The ritual of condemnation



It is indeed ‘politico’ speak. On Wednesday afternoon, the day of the attacks, I watched Baroness Sayeda Warsi on the BBC prefixing her contribution with precisely this kind of disclaimer. Although everything she said was right and worthy and she certainly meant it, it nevertheless wasn’t an answer to the question the interviewer had put to her.

I think we do this because we are now quite practiced at responding to terrorist atrocities, and can be a little more sophisticated the inevitable debates that follow. In answer to Sam’s question of ‘why is it necessary?’, I’d say that Baroness Warsi and others are insuring themselves. We’ve learnt that part of the debate always includes disingenuous accusations that this person or other is somehow endorsing or excusing the crime. A boilerplate disclaimer at the top of a debate is a time-saving measure.

Quickly sealing a consensus on the despicable and criminal nature of the act itself also allows us to move onto more interesting and important topics, such as whether social factors tip someone into this criminality, how freedom of expression relates to other rights, and the most appropriate way to protect ourselves against such attacks in the future. You can’t have a proper debate over these issues if you’re being accused of trivialising a death or excusing a murder.

Sam is right to say that being forced to say something is anti-free speech. But in such cases as this one, I think vocalising our condemnation quickly and early allows us more space and time to speak with nuance on the complex issues raised by such attacks. That’s a good thing.

2 Replies to “The ritual of condemnation”

  1. Before any group had taken responsibility, and assuming the Prophet didn’t text anyone in advance, forcing people to condemn the attack with the disclaimer “terrorism” as opposed to “act of terror” or more rightly “criminal act” was unfortunate. Understandable in the heat of the moment but poor words later on. Similarly there was little evidence that there was any concerted attack on “free speech” as opposed to an attack on the visible messengers of offence by hired guns. (Perhaps if the gunmen had also stated that they supported Manchester City, we would all be saying “Je suis Chelsea”. )

    So the seemingly harmless disclaimers often end up creating a stilted starting point, positioning the West as being in the grip of a concerted attack on its very foundations. Same happened with Lee Rigby – two maniacs were converted into Four Horsemen.

    There needs to be some new way to replace this convention, a polite stand in phrase that respects the outrage caused without the pantomime myth creation. The equivalent of “sorry for your loss”.

    (I hopefully expand on the free speech point better here

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