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To: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk |
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Dear
Sir/Madam,
In response to the reported petition to the Ministry of Defence to pardon Private Harry Farr and others who were executed for "cowardice" in the Great War ("MoD reopens case of executed soldier").
With
notable
exceptions, the
"ruling
classes" have
always
exploited,
misled and
betrayed those
under them, as
they continue
to do to this
today. Asking
their pardon
for past
injustices is,
to my mind,
totally
unworthy and
inappropriate.
Rather, we
should feel
the contempt
and disgust
for these
people and
their
apologists
that they
deserve - and
move on.
For
me, Harry Farr
and those like
him, "shot at
dawn", are
heroes,
victims of a
ruling class
whose
stupidity and
criminal
neglect of
duty got us
into war in
the first
place (and
kept us there
despite the
noble example
of the
Christmas
Truce). Lloyd
George and his
generals (and
other
high-standing
warmongers)
are the ones
who should
have been
shot!
And
besides, I
wouldn't want
a pardon from
this corrupt
state and its
government,
anymore than I
would want a
peerage or a
knighthood
that would
taint me by
association
with it. All
that can be
said in its
defence (my
Lord) is that
most other
states are
even worse.
Hardly
something to
be proud of.
It is
high time we
replaced it
with something
a lot better,
in which we
can reliably
place our
trust in those
in position of
power and
authority,
without fear
of being
exploited,
misled and
betrayed.
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