological issues, but he helped to destroy a tyranny that planned to conquer the planet with its messianic allies in Japan, and enslave whole nations and races; also thank millions of brave allied soldiers, men and women, from lands like Russia, Canada, the USA, Australia and India, and Africa, and even, Ireland...
How can a generation so lose sight of the great good luck the UK had, to have over-matched the evil insane Hitler with a counter-vailing 'monster' of our own - a bulldog warrior, capable of massively hard decisions, aimed at freeing the world from a worse plan than even 'empire' or the 'West'.
Yes, our democratic, capitalist system is flawed; has been guilty of crimes, and sins, and wrong ideas. The environment is at risk. We are horribly human. But, for all that, thank god, we did not try to exterminate every Jewish person on the planet. Instead, we're the ones who did the opposite.
So, what does it say about you, if you want to tear down a statue that represents defiance of the worst evil imaginable? Hands off Winston - he's mine. Warts and all.
Policing language is a thing to do, but geo-politically, there are foes afoot, who will make Western leaders, even the worst, seem like Disney characters. We must stop seeking moral equivalency for incommensurable acts, or we will lose our moral compass.
Comments