2007-02-03 19:47:08 · 21 answers · asked by Rodney 2 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
No he shouldn't. History is history.
2007-02-03 19:51:30 · answer #1 · answered by happytaffy 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋
put it this way. If a company caused the death of an employee, at the time it was accepted as an accident. sometime after it was realised that the death was due to extreme negligence on the companies part. The company by this time has a new CEO, shouldn't he appologise to the family of that employee on behalf of the company for the death of there loved one? If Tony Blair does appologise, it is similar in that it is not a personal apology, but an apology on behalf of the country that allowed and backed slavery be it many years ago. an apology is not saying we, british citizens were responsible for slavery, but saying the institution of great britain was responsible at the time for the dreadful practice.
2007-02-04 04:07:05 · answer #2 · answered by mymagicshowuk 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It doesn't cost him anything.
Apologise as often and as long as people ask him too.
I'm sure he feels compassion for what happened. So he probably won't have to lie.
People should be made to understand History in it's context though. If Blair is asked to apologise, what should the other world leaders be made to do?
Britain's past is better than many on the issue, indeed they were leaders in the reform movement, at a time when even moderates believed in slavery.
Of course every country has things it is not proud of, own up to them. That way our children don't get fed lies and don't make the same mistakes
2007-02-04 04:03:49 · answer #3 · answered by Simon D 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In plain English, no. For Tony Blair to apologise for slavery is to misunderstand the nature of the trade. Although it is true that slavery was outlawed by the British from 1807 and in the United States from c1860s, slavery is still very much with us. Slavery and human trafficing is a major industry worth billions of dollars.
My ancestors had nothing what-so-ever to do with slavery back then and nor do I or my family have anything to do with it today. I have nothing to apologise for. So I am opposed to any apology for slavery which might indicate that the entire white race of folk are somehow all bound up with the slave trade of the past and are participating in it today.
The slave trade of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries is very complex. It is not a simple matter of saying that just white folk had a hand in it. Africans, Arabs and Europeans were all very much a part of this trade.
There can be nothing worse than digging up history to discover to your abosolute horror, that people whom you had thought of as heroic in childhood, have turned out to have had a hand in the slave trade. Oliver Cromwell, probably Englands greatest ever Parliamentarian, had two slave ships built at Deptford in London.
It is much much worse. Sir Francis Drake ran slaves from the West African coast to the West Indies and the American Colonies. This is how he made his money.
Before anyone accepts responsibility for the slave trade they should look long and hard at it's history and not be too ready just to accept blame.
2007-02-04 04:34:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No , of course not. Britain seems to be gripped with some kind of collective madness of late , think Jade Goody.
Where did this fetish for self-flagellation come from?
The Romans / Normans / Angles and the Saxons not no mention the Viking all enslaved us Brits.
Slavery did NOT begin and end with white Europeans. Indeed they're are parts of Africa that it still exists unchecked.
Enough of this guilty nonsense. The real reason for this argument is to keep the race relations gravy train rolling along.
2007-02-04 17:27:34 · answer #5 · answered by the devil in me 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO HE SHOULD NOT. Shame on anyone for suggesting it.
If you go down that road then France should apologise for 1066, the Danish, Norwegians etc for the Viking invasions, the Italians will owe us a fortune for the slaves which the Ceasars took from Brittania, etc. etc.
It would be an insult to the good people who fought to abolish slavery (most of whom were English please note).
Also, remember that the overwhelming majority of African slaves were captured by their own people and sold on to the traders.
Such "Politically Correct" doublethink and re-writing of history is as abominable as the events themselves.
2007-02-06 14:42:32 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tony Blair should crawl naked on his hands and knees the length of Britain as an apology for all the deaths he has caused.
2007-02-07 18:55:55 · answer #7 · answered by dont know much 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thjat pratt apologises for things in ancient history so as to divert attention from apologising for the real things he is personally responsible for, like the Iraq debacle.
2007-02-04 09:57:46 · answer #8 · answered by Johnno 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
He cannot *apologise* for something he did not do. He can only express regret, and he has done that. Why this clamour for an apology for slavery? In 1295 or so all the Jews were kicked out of this country and they're not demanding an apology from the Queen.
2007-02-04 04:02:49 · answer #9 · answered by Dunrobin 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Well I don't suppose it hurts apologising for slavery. Is anybody ever going to apologise for Iraq I wonder . . .
2007-02-04 06:49:26 · answer #10 · answered by Dr Watson (UK) 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Why should anybody apologise for something that happened way before they were born
2007-02-07 14:02:02 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋