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Thursday 15 March 2018

The land of official insolence


He makes you feel that you are once more in the land of official insolence, and that, whatever you are collectively, you are nothing personally.

William Dean Howells - Their Wedding Journey (1872)


Insolent individuals we may escape, avoid, ignore or deal with in any number of ways. Official insolence though, insolence as a political instrument, as an indicator of inescapable power - that kind of insolence is not so easily avoided. It is corrosive too, perhaps more insidiously corrosive than we ever imagine.

Assuming it was officially sanctioned, the recent Russian poisoning incident seems to be an example of official insolence. It highlights a difference between Russia and the West which will be noted by millions.

Or maybe that is a reason to be cautious when assuming that this was sanctioned by the Russian government. Clumsy insolence does not seem to be one of Vladimir Putin's characteristics.

2 comments:

Sam Vega said...

True. We don't have those levels of official insolence. Our UK form is more about misinformation, pretence, and generally treating the country like fools.

A K Haart said...

Sam - a very British type of insolence perhaps.