Friday 24 May 2013

Brendan O'Neill On The Woolwich Murder

"Rather, in this era in which any old fool can claim to be a "community spokesperson", and can be treated seriously as such, these murderous loners seem to be trying a psychotic version of the same trick – claiming that by dint of shared skin colour or common religious sentiment they have the authority to speak on behalf of millions of people they have never met or whose lands they have never visited."
That's Brendan O'Neill, editor of Spiked magazine, writing in the Telegraph to pin down the reprehensible premises behind the murder of a British soldier in Woolwich. Compare with his other article on this attack in Spiked magazine itself here. There is surely a straight parallel between this case and the recently confirmed case of a Filipino beaten in Tainan in the wake of the recent fishing boat dispute with the Philipines.

I do not care one wit whether J.M. Cole or anyone else disapproves of my comments regarding the stupidity of Taiwanese nationalism. People are people, not walking identity cards; relegating other, individual people to the status of underviduals, is a necessary premise for the commission of evil.

Hence the precept expressed in my blog's subheading:
"From collectivism to individualism in Taiwan by way of refutation, question and conjecture."

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