Monday, May 23, 2005

Battle of Trafalgar Anniversary Sunk by Political Correctness

Admiral Horatio Nelson may have guided the British naval fleet to a famous victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, but he faces a far tougher foe during celebrations to mark its 200th anniversary -- the massed forces of political correctness. According to a newspaper report on Sunday, organisers of a re-enactment of the sea battle next month have decided to bill it as between a "Red Fleet" and a "Blue Fleet", rather than Britain and its French and Spanish adversaries. This is being done to avoid the embarrassment of assembled French dignitaries at the event feeling humiliated by watching their nation routed again, The Sunday Times said. Official literature for the planned event next month will also be toned down, describing the extravaganza as a re-enactment not of Trafalgar but of "an early 19th century sea battle". Trafalgar, in which the British Royal Navy saw off a combined Franco-Spanish fleet off the southern coast of Spain, marked a crucial defeat for Napoleon's sea power. Nelson himself fell during the battle, mortally wounded by a French sharpshooter.

4 Comments:

At May 23, 2005 1:19 PM, Blogger Jay.Mac said...

I'm sure it'll not be long before the same PC madness is applied to events remembering WW2.

 
At May 23, 2005 7:23 PM, Blogger Don Miguel said...

It already has been. At one French 60th anniversary D-Day event there was a discussion entitled something like "Normandy: Liberation or Invasion"

Or the French newspapers carrying stories about the 1944 liberation of France that don't even mention the Americans.

Historical revisionism of WWII began a few years ago. You can find many one-sided books and papers about how Hiroshima and Nagasaki were wrong, and even whether Iwo Jima was necessary. But you will be hard pressed to find much on such topics as Nanking, Bataan and many other Japanese war crimes in western historical circles.

 
At May 23, 2005 8:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll bet that if the present trend
continues, the New York Times will
publish a story from "unnamed
sources" saying that the tragedy
of 9-11 was moot as the World
Trade Center buildings were
scheduled to be torn down and
rebuilt.

 
At May 24, 2005 3:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, it makes sense to me. France hasn't won a war since Moby Dick was a minnow, and it must be just a tad bit embarrassing that no matter where they go, some one beats them up. They couldn't even do a revolution properly, so this doesn't suprise me.

If I was Tony Blair, I'd send a communique to President Chirac and challenge him to a "Double or nothing" return match.

 

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