Sunday, March 05, 2006



Off the deep end

Tony Blair has really gone off the deep end, and declared in a TV interview that god will be his judge on Iraq. Well, I don't know about that, but one thing I do know is that he wouldn't be appealing to his invisible friend unless he had already been judged by the British people - and found wanting.

5 comments:

It is a little tough - it seems we are saying either
1) only athiests should be able to be prime minister (or have power)
OR
2) they should lie about their own opinions

(2) doesnt seem to be working maybe we should give up and go with (1)

Posted by Genius : 3/05/2006 04:18:00 PM

This latest outburst is not altogether unexpected ... for some time Blair has turned to personal conviction rather than rational argument to defend the Iraq involvement ... e.g., "I know I am right..." ... as if anyone doubted he had convinced himself. Personal conviction does not good policy make.

Posted by dc_red : 3/05/2006 10:08:00 PM

I think Idiot would like all of us mentally ill religious people to just go and live behind our chintz curtains and only come out of the house to buy milk and eggs, and then only at night so that we don't spook the horses.

But really what did the man actually say -

"Explaining how he managed to live with the decision to go to war in Iraq, Mr Blair replied: "If you have faith about these things then you realise that judgement is made by other people. If you believe in God,it's made by God as well."

What does that specifically mean? The question was not about going to war, but how he _lived_ with that decision. Of course a Christian is going to assume that God will judge him, that's pretty much a tenant of the religion.

But really, all he is saying is that other people will judge him, which seems trite, but true.

I really don't get all the hoohaa.

Posted by Muerk : 3/05/2006 11:52:00 PM

Muerk: in a sense, it is either a truism, banal, or bullshit, depending on your point of view. I think its more interesting for what it reveals about Blair's attitude towards his electorate than anything else. As one commenter on European Tribune noted, "God will be my judge" = "I don't care what anyone else thinks" - a downright dangerous attitude to have in a democratically elected leader. Either that, or he's asking for a medieval Trial by Ordeal (which was, at the time, believed to be asking god to judge the accused).

I spent some time last night reading about the last British leader who had declared that god would be his judge and denied that any earthly court had the right to try him. It didn't end well...

Posted by Idiot/Savant : 3/06/2006 12:26:00 AM

Charles I was not however democraticaly elected, that whole coronation thing might have added to his delusions of grandeur.

No, I just don't agree with the leap to him meaning that "I don't care what anyone else thinks". I think people are projecting their fears onto him.

Focus on his actual misdeeds, ie. the nouvo-totalitarianism of his attempted legislation. This is a storm in a teacup.

Posted by Muerk : 3/06/2006 06:08:00 PM