Tory triumph: Let the madness begin

Brexit

It’s a historic defeat for Labour,[1] not only because of the new margin in Parliament,[2] but because so many voted.[3]

I’m not sure how much attention I’ll pay to the analysis. But it appears that Labour’s manifesto was not more attractive to voters than the Tories’ certainty on Brexit.[4]

Having studied conservatism exhaustively for my dissertation,[5] if I had to boil it all down to a single word it would be this: hateful. In its various forms, conservatism hates the “other” and identifies with the powerful, utterly disdaining the weak. And this is what Britons have voted for.

William Booth, Karla Adam, and James McAuley, “U.K. election: Boris Johnson wins majority, while Jeremy Corbyn says he won’t lead another general election campaign,” Washington Post, December 12, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-general-election-2019/2019/12/12/cc5ecb98-17ae-11ea-80d6-d0ca7007273f_story.html

Kieran Andrews, “UK election results: SNP landslide heralds battle over Scottish independence,” Times, December 13, 2019, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/uk-election-results-snp-sweep-to-landslide-victory-in-scotland-qxxjk3ss3

Jason Douglas and James Hookway, “Vote Raises New Questions About U.K.’s Future,” Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/vote-raises-new-questions-about-u-k-s-future-11576270316

Ian Graham, “In a first, Irish nationalists overtake unionists at UK election,” Reuters, December 13, 2019, https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-election-nireland-nationalist-idUKKBN1YH0LK

Sam Knight, “Boris Johnson Wins, and Britain Chooses the Devil It Knows,” New Yorker, December 13, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/boris-johnson-wins-and-britain-chooses-the-devil-it-knows

Haroon Siddique, Andrew Sparrow, and Kevin Rawlinson, “UK general election 2019: Tories secure majority as Corbyn says he won’t lead Labour into next election – live news,” Guardian, December 13, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/dec/12/general-election-2019-uk-live-labour-tories-corbyn-boris-johnson-results-exit-poll


Armenia

As near as I have been able to determine, the resolution passed by the Senate[6] is correct. As David Fromkin puts it,

There are historians today who continue to support the claim of Enver and Talaat that the Ottoman rulers acted only after Armenia had risen against them. But observers at the time who were by no means anti-Turk reported that such was not the case. German officers stationed there agreed that the area was quiet until the deportations began.[7][8]

Zachary Basu, “Senate passes Armenian genocide bill in move likely to infuriate Turkey,” Axios, December 12, 2019, https://www.axios.com/armenian-genocide-resolution-senate-turkey-1931783f-88e2-41c8-a488-91d9049be529.html


 

  1. [1]Haroon Siddique, Andrew Sparrow, and Kevin Rawlinson, “UK general election 2019: Tories secure majority as Corbyn says he won’t lead Labour into next election – live news,” Guardian, December 13, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/dec/12/general-election-2019-uk-live-labour-tories-corbyn-boris-johnson-results-exit-poll
  2. [2]William Booth, Karla Adam, and James McAuley, “U.K. election: Boris Johnson wins majority, while Jeremy Corbyn says he won’t lead another general election campaign,” Washington Post, December 12, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-general-election-2019/2019/12/12/cc5ecb98-17ae-11ea-80d6-d0ca7007273f_story.html
  3. [3]Verity Bowman, Henry Bodkin, and Tony Diver, “General election 2019 live: Result ‘too close to call’ as voting continues – latest news,” Telegraph, December 12, 2019, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/12/12/general-election-2019-vote-news-exit-polls-results-live-latest/; Joe Roberts, “‘Longest queues ever’ as people stand in line around the block to vote,” Metro, December 12, 2019, https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/12/longest-queues-ever-people-stand-line-around-block-vote-11771760/
  4. [4]Haroon Siddique, Andrew Sparrow, and Kevin Rawlinson, “UK general election 2019: Tories secure majority as Corbyn says he won’t lead Labour into next election – live news,” Guardian, December 13, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/dec/12/general-election-2019-uk-live-labour-tories-corbyn-boris-johnson-results-exit-poll
  5. [5]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).
  6. [6]Zachary Basu, “Senate passes Armenian genocide bill in move likely to infuriate Turkey,” Axios, December 12, 2019, https://www.axios.com/armenian-genocide-resolution-senate-turkey-1931783f-88e2-41c8-a488-91d9049be529.html
  7. [7]Ulrich Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire 1914-1918 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968), p. 203.
  8. [8]David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace (New York: Owl, 1989).

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