So sue me
The BBC News site had an article last night.
Trinity College’s Berkeley Library to be renamed over slavery links
Now why would an auld fella up the mountains show an interest in something like this?
I was proudly told by my mother many times that we were descendants of George Berkeley. I trust not direct descendants, or maybe celibacy wasn’t so important in those days. It was something my mother was very proud of, to have an eminent philosopher in the family tree, but then my mother did have a somewhat snobbish streak in her. I never looked up the family tree but I believe it was on her mother’s side of things as I think they were all Berkeleys
So now Wokeness has struck. They discovered my Great Great Great Or Something relative kept slaves? Big fucking deal. His name must be smeared in dung but he remains on the curriculum? Weird. Learn his teachings but forget his name. Anything to please the snowflakes though I’m surprised at an eminent university should stoop to erasing a name in the pretence that it eradicates the man and his history, but not his philosophies. There is a stench of hypocrisy there
What Berkley did three hundred years ago is of no consequence whatsoever. So he owned four slaves? So what? Different times: different standards. If he owned them now it might be a different matter but three hundred years is far beyond any statute of limitations. If we were all responsible for the actions of any of our ancestors then probably the entire population should be condemned to death at the very least. I know one of my ancestors was a pirate, fair play to him [even though he met his demise by being eaten by a shark] but again I’m not responsible for him or his deeds either.
Do I feel guilty having an ancestor who owned slaves? Not in the slightest. Should I pay reparation to the slaves’ descendants? They can fuck right off.
I shall continue to be proud to name George Berkeley as an ancestor.
I wish my ancestors had been like Berkeley instead of mere kholops.
There must be a difference between owning a slave and owning a village full of serfs. Some smart are should explain it.
One of my ancestors was Mayor of Manchester, so yes, they can all pay me a few splonders in reparation for this slur on my current existence!
I’ll make a note to contact the little guy there, can’t remember his name – Livingstone? Rayner…nope…
The earliest ancestor that I can claim to was Adam, the family he generated has a lot of shady stuff. But better keep quiet about that.
Shvatio
The logical next step is to clear any ancient relics, such as the Colosseum and all the other historical ruins in Rome and a host of other cities and countries. Museums will be empty, and the tourist industry will be in tatters, but we will all be able to rest easy because any mention of slavery will be done away with.
No, hang on a moment, there will be books to burn too, both the old ones by Tiro (he was Cicero’s slave), and of course any modern history books that may mention any culture that kept slaves. That of course means that New Grange, Howth, Stonehenge and millions of other monuments must be bulldozed too. And then we will have to stop using the & symbol, since Tiro invented it as part of his shorthand system. That of course is just for starters!
Then at some point slavery will be a brand new idea, so how are we ever going to learn from past mistakes and stop history from repeating itself? There is lots of lovely cleansing work to be done.
Actually, I’ve just thought; every Bible will have to be burned too. I’d better go now, there is so much to be done!
According to my family tree (my father’s side of it anyway) I’m the last direct descendant of King Æthelbert of Kent. My father actually carried the name–his middle name that is. He spelled it Ethelbert simply because most folks don’t know how to pronounce “Æ” and the letter certainly can’t be found on a typewriter or word processor. My father however refused to saddle me with the name Ethelbert so I was christened with the middle name of Michael instead. Thanks dad.
I’m impressed, Your Majesty.