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I must say, however, that I spent the entire early part of my life with the firm belief that the reason we British hold Bonfire Night, was to celebrate Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up King James I, and the entire British parliament, in 1605, on this very date of November the Fifth.
It came as quite a shock to discover, at quite an advanced age, that we are supposed to be horrified by this failed attempt to remove the good order of the entire British government establishment.
I'm still shocked, shocked to find that most people I know continue to celebrate the memory of Guy Fawkes as a heroic man as opposed to his being a contemptible villain.
Politicians really are hated in Britain, and this is just one of the signs, as is the underground popularity of the film V for Vendetta, with its use of the iconic Guy Fawkes mask. Let us hope that this hatred turns into something far more positive, in time, which is the removal of politicians from our lives, or at least a severe diminution of their powers.
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A peaceable implosion of government power may then be the answer to our prayers, because if we can get back to a commodity money standard, this will immediately destroy much of the hold these people have over us - which is of course why they will do their utmost to stop it happening. And this is where I believe Fawkes and his friends were wrong. We should not use violence to overturn the men of violence.
All we need is the truth.
2 comments:
Sorry to comment a year old entry, it's just that I saw V for Vendetta tonight and was most impressed by it.
I guess it's good to try to remove politicians from our lives but it certainly helps sometimes if politicians can be removed from their lives ;-)
Certainly the movie shows that the killing is not what will bring about the change but rather the withdrawal of consent by the people.
It's a COMIC not a movie. The movie is an adaptation. Give credit where it's due to one of the greatest comic writers of all time, mr. Alan Moore. And 95% of these OWS idiots don't even know what Guy is famous for. Not that the protestant kings weren't awful, but he's basically a glorified terrorist.
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