OK, perhaps a decent outline of the problem that I have with the left.
This year the British left has a particular reason to mourn, for three substantial writers have gone – Harold Pinter, Adrian Mitchell and Bernard Crick. All reached out far beyond the world of politics – to theatre lovers, children, literary addicts and general readers – but each regarded life as inescapably political.
To moderate this even further, the problem that I have with certain manifestations of the left. I don’t regard life as inescapably political. I regard those who do as at best dunderheads with little understanding of the joys that life offers and at worst thieves of such joys from others. For they would use the political system to insist that others do as they wish, not as those others themselves would wish.
Politics is all very well in its place, that place being very much on the periphery of life. Yes, we need a system of choosing those who we decide should be responsible for the scut work in our society. We also need a system to collectively decide what is that scut work which needs to be done collectively and with the monopoly of legitimate violence which we accord the State.
To regard life as inescapably political is to extend that place well beyond what is reasonable or even rational. As the wise man said, politics is the art of gaining power without merit and that’s hardly a basis upon which to found a life well lived, is it?
6 responses so far ↓
1 Tim Almond // Dec 29, 2008 at 11:10 am
I always assumed that the only reason people watched Pinter was because they agreed with his politics and felt they should go.
2 Anon // Dec 29, 2008 at 11:13 am
‘I don’t regard life as inescapably political. I regard those who do as at best dunderheads with little understanding of the joys that life offers and at worst thieves of such joys from others. For they would use the political system to insist that others do as they wish, not as those others themselves would wish’
Spot on.
3 Eva // Dec 29, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Thank you for articulating that so beautifully!
4 gene berman // Dec 29, 2008 at 8:31 pm
You’re wrong, Tim. Life IS inescapably political for the simple reason that those who most believe it to be so spend so much of their lives making sure it is so for all the rest.
5 mandrill // Dec 30, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Gene has a point. The trick to thwarting those that would make life inescapably political is to ignore them (simply because shooting them would cause all sorts of hassle).
6 Blog Review 824 | TheScholarsForum // Dec 31, 2008 at 2:08 pm
[...] Life really isn’t inescapably political. [...]
Leave a Comment